.
If you are interested please send your resume to Bianca Nafpliotis, Career Corps Volunteer Program Coordinator at [email protected].
9
Do you have a job search budget? Can you support yourself and family for 9-12 months? Being able to transition into a new career without financial stress is important, so you have to know where you are financially. Financial preparation is the MOST IMPORTANT step in preparing to look for a job! A few resources that can help you:
Getting Started: Clearpoint Reconnect
Take the FREE budgeting basics course. Develop a budget based on your income and expenses. The expenses in this budget will be what you need to have in savings to cover your transition and job search. You need a minimum of three months of expenses; to be very safe try to have six to nine months saved. Example: if your month expenses are $2,765, you should plan on $8,000 - $25,000 in savings.
Turn to page 23 to learn more about Clearpoint Reconnect!
Need to Reduce Expenses or Increase Savings: Operation Money
This FREE book offers advice on a variety of financial topics that military families encounter. Chapter 2: The Debt Diet offers great advice on how to eliminate debt, which will help reduce your monthly expenses when you get out. Chapter 6: Saving for the Short Term has great advice to build a small safety net for when you transition out.
Financial preparation is the first and most important step that you can take when getting ready for possible transition. It determines how much you will need to make in your new career, and it should let you know how long you can remain out of work before you need to find a stop gap job. It also lets you job search and transition more confidently.
Once you have prepared financially for your career transition, then start to prepare your job search tools and start networking! When you are eligible to apply for jobs depends on the type of work you want. Contact the company for guidelines for applications if they are not already in the job description or announcement. Above all, make sure you are financially prepared so that you do not add additional stress to your job search.