MSEJ September 2015 | Page 8

Sign Hazel Partners LLC, Hangs for Veterans.

Brent C., one of our volunteer writers, recently spent some time looking into the experience of working with a CASY Employment Specialist. Here's what he learned...

Vets: Finish Five

As a vet, you take the first step towards civilian employment by creating a resume and uploading it to CASY’s website. In about 72 hours, one of CASY’s Employment Specialists will contact you, and you will be afforded five phone sessions. These conversations can facilitate resume improvements, interview practice, and gateways to hiring via recruiters and a 1.8 million-job database.

CASY is set up to partner one-on-one with you, and they do this through a dedicated Employment Specialist.

Some Advice: Stay engaged and finish the five phone calls with CASY!

Many vets stop responding when they realize that CASY doesn’t write their resumes for them or give them a job during their first phone call.

As a vet, expect to fall into one of two groups when you contact CASY. Either you are qualified, experienced, and job-ready with a beautiful silk Windsor knot around your neck, or you need to build experience, develop skills, improve your resume, make connections, or find training.

If you are in the latter, as probably a healthy majority of us are, an Employment Specialist can provide targeted training, employability skills training, gap skill training, and financial health training if it is needed. Employment Specialists can help you bridge the gap between wanting a job and being hirable, helping you or your resume grow from being non-mission ready to mission-ready for the civilian workforce. As with any training, it will take some effort on your part.