Infantry Company Commander conducts his own study on the effectiveness of author’s advice on how to get a job

5.0 out of 5 stars Expert Advice for Transitioning Soldiers and Veterans

Infantry Company Commander by trade, Captain Brett D. Kelley decides to test the advice given in Mark Lyden’s book, “VETERANS: Do This! Get Hired!”  The result?  Captain Kelley, “Recommends and personally endorses, VETERANS: DO THIS! GET HIRED! as an exceptional resource without hesitation.”

In his test, Captain Kelley lent it to fellow officers; Senior Non-Commissioned Officers with 12-20 years of service; and junior enlisted Soldiers with GEDs for tweaking resumes, polishing interview skills, and salary negotiation.  Although there was definitely a gap in the level of understanding between the officers and young, junior enlisted Soldiers, all gained greater insight into the hiring process and reduced their overall anxiety with the process.  Captain Kelley, who calls himself and his fellow soldiers "green suiters," found that the wounded, injured, and ill Soldiers he is currently helping transition from active duty military to the civilian world have a tough time translating their experience and marketing their skills in the civilian job market. He comments that in the book, “Mr. Lyden is able to succinctly bridge this gap without exceeding the attention span of a grunt like me.”

According to Kelley, “While the military offers and often mandates civilian employment preparation classes and workshops (e.g. resume writing and interview technique classes), they are rudimentary at best. Soldiers are still leaving the military without the skills they need to get hired and the last thing anyone wants to see is another Veteran in fatigues panhandling under a bridge. Civilian corporations and firms want to hire Veterans, but we [soldiers] do a terrible job marketing ourselves. Many young Veterans believe that the world will be handed to them on a silver platter, which couldn't be farther from the truth in a fiercely competitive and tenuous job market.”

Captain Kelley states that, “[the book] is a short read and functions more as a handbook than a self-help guide… Don't let your next interview turn into an ambush by walking into it unprepared. Take the time to read this one.”

Veteran 24-hour Web-A-Thon

The Howard Keating Show is hosting a 24-Hour Veteran Web-A-Thon on April 6 – 7th, 2011.  The program is anticipating over 1MM viewers during the 24-hour period. 

According to Susan Wellman, Executive Vice President, “The web-a-thon is designed to help our veterans get jobs, start businesses or expand their existing businesses through opportunities and resources offered on the program….the purpose is to increase awareness throughout the media community of the significant needs and challenges our veterans face (90 percent divorce rate, 107,000 living on our streets, loss of homes and jobs, etc.).  These heroes are so completely demoralized upon their return from service, and we need them to know that the corporations of the U.S. are behind them.”       

The show’s goal is to honor our veterans by helping at least 2,000 get jobs, contracts, start a business, or create joint ventures. 

When:  April 6^th, 5:00 PM ET – April 7^th at 5:00 PM ET

Offering:

®     Businesses looking to partner with businesses

®     franchises at a discounted price

®     Jobs from major businesses

®     Loans to either start a business or to help increase sales of an existing business

®     Distributorship opportunities

®     Product and service companies that want to go global.

Media platform

®     The Howard Keating Show (keatingnetwork.com) 

Veterans

®     5.5 million veterans with disabilities

®     92 percent have high school diplomas or higher compared to 85 percent of the nation as a whole

®     90 percent of today’s returning veterans get divorced within 2 years.

®     For every military personnel that that die in war, a veteran commits suicide

®     7.6 million Vietnam era veterans are living

®     9 million veterans are 65 and older

®     1.5 million veterans are  female

®     20,000 veterans lost their homes in 2010

®     1.5 million veterans are in poverty or homeless

®   107,000 veterans are homeless on any given night

The Truth about Company Reps behind the booths at Career and Job Fairs

In my experience, the smaller the company usually means the more experienced the reps are at recruiting; but not always.  That is logical if you think about it because they usually have a smaller budget, go to fewer events, and, therefore have one or two of the same people doing all their events.  That means they get a lot of experience and practice.  However, with larger companies? It’s a totally different story.  They usually go to a lot more events and need a lot more people to help at those events; often, many of those people lack the experience. 

This is why I am very comfortable with saying there are as many poor recruiters out there as there are good ones, simply for the fact that many don’t do it enough to have the experience and practice needed to develop into good or great recruiters.  This is reality.  And the reality is that recruiting is a talent and a skill that needs to be practiced often to get better.  It is the experience and repetition that is critical for recruiters to develop the skills and techniques that enable them to wade through a sea of candidates to find the very best ones, consistently.  It takes a substantial and continuous amount of practice and learning to grow and get better.  How can you get better if you only do it once a year?  Even a better question: How can you call someone a recruiter that only does it once a year?

Now you might be asking, “Why is this important to me?”  It is important because it helps you understand the importance of preparing for poor or inexperience people that are functioning in some capacity as a recruiter.  If you get one of them, which again I figure is about a fifty-fifty chance, you need to ensure you do everything you can to prevent them from making a mistake. 

This is exactly why I teach candidates and give seminars across the country.  Job seekers need to format their answers in a way so no matter what the experience level or training of the recruiter or interviewer, the candidates gives a complete answer that needs no probing or follow up questions.  This is also why I train recruiters.  They need to know that most, year in and year out, will not give them enough detail in their answers.  The recruiter needs to know how to ask probing, follow-up questions to get the detail they need to fairly assess a candidate’s answer.  However, I can train all I want, but I can’t be in the room or at the booth to hear what everyone says.  That is why the candidate needs to take the responsibility of preparing. 

Mark Lyden

DoThisGetHired.com

Mark Lyden is the author of a number of books: College Students: Do This! Get Hired!; Veterans: Do This! Get Hired!; and Professionals: Do This! Get Hired! (Coming Summer 2011).  A substantial portion of the proceeds from book sales are donated back to charity to help veterans and to help the stray and abandoned animals at Logan’s Run Rescue.   

A Candidates Ability to Strategically Navigate the Online Application Process is the Most Critical Part of their Job Hunt

In the recruiting world, it is now being argued that a candidate’s ability to strategically navigate the online application process is the most critical part of their job hunt.  I'm not a 100 percent there yet, but I'm close.  The facts are there are more people getting hired off the Internet than through all the recruiting events and all the professional recruiters combined.  I see nearly every large, medium, and even small companies now having some kind of online employment application process on their website.  At job fairs and recruiting events, I consistently and constantly hear company reps instructing candidates to apply online, because that is the only way that they will be considered.

Why do you think the vast majority of companies ask you to go and apply online?   If I didn’t know and I was reading this, I would probably say something like: “Who cares?  Can you just tell me what I have to do to get noticed?” But having a true understanding of why so many companies are adamant about you applying online will help you understand why you have to do it a particular way.  After all, you don’t want to get lost in the abyss called “Applying Online” like most do, right? 

There are a few good reasons why companies want you to apply online.  The obvious one you already know: it’s an efficient way of collecting and tracking a talent pool with little to no touch labor.

However, in the predominant motivating factor for corporate America is fear:   fear of litigation and liability.  You see, if you are a big company and it can be shown that you didn’t treat someone the same as everyone else or that you were not fair in the hiring process, you leave yourself open to, potentially, a very expensive lawsuit.  Having some kind of system in place that treats everyone the same and doesn’t discriminate among applicants whether they are male, female, black, white, Hispanic, or whether their first name is Bill or Saddam, means that no one can be accused of discriminating against a candidate for gender or race or anything else.  This reduces liability, which is the goal of corporate America.

Mark Lyden

DoThisGetHired.com

Mark Lyden is the author of a number of books: College Students: Do This! Get Hired!; Veterans: Do This! Get Hired!; and Professionals: Do This! Get Hired! (Coming Summer 2011).  A substantial portion of the proceeds from book sales are donated back to charity to help veterans and to help the stray and abandoned animals at Logan’s Run Rescue.   

Formula For Getting Veterans A Job, SOLVED!

Along with help of veterans from each of the four major branches of the military, I have authored a book that helps vets get hired in this difficult market.  It is called "Veterans: DO THIS! GET HIRED!".  The unemployment rate for vets is over 21%, I can help.

I coordinated writing the book with HonorVet.org a company Co-founded by Senator John McCain's son Jim McCain, and a fellow Marine Jesse Canella, Co-Founder and CEO. They've endorsed it and said: "If you’re a veteran you need to read this book!! Best advice for getting hired that we have ever read." 

“I was blown away by the depth of his [the Author Mark Lyden] knowledge and solution based information is an understatement. If you are a Military Veteran or Active Duty Service Member making the transition, YOU NEED this book NOW before someone else steals your dream job.”… Mr. Todd M. Hecht, Veteran and Co-Owner and Managing Partner of Military Stars (www.MilitaryStars.com)

“Thoroughly enjoyed reading the publication.  Your insight to helping educate our returning vets is remarkable.”… Gene Clark, Veteran and Director, Military & Veteran Enrollment Services, Rochester Institute of Technology

“You rocked during the interview!  Can't wait to do it again!!”…The Keating Network Radio Interview (www.keatingnetwork.com)

A portion of the proceeds my wife and I are donating back to help vets.