Veteran success
When transitioning from the military after 21 years of service, I found it very challenging and sometimes even depressing, to find employment despite all the military training I had acquired - and believe me I had a lot of training! Completing the Army Career and Alumni Program (provides Soldiers and their eligible family members transition and job assistance services at Army installations) made me feel very confident. The program provided me with a wealth of information including trainings, briefings, and mock interviews; I felt like I was going to have no problem finding employment.
I was sadly mistaken. It took me 8 months to find employment. I had my resume reviewed by more than 15 professionals who each made the appropriate updates and removed military acronyms and verbiage. Yet, I still received no response after sending it out to the civilian sector. We were told by one of the counselors at ACAP that the art of finding a job was all about who you knew, point blank. He mentioned that 80% of the people employed did not find employment using USAJOBS.gov, but by networking.
I tested that theory and found it to be true. Before I retired I was sending out my resume, and while I was on leave from the military I spent all my days looking for employment and sending out resumes. I only got feedback from
out resumes. I only got feedback from
organizations that were solely interested in getting your email to send you junk mail and advertisement information rather than legitimate job offers.
Further into my search, I received an email from the ACAP office about CASY-MSCCN and their services. I contacted Mrs. Auten, who provided me with an enormous amount of helpful information, job postings, mock interviews, training, and a wealth of other information. She was very inspiring, kind and patient, but most of all I sensed that she really wanted to help me. I could tell that she loved what she was doing and that made all the difference to me; I am forever grateful to her and her staff for helping me find employment. I really wish that there were more people in the world and in the workforce like Mrs. Auten and her staff. I am very thankful to her.
Through this process, I found that you can never have enough experience, that life is an ever-changing and evolving learning process, and that you have to be more than just educated to make it. If you are going to succeed in this dynamic world of competition, you need to have the perfect balance of education, networking ability, a never-quit attitude and good people who love helping other people, like Mrs. Auten and her staff at CASY-MSCCN. competition.