Blog: The New Economy and Military Reentry/Retirement

Welcome back! You have put yourself in harm’s way to keep America safe, and you have also spent years honing skills and talents that are vital to “workplace America.” Now home, you find yourself in the middle an economic calamity and the new economy.  The new economy has forced countless Americans to rethink who they are as a worker. In this economy, to get the job you will make decisions about your future and your career that you never thought you would have to make. You might have to work in a field that is outside of your training or comfort zone. You might have to dust off skills you developed years ago, and reinvent yourself through them. You might have to work more than one job, work part-time, or on a contract basis . . . anything, to get back to work. 

In the new economy, you have to show that what you know has a place in the workplace. The new economy requires that you reinvent yourself and use new tools to connect to a job—tools that “show” who you are more than just “tell.” These tools, audio, video, photo, etc., inspire you to rethink, even reinvent, who you are as a worker, job seeker, colleague, and member of the military. Start by going beyond correlating your military skills to job skills, spend time determining your job path, reassessing your strengths, identifying your talents, creating your personal brand, building your multimedia portfolio, and helping the job find you.

In the new economy, you have to be more than a resume; you have to be dynamic, capable, and convincing. These days, it is almost more important to build your own “brand” and “badge” to promote yourself.  Remember, there are still monetary incentives for businesses who hire Vets!

-Basha Millhollen, Education Outreach and Recruitment Consultant to Talent Earth