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MSCCN offers several interactive opportunities to enrich your job
search.
These valuable tools are free to military spouses:
Forums
Online Forum Dates
Deb Kloeppel, President of MSCCN, and other speakers will answer
questions
regarding military spouse employment and the value of portability
within
corporations during military transfers.
The next forum is currently being scheduled and will soon be posted!
Ask Todd
Career
Questions? Todd's Got the Answers!
Have
a question about recruiters, interviews, or resume sections?
Send it via email to askus@msccn.org.
 With
nearly 20 years of professional recruiting
experience, Todd Davis can provide insights into
what works in choosing a career, finding great
places to work, and avoiding common mistakes
in the job search.
During his career, Todd has recruited great people
in healthcare, technology, finance, and government
careers.
Having lived and worked internationally, he can help you with
answers
on finding careers wherever you might be. Todd currently leads
a team
of professional recruiters for a major corporation with over 10,000
employees. Todd lives and works on the West Coast, but his career
has brought him to tours of duty on the East Coast of the US,
Japan
and Europe.
Read Todd's answers to these questions:
Should I plunge into work related to my experience in homeland
security, or should I take this time to receive my Masters in
Disaster Management?
Both - pursuing career development and continuing education often
go hand in hand. While the need to balance work and life is critical,
there is no reason that you cannot pursue career advancing job
assignments and further your education at the same time.
So, look into pursuing the masters degree through an institution that
supports executive or professional-level studies, and consider program
or contract work with various state and local offices dealing with security.
Most states have offices of homeland security to contact and most
well-developed Masters program in that field are led by staff and faculty
that are well-connected in that industry. Pursuing them both will open
doors that open in both directions.
Is it ever okay to exaggerate the length
of time at a past employer?
As the saying goes, “Honesty is the best policy.”
Employers value you not only for your ability to do a job, but
also for
your dependability and integrity. If you are worried about “gaps”
in
employment or concerns about what appear to be short time-periods
at jobs in your work history, relax.
First, gaps of any kind can be addressed directly. Maybe you
relocated
and needed time to move, or maybe you were searching for the
right
position and it took time to find a suitable position.
Be honest and accurate on your resume and applications. While
gaps in
your resume may get you questions, lies will undoubtedly get
you nowhere!
If I have past jobs that don’t relate to the job
I’m applying for,
should I leave them off my resume?
This can be somewhat difficult to understand
at times, but EVERY job you
have had is relevant in some way. Remember this note:
"There is no such thing
as under qualified, only under prepared."
For one thing, regular employment shows stability,
the quality many
employers look for first. Also, many jobs can be shown as strengths
to
potential employers.
Here is an example:
You want a job in an office, but have only worked in a hospital
environment.
Two strengths from the hospital job are the ability
to protect sensitive
information as part of your job (medical information, etc.),
and a strong
sense of commitment to quality and error-free work (making sure
people
get the care they need).
Try this test:
· Take
your current job or recent jobs and make a list of your duties.
· Next
to each duty, think of the quality that task or duty requires.
Let's say one of your duties
is to open the store in the morning,
that takes responsibility and
initiative. Or if you transcribed
documents, that takes accuracy
and attention to detail.
Once you have a list of duties and qualities, you have a checklist
of
qualities to bring to your interview and the job!
If my past employer would not provide a good reference or
background check, should I leave them off my resume?
It‘s always best to include the details
on your resume.
That means all of them! If you think a past employer will give
a bad
reference, here’s two things to think about.
One – employers are very unlikely to say
negative things about you in
today’s world. Most employers will confirm dates of employment,
titles
and sometimes salary or wages. Although, some do not confirm
salary
these days. So, be honest on your resumes and applications.
If you leave
it off and the company you want to work for runs an employment
history,
that past employer will show up and you will have some explaining
to do.
Two – if you think one person at your past
employer won’t be professional
and be a reference that helps, then think if there is someone else
there
you can ask to be a reference?
This could be a peer worker, a colleague from a different department
that
you worked with, or even another executive that you helped. For
example,
a salesperson may ask the product manager from his/her former company
to act as a reference. Maybe they collaborated on delivering products.
Or perhaps your were a receptionist who helped an executive in another
department and he/she always said “use me as a reference.”
Think about all the people you worked with - many of them might
actually
know more about your work than your old boss does.
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