His book, “Out of Uniform: Your Guide to Successful Military-to-Civilian Career Transition,” rereleased in April 2018, offers stories of triumph and misstep from veterans who have been there.
“I believe the book is as applicable to a civilian who has never worn
the uniform as it is to my target audience — active duty, in uniform,
getting ready to transition — what it does is illustrate points by
telling these stories,” Wolfe said.
2) Know yourself and what’s important to you
Many transitioning veterans make the mistake of not taking the time develop self-knowledge, Wolfe said.
“The self-awareness that I understand my transition and before my job search,
understand what exactly is important to me,” Wolfe said. “Until you
know yourself and until you know your strengths, your attributes, your
weaknesses, your wants and your needs, what matters to you at the end of
the day, until you’ve identified that, you’re putting yourself at risk
that you’re going to end up in a job for the wrong reasons.”
4) Learn how to translate your experience to the civilian world
The military has a very unique and specific way of operating that in
many cases differs drastically from how civilian businesses and
organizations do. Learning how to translate your experience into skills
that civilian employers understand is key to landing a job.
“I think a great source would be the veteran service organizations. The
dot orgs. The ones that are not in it for profit,” Wolfe said. “They’re
in it for service. Most of them have tools that will help someone
translate a military skillset. Some military skillsets have a direct
civilian equivalency. Like a truck driver or a helicopter pilot. But
then if you get an infantry officer, something like that, we don’t have a
civilian equivalency anymore. Some of these people don’t think they’re
qualified to do anything. They just don’t know how to describe what they
do in terms of what civilian employers will understand.”
6) Get good at social media
Many employers do background checks, but more of them will search a
candidate’s social media profiles. You can’t determine what a company
will see in your background investigation, but you can control your
social media presence. Learn how to use social media to your advantage,
Wolfe said. Be sure to scrub your social media accounts for anything you
wouldn’t want an employer to see. Put your best foot forward.
“If you go back 10 years ago and you had an insufficient or faulty
resume, that was the kiss of death,” Wolfe said. “You weren’t going to
get a screening interview, let alone a job. Well, now, social presence
is that critical. If you do not have an appropriate, powerful,
applicable social media presence across the board — if there’s anything
missing or anything wrong — that’s the new kiss of death. You’ve got to
be familiar with it. Social media is powerful for both the companies the
organizations that are looking for people, but it’s also very powerful
for individuals in preparing for interviews.”
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