[MUSIC]
(Narrator)
Whether you’re applying your military skills to civilian work for the first time, or if you’re a Veteran with a long-time civilian career, the VA for Vets Career Center offers tools to make your next professional transition a smooth one. These tools will help you take the next step toward building a rewarding career at VA – where your service to our nation continues. This easy-to-use platform is available 24/7 to help you tap into your next career opportunity. Use one, or all of the Career Center tools, which work together to map your skills, interests, aptitudes and experience to relevant, open positions at VA. Career Center tools will help you get ready to show your true talents to civilian recruiters and identify your best career options. Because you’ve served in the military, you’ve gained valuable experience and skills that you may not realize can be applied to a career at the VA. VA for Vets will help you translate, assess and organize those experiences and skills, and map them to open VA jobs in real time.
(Brig. General Allison Hickey)
I’ve worked in an international $20 billion, 200,000-person company where I was often the only go-to person for Veterans. Trying to translate their military occupational series or MOS and other specialty codes into civilian job skill terms. So, I know the VA for Vets Career Center services are going to be a great resource for our total force Veterans, National Guard and Reserve members here at VA.
(Narrator)
With the Military Skills Translator, you can translate the skills, experience, certification and training you gained in the military and immediately map this to open civilian jobs.
You can start by entering your military occupation code, area of concentration (AOC), Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) or Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC). You can also select your rate or rank, and indicate your subspecialties, collateral duties, training and education.
As you add information, the Military Skills Translator automatically translates these skills and experiences into civilian-friendly language. At the same time, the tool will dynamically show you open positions at VA that match your background.
Because we want to match you to careers for which you are best suited as well as competitive, you can also take self-assessments to gauge your professional strengths and interests.
(Dennis O. May)
The Military Skills Translator is perhaps the most dynamic tool in the system because it will translate your military specialties and subspecialties into civilian experience.
As you provide more detailed information, your job match results are narrowed down and specified to your skills.
Relevant federal occupations are also displayed, to show you career opportunities that don’t necessarily have openings at the time of your search.
In addition to job matches, your translated skills will also appear in the Resume Builder tool and ultimately, your civilian resume.
These tools really allow hiring managers to see the talent that’s out there in our Veteran workforce.
(Narrator)
With our short, state-of-the-art self-assessments, you can evaluate your work experience, measure basic skills, and define your occupational interests and preferences. You can also assess your math and language abilities, as well as speed and accuracy. Naturally, you’ll bring all these experiences to your next career opportunity.
As you complete the Military Skills Translator and self-assessments, the Career Center will generate a Career Matching Report that will identify open jobs at VA that match your skills and interests. Based on the information you provide, the system will show you the top five VA jobs in each of the following categories that are best matches for you:
- Best Fit
- Close Fit
- Alternative Fit
- Matches Based on Military Skills
The Career Matching Report will also show you how your skills, abilities and interests rank on a scale of high, medium and low.
Once you’ve assessed your skills and interests, and determined how your military experience applies to civilian jobs, use the Resume Builder to create a dynamic resume.
The Resume Builder offers you two options for marketing your skills and experience. You can build a resume based on the results of your self-assessment and the Military Skills Translator. Or, you can upload an existing resume to use when applying for jobs through the Career Center. You can store up to five resumes and cover letters at a time.
Whether you choose to create a new resume or upload an existing one, you’ll have the ability to save your resume to the Veteran Database so that VA recruiters can find it and contact you directly to discuss job openings. You can edit your resumes at any time as you gain new skills and experiences.
The Career Center Job Search allows you to browse all VA job openings, in addition to matches based on your resume. You can also create and save targeted job searches. When you’re ready to apply for a position, you can submit your resume through the Career Center.
Matching your skills to open positions doesn’t happen just once. VA for Vets offers active job matching; sign up for RSS feed and email alerts to be notified of new VA job opportunities that match your skills and interests as they open up.
Another great feature of the Career Center is the personalized dashboard. Once you’ve created a profile in the Career Center, you’ll be able to return to your dashboard for easy access to your Career Center activity. You’ll see the results from your self-assessments and the Military Skills Translator, saved job searches, stored resumes and job alerts.
The Career Center is your gateway to a successful career at VA. It provides all the tools you’ll need to find VA career opportunities that leverage your military background, experience, interests and strengths. Visit the Career Center today at www.VAforVets.VA.gov.
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