top tips-for-veterans

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Top 3 Tips For Veterans

LinkedIn For Veteran Job Seekers

Develop your professional network

Find Job Opportunities

01

Establish your online professional identity Optimize Your Profile

Get Recommended

Grow Your Network

Share Insights

Join Groups

Follow Companies

Jobs Page

Company Career Pages

Job Seeker Subscription

02 03

STEP #1

Establ ish ing your on l ine profess ional ident i ty

Optimize Your Profile


01

Customize your URL

1. Job & career highlights 2. Company & industry notes 3. Personal Notes

1. Short term experience 2. Ongoing involvement 3. Strategic level advising

Customize Your URL


01

Alan Cordero Innovative Sales Management Professional and People Developer San Francisco Bay Area l Internet

www.linkedin.com/in/acordero

Easily direct people to your LinkedIn profile

Write a Summary


01

Job and Career Highlights I have practiced corporate law in New York for 10 years. During this time, I represented Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller nonprofits through our pro bono practice. This great variety of clients taught me the legal needs organizations hold in common as well as the variety of perspectives in the legal professional. A personal highlight was being named pro bono attorney of the year in 2010.

Company and Industry Notes I served in the United States Army as a paratrooper with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. I deployed to the Afghani-Pakistani border, participated in numerous combat missions, and coordinated a number of local reconstruction projects over the next year. I was honorably discharged in 2008.

Personal Notes In the army, I learned resilience and perseverance and I dearly miss the adaptive persistence of my fellow soldiers and ability to find positivity and humor in difficult times. I attended undergrad at the University of Virginia and I hold a JD from Yale Law School.

Your elevator pitch describing your skills, passion, and goals

Volunteer & Causes Experiences


01

Short Term Experience

Ongoing Involvement

Strategic Level Advising

Volunteer San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center August 2009 – June 2010 (11 months) l Health • Assisted in a study on mannequin doctor training • Observed over 20 surgical procedures such as open hip and brain operations • Escorted patients in wheelchairs and gurneys through the hospital to either

clinics or rooms

Member, Advisory Board Venture For America 2012 – Present (1 year) l Greater New York City Area Innovative fellowship program that places top college graduates in start-ups for two years in low-cost U.S. cities to generate job growth and train the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Spay/Neuter Clinic Volunteer San Francisco SPCA Animal Welfare I spend a couple Saturdays throughout year working at the East Bay, Oakland chapter of the SPCA volunteering at the Spay/Neuter Clinic. Volunteer duties include: prep of surgical instruments, cleaning, monitoring and caring for animals after surgery and whatever else is needed with direction from the full-time staff.

Military Skills Translator


01

Need help? This site will translate your military skills, experience and training, and you can then add to your LinkedIn page.

https://mst.vaforvets.va.gov/mst/va/mos-translator











Get Endorsed


01

Adding skills and expertise makes it easy for your connections to endorse you for your knowledge and strengths, and helps you show up in relevant searches.

Intelligence Analysis 99+

National Security 57

Leadership 47

Government 35

Most Endorsed For…

Get Recommended by Former Colleagues and Clients


01

Annabelle Larsen Executive Officer at USAF Reserves Darrell was an outstanding manager. We worked together during a time of transition on the Air Staff at the Pentagon and throughout the process Darrell kept a level head and a big-picture perspective, ensuring everyone focused on the tasks central to success. He maintained a sense of calm in an otherwise tense environment. March 7, 2011, Lisa worked indirectly for Darrell at United States Air Force

“ Tips on getting good recommendations

Request with a soft approach

3 3 3 Remind them of your past projects and accomplishments

Request from a variety of different position levels

Ask some of your connections – like other service members and former colleagues – to write recommendations of your work.

STEP #2

Develop ing your profess ional network

Grow Your Network 01

Reach out to contacts you’ve made and cement those relationships

“One of the best pieces of advice I

received about 2 years before I retired

was to expand my network. That doesn’t

mean collecting and distributing

business cards. Building your network

entails making yourself known to an

expanding audience. Specifically, you

want to demonstrate your value to your

circle of friends, coworkers, classmates

and acquaintances, and then expand

that circle. The easiest way to do this is

to do good work.”

-Darrell Brown Manager, NGA

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312k 1.1m

62k

12

3rd Degree Connections

Companies Connections

Your Connections

Sharing Insights


1

02

Like (12) • Comment (8) • Send a message • Share • 2hr ago

Brendan Smith LinkedIn Identifies Your Contacts in “Fortune’s Best Companies to work for… cool!

LinkedIn Identifies Your Contacts in “Fortune’s Best Companies to… mashable.com • LinkedIn works with Time Inc’s Fortune to introduce widget letting users see who they know in Fortune’s “Best Companies to Work For.”

Like (1) • Comment(1) • Send a message • Share • 1hr ago

Brendan Smith Inspiring discussions w/ Deepak Chopra @ LinkedIn…leadership, spirituality, metaphysics with a dash of quantum mechanics in the context of technology…wow!

Update your status with interesting articles, announcements, thoughts, and questions about topics in-line with your professional goals.

Demonstrate your industry interests and professional affiliations, meet like-minded people, and have conversations about topics that matter to you.

Join Groups


02

Veteran Mentor Network (Group)


02

Join a community of veterans, employers, service members, and leaders. The group helps professionals connect with Veterans and provides advice as you look for jobs after your service.

Follow Companies


02

Stay up-to-date with company operations, current news, products and services, employees, job opportunities and more, while also showing your interest in specific companies.

STEP #3

Finding Job Oppor tun i t ies

Find Open Opportunities


03

Find jobs by keyword, title, company, postal code, function, industry, years of experience and date posted using advanced search.

Take Advantage of Company’s Career Pages


03

Follow companies to signal your interest in working for them.

Job Seeker Subscription (Search)


03

LinkedIn provides a free Job Seeker Subscription ($1000 value) to every US Veteran. Join the LI Job Seeker Subscription subgroup of the Veteran Mentor Network for access to the subscription.

• Find and InMail Recruiters/Hiring Managers outside of your network

• Signal your active pursuit of a new opportunity with a Job Seeker badge

• See the full list of who’s viewed your profile, plus details on how they found you

• Appear higher and more often in search results for candidates

• Join the Open Link network to let anyone on LinkedIn contact you about job opportunities for free


Best Advice

“I relied heavily on my professional

network during my transition from the

military to a civilian career. Through

LinkedIn I was able to expand my

network and interact with

professionals in the trade space I was

interested in entering. I received two

job interviews as a direct result of my

LinkedIn connections. Additionally, I

used my LinkedIn network to evaluate

potential employees and to get a sense

of different company cultures.”

Manager l Deputy NST Chief l Mentor Springfield, Virginia l Defense & Space

Meet Darrell Brown


More Resources

Transition Assistance Program (TAP) TAP is offered on most military installations. It is usually 2-3 days of seminars and briefings on how to transition into the civilian world. They cover everything from writing resumes, interviewing, and how to dress in the civilian world. USAJOBS.comFor Service members interested in government positions I would recommend building a profile on USAJOBS.com. The site provides job seekers with email alerts for job openings that meet the users preselected criteria. Others There are also websites geared towards personnel with security clearances (ClearanceJobs.com and Intelligencecareers.com). Darrell Brown posted his resume on these sites and received regular solicitation from recruiters who saw his resume on the sites.

top tips-for-veterans

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