Military to Civilian Transition

How Do I Prepare for the Civilian Workforce?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions at UMUC:

What can active duty military personnel do to prepare for their upcoming transition to the civilian workforce?

UMUC students seeking to answer that questions should seek out someone who specializes in the military-to-civilian transition. Because of UMUC's unique relationship with the military, UMUC's Career Services folks do an outstanding job in this area.

All separating military members should be made aware of TAP: the government's Transition Assistance Program. This is an outstanding site devoted entirely to veterans.

If a student Googles "military to civilian career transition," (without the quotes) most of the major sites will come up:

Monster.com runs http://www.military.com and offers Monster.com types of services, including lots of free stuff in their "Transition Center."

Looking for a Federal Government Job?

The largest employer in the United States is the federal government. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that there are government agencies, private companies, job boards and manuals dedicated to helping you secure a federal job.

Once again, UMUC has you covered. Please go directly to the Career Services page on The Federal Job Search.

Next stop--USAJobs: https://www.usajobs.gov. This is the official
federal jobs site maintained by the U.S. Office of Personnel. There are several knock-offs sites that sound similar but, as the saying goes, accept no substitutes.

Another important site is the government jobs page at USA.gov web site: http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics
/Government-Jobs.shtml. Here you will find guidance for a federal job search, including special job information for students and veterans. The jobs page for veterans calls itself "FedsHireVets" and sports the tagline "The one-stop resource for Federal veteran employment information."

State Job Banks
CareerOneStop.org is a jobs site supported by the U.S. Department of Labor and maintains a page of links to each state's official job bank. Most of these state-level job banks are maintained by the state's own department of labor or human resources.

Private Companies
Premier for-profit companies in the area of government jobs include Kathryn Troutman's TheResumePlace, which specializes in helping students and veterans secure their first federal job and plan careers in government service. Troutman claims to invented "the federal resume," a format that reuses keywords found in a federal job announcement in the resume to ensure "100% fit" to the job (click here to download a sample in pdf format).

If interested in a government job, also investigate companies like Go Government. It offers a variety of services, offers quotes on specific services you require, and has an impressive track record in this area.