The hidden job market is any place where jobs get filled without being posted on a company website.   These include:

• jobs created for someone interviewing with the company that are a unique fit for a future position
• jobs created around a concept position that someone interviewing has recommended or illuminated in an interview
• jobs created to retain someone who has outgrown their position and may be looking to leave the firm
• jobs created to hire a very unique and talented candidate the firm feels it needs to bring on board.

These job openings come through word of mouth and informal networks as well as through recruiters and hiring managers who need to fill a position quickly.  This hidden job market is less competitive and less rigid and allows applicants to apply for positions outside of the normal company job board process.  Let’s face it – the less competition you have looking for a job, the easier it is to land one.

As a veteran how do you take advantage of this?  Keep your networks up to date about your job search and stay in touch with peers or colleagues you know are looking on their own or work in a company you would like to join.  They will have their ear to the ground about potential openings and be able to get you in front of a decision maker pretty quickly.  Keep your resume up to date.  Use LinkedIn and your other networks to search for status updates about people looking to hire, however informally.

Recruiters usually know about these positions before they get posted on a job board, so stay in touch with yours often and ensure they know what you are looking for and that you are open to new opportunities.  And recruiters get you in front of the decision-makers without any gatekeepers, keeping you on the front edge of the hiring timeline, allowing you to get an interview before many people even know about the job.

Take advantage of the hidden market – it’s where all of the best jobs are.

The good news is you don’t have to do it all right away, but there are some things you have to do to transition successfully in the next three, or six, or nine months. They will provide the foundation for success so that when you are in the thick of the job hunt you know you’ve got the basics covered.

1. Get a Hard Copy of Your Military Evaluations.  Put your I-love-me book together with a hard copy of all of your military evaluations, awards, citations, and transcripts.  Once you get your DD-214 put that in there too.  If this is the first time you’ve picked up your evaluations from the S-1, make sure they are accurate, complete, and signed.
2. Complete Your LinkedIn Profile. Make sure you’ve added a good headshot. Your dates match up. You’ve got a good summary at the top. Your latest job sells you as well as describes what you do.  Add relevant skills.  LinkedIn is the first place anyone goes to check out who you are and what you’ve been doing.  Make sure you present the best package.  More on this in our next blog post.
3. Review And Update Your Military Resume.  Your dates all match and all time is accounted for.  Formatting and spacing are correct.  No misspellings.  All jobs descriptions are concise and accurate.  Quantifiable bullets for achievements – real, measurable achievements.  Edit out all extraneous information.  No crazy hobbies like “numismatics” or “amateur dentistry”.  No misspellings.  Have someone look at it and tell you what they think.
4. Collect Your Network Contact Information.  Get updated phone numbers, email addresses, and street addresses for all of the contacts in your job search network.  Family.  Friends.  Other members of your unit who got out in the last year.  Former commanders.  Buddies from school.  Your last supervisor.  You will need these people for leads and references – make sure you have their information now.  LinkedIn, Facebook, and Christmas card lists are great places to start.
5. Complete Your References List.  Make a list of nine people you know who will serve as references for you – 3 supervisors, 3 peers, and 3 subordinates.  Contact them and ask their permission.  Ensure you have accurate contact information (see above).  Return the favor.  Just don’t ask anyone to be a reference you aren’t 100% sure will give you a strong, positive, specific recommendation.
6. Establish More Contacts On LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a great tool for business networking and a huge source of active and passive candidates for large and small corporations all over the world.  Search for people you know and add them to your network.  Get introduced to others through your friends and contacts.  Use the email search features to see who you’ve missed.  Expand your network.
7. Buy/Measure/Clean Your Interviewing Clothes.  You’ve got three days – spend some time picking out and buying your interviewing clothes if you haven’t done it already.  More on this later, but you need two outfits – one for your initial interviews and one for your site visits.  If you already own them and you’ve been hitting the gym, make sure they fit and get them tailored if you need to.  Lastly, pick them up off of your closet floor and get them dry-cleaned.  Even the tie – you’ll forget to do it later.
8. Establish An Email Account Just For Your Job Search.  Your first and last name.  First name dot last name.  Or first initial last name.  Keep it simple, classy, and easy to remember when you are filling out job applications and online forms.  Keeps your personal email and professional email separate and helps you avoid typing tedandmarlaandkids@yahoo.com over and over and over.
9. Shine Your Shoes.  Always good to have your shoes shined before you sit down with a hiring manager, and you never have time to do it right just before you start an interview.  Avoids getting polish on that white shirt, too.
10. Ask For References On LinkedIn.  Sensing a theme here with LinkedIn?  I hope I’m not being too subtle .  Ask people you’ve worked with in the past for recommendations on LinkedIn.  I know several people that have been offered jobs over the phone because their interviewers knew the people offering their recommendations and were excited about how strong they were.  You won’t have time to get recommendations when you want them, so get them early and allow your reference plenty of reflection and writing time.

There are plenty of things to do as you start to interview and try to land a new job and career.  Take care of these details now so you can work on the important stuff when interview time comes around.

Many candidates fail the phone screen because they try to fit it in like they would any phone call – between activities, without much preparation, trying to do something else in the meantime.  The phone interview happens to be a great way to get ahead of the interviewing competition.  With some preparation and a little cheating, candidates can succeed to the next step in the interviewing process every time.  Here are five “Do’s” for your next phone interview . . .

Find a quiet secluded spot for your phone interview.  Too often candidates try to conduct a phone interview while in the car or while watching their son’s soccer game.  Bad idea.  The successful candidate finds a quiet spot without noise or interruption and gets there early.

Print out your resume and keep it in front of you.  The answers are all there, so why not have your resume out?  This is a no-brainer.

Use a laptop or an iPad and bring up the company’s website on it before your call.  The rest of the answers are here and scanning the website can yield some great questions and answers during the phone screen.

Use a landline if at all possible.  You don’t want to give AT&T or Verizon cellular networks any say in your initial phone screen do you?

Stand up and move around.  Non-verbal cues are impossible to use during a phone screen and the only tool you have to show enthusiasm and communicate interest is through your voice.  Don’t sit and get too comfortable in a chair – move around and you will naturally speak in a more natural fashion.  Standing and pacing keep you awake and inject some urgency into your voice.

Good luck on that phone screen, and remember to pick up that phone on time!

• Corporate recruiting and staffing and not exclusively transitioning military recruiting
• Community building and non-profit outreach
• Charitable giving
• Sales lead generation
• Market expansion
• Public relations
• Supplier diversity
• Partnerships

How could a veteran resource group help your employees and improve your company today?  The sky’s the limit, but companies such as Microsoft, GE, and Home Depot have found many ways.  Veteran talent can transform your company, and supporting veterans with a support or resource group can go a long way toward attracting and retaining the top performers in your organization.

Arlington National Cemetery

Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces, the day we remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country.

It is easy to gloss over the real reason for the holiday, what with the three day weekend, the pool, the beach, the barbecues, and the start of summer.  Don’t.  At 12:01 Eastern Time every Memorial Day a wreath is laid at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.  This Monday, join Americans at that time all across the country and observe a minute of silence and think of those who have given their “last full measure of devotion” in service to their country.

I bet you can think of someone you know.

More vivid than his demeanor was his choice of questions – he focused on questions that if answered conventionally would only reflect poorly on me. He shot off three doozies in a row – “What is your greatest leadership failure?” “What are three weaknesses you have as a follower?” “If you could go back and fill one hole in your resume, what would it be?” Wow. Talk about a tough interview – it reminded me of my time when I first joined the military and when I was asked if I had screwed something up because I was stupid or because I didn’t care. Hard to answer a negative question correctly without coming across as a real loser.

Some good news – negative questions are actually great opportunities to go on offense in an interview.  During your veteran transition, getting ready for the negative questions in your military transition interview is challenging, but once you master your answers they can be a real asset in your job search.  When someone asks you to outline your three greatest weaknesses or your greatest mistake as a leader during your military to civilian transition, remember these three things:

1. Frame your answer in terms of challenges or areas where you think you need to improve.  Never answer your question “three of my leadership weaknesses are” or “one area as a follower I constantly screw up is . . . ”  It is better to say “three areas that I needed to improve as a leader when I first joined the Army,” or “one challenge I faced as a follower when I became a surface warfare officer . . . ”  Discuss these challenges or areas of improvement in the past tense, which leads me to my next point:

2.  Outline your area(s) of improvement and then dive right into what you did to improve in that area.  Winston Churchill is known today as a famous politician, leader, and orator, but he was born with a stutter and had to overcome it, ultimately becoming famous as a public speaker.  Take a cue from Winston – you want to move off of your “weakness” and discuss how and what you did to turn that challenge into a strength, one that ultimately made you better.  This demonstrates your skills about the topic at hand, but also reinforces you can adapt and perservere despite frustration and setbacks.  It is also important to note that you identified the problem and then immediately addressed how to solve it.

3.  Use real world examples to demonstrate what you are discussing.  This is where you go on the offensive and demonstrate how good your military interview game is.  Ensure you have strong examples that relay your improvement areas that you have turned into strengths, walking your interviewer through the STAR format and closing with strong performance results or lessons learned.  And always have three areas of improvement as well as three examples to support your answer on this question.

A strong, well-thought out answer to a negative question during your military transition interview will show that you are prepared and insightful as a potential employee, willing to learn from your mistakes and be coached to be a better performer.  It’s nothing you don’t know, but your task is to convey that to your interviewer so that your “weaknesses”, such as they are, sell you just as well as your strengths.

http://www.hughesmarino.com/articles/putting-our-heroes-back-to-work/

The Pathfinder Group was chosen to be a part of the Military Entrepreneur delegation, selected jointly by Inc. Magazine and Joining Forces.  From the invitation:

“Inc. magazine teamed up with Joining Forces to educate, mentor, and inform service members and their families about
entrepreneurship.  Joining Forces is a national initiative led by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden which works to
mobilize the American people to support the military community. The Inc. Joining Forces Military Entrepreneurs Program will
continue efforts after a successful inaugural event in 2011, with a delegation of entrepreneurs at the 2012 Grow Your Company
Conference in New Orleans, LA.”

The conference runs March 5-7  in New Orleans and former President Bill Clinton is one of the featured speakers; last year General Stanley McChrystal was one of the featured speakers as well. We are excited and honored to be selected as delegates to this conference and receive national exposure for the work we do in military recruiting, military marketing, and consulting.

There will be a lot of great networking and educational opportunities – this is going to be awesome.  Read more here:

http://growco.inc.com/

“Successful entrepreneurs are hard-working, dedicated, disciplined, multi-skilled, and self-sufficient. They are problem solvers who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, and who stop at nothing until goals are reached. They are bold risk-takers, and they are passionate, strong-willed individuals who put the mission before the man. While all of these characteristics describe entrepreneurs, they also apply to many members of another very capable group: America’s young veterans of the military.”

Scott brings up a lot of good points about many of the challenges facing today’s transitioning veterans, including the high level of veteran unemployment, lack of jobs, and the challenge of military professionals transitioning back into a civilian market that they have been removed from for some time. He also highlights why some veterans would be great business owners and would help drive our national economic growth in the future.

The most valuable aspect of this article for those of us involved in the national conversation around veteran transition, education, and employment are the solutions.  A GI Bill-size effort toward franchise ownership is a huge investment and a goal worthy of our veterans.  I think we should think bigger:  a national investment effort that encompasses not only franchise ownership but also entrepreneurial education, small business launches and development, bootstrapping, and veteran investment and mentorship groups.  This would provide opportunities for all entrepreneurs, providing support and funding for all kinds of veteran entrepreneurial activity.

Funding these ventures and in-depth screening of those entrepreneurs who would be most likely to succeed are huge question marks and not easy problems to solve, whether they are civilians or veterans.  ”Bottom line: The unemployment rate for young veterans is simply unacceptable. In order for real change to happen, it’s time we treat these heroes as the courageous, intelligent people they are. We need to get real about the state of the job market, and get real about who veterans are and what they’re capable of—fast. Sprucing up resumes and attending job fairs are not solutions.”

Let’s start the conversation about veteran entrepreneurship and national engagement today.

Read more: http://business.time.com/2012/02/07/why-we-should-help-veterans-start-their-own-businesses/#ixzz1m7lH08Up

Interviewers want to know about your military background, a little bit about your life, and who you are outside of the uniform.  But they want to know all of these things in the context of the job you are talking about.  It is important that you organize your answer, give a thorough overview of your career to this point, and personalize your asnwer to the interviewer when responding to this question.  To put it another way, an interviewer will be looking to see if you present yourself well, communicate clearly and effectively, and answer the question thoroughly and concisely in the time allotted.  This answer sets the whole tone for the interview and can really pave the way for a great discussion.

Organize Your Answer.  This should be your easiest answer because it covers a subject you know so well – yourself.  Right?  Not so fast . . .  This answer is a difficult one because you have so much to say about yourself.  The key is to organize your response and keep it under three minutes by discussing your background chronologically or functionally.  Military candidates get in trouble when they wander or discuss personal experiences that can be uncomfortable for an interviewer, or when they jump around and forget to answer the question asked.  Remember that the interviewer wants to know how your experience relates to the job and focus your answer while supporting your qualifications for the role indirectly.  Stressing your growing management responsibilities with each higher role is an example.  The key is to stay organized chronologically or functionally (discussing your time as a leader, drill instructor, and staff NCO in separate areas, for example) and provide a good map to your career.

Give a Thorough Career Overview.  Start with information about where you are from, where you went to high school and/or college before the service, and add anything personal, such as being a Giants fan in NYC or an avid surfer from San Diego.  If you went to college, discuss your reasons for picking the school, major, and ROTC program (if applicable) that you did, how you did, and a general comment about your experience.  Follow that up with a brief overview of your training and then positions, giving a brief description of your job and any highlights such as promotions, command, deployments, etc.  Ensure that you bring up your role and a general sense of how large it was.  You can then end your answer with the reason you are separating and what brings you to your interviewer today.  Be positive and take your time, but keep your answer concise and don’t wander into personal details.  Reinforce that your military experience had direction and focus to it.

Personalize Your Answer.  You want to show you are an individual and a human being and not just run down a list of military accomplishments.  Talking about where you are from, if you are a sports fan, mentioning your hobbies (coaching youth soccer, triathlons, or fixing up old cars), and any other non-controversial topics shows you are three-dimensional and likeable.  Too many employers view service members as stereotypes or through the prism of their military resume; show them there is a whole lot more to you than simply the uniform.  As always, stay away from politics, religion, and anything that could offend your interviewer.  You want to make a personal connection with your interviewer so that they a) like you and b) remember you.

“Tell me about yourself” is the toughest question to answer because it covers so much subject matter over which you, as a military service member looking for a job, know so much.  Ensure you practice your response to this question multiple times so that you can answer succinctly with confidence and set the tone for a successful interview overall.