JBLM Job Fair Showcases State Employment Opportunities

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. – Staff Sergeant Danika Nolan’s military exit date is a couple of weeks away, and she’s preparing for the transition at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

As part of a group of about 30 job seekers, [empty] she attended an employing reasonable Jan. 30 that showcased Washington State profession chances at JBLM’s Hawk Career Center.

“I just try to benefit from all the resources and services that the (Transition Assistance Program) Center needs to use, simply to make certain I’m as prepared as possible,” she stated.

The focus of the task fair on state work, instead of work in numerous industries, made it different than others on the installation. Sponsored by the Veterans Employee Resource Group, WorkSource and the TAP, www.opad.biz it started with a panel of veterans from state companies, who shared their experiences and answered concerns. Following the panel, recruiters from state companies were offered to address employing questions, stated Frank Handoe, deputy shift services manager for the TAP.

Informational tables represented companies consisting of VERG, WorkSource and Washington State’s Department of Veterans Affairs and VA Apprenticeship Program; Department of Children, Youth and Families; Department of Social and Health Services, Community Services Division; and celest-interim.fr Office of the Insurance Commissioner.

A quarterly event, the task fair is “a low-stress, low-pressure chance to discover out what sort of opportunities exist here outside your back door,” said Christopher Gentz, shift services manager for the Directorate of Human Resources.

Additional task fairs like the Jan. 30 occasion will be held May 8, July 10 and Sept. 11.

To get ready for them, “dress for success,” bring your resume and practice your elevator pitch, Gentz said.

An elevator pitch is a “quick introduction of yourself, who you are and what you’re aiming to do,” Handoe stated, discussing that the ability is taught as part of the TAP.

One of the task fair’s goals was to help people discover career opportunities and how their skills align with them, Gentz stated.

Education is a key advantage of going to a job fair, as about 40% of those who begin with the TAP discover they’re “not prepared to make that dive yet,” or they have actually seen the offered chances and decide to continue serving, Gentz said.

“We see that basically every year,” he said. “We want them to make an educated decision about their career.”

Part of the education piece is discovering finances, including credit reports, budget plans and “developing a savings so you have something to deal with when it’s time to go out,” .

“Everybody’s going to get out of the Army sooner or later,” he said, “however while you’re in, are you doing whatever you can to prepare to go out?”

Job fairs also exist to help individuals with networking, seeing what people in the outside world are trying to find – including accreditations, accreditations and schooling – and discovering their working with practices, Handoe said.

“You ought to be doing prep work now for what it is you want to do later down the road,” he said.

That prep work consists of preparing for task fairs.

“You need to enter into a working with reasonable with a plan of what you’re going to do and not simply meander around,” Handoe said.

He described that participants ought to pinpoint the companies they wish to speak to and research them ahead of time, to enable educated discussions with recruiters.

Nolan enjoyed the Jan. 30 job reasonable and talked to some recruiters. A senior 24-Hour Loan infotech professional with the 16th Combat Aviation Unit, 64.227.136.170 she has actually found she wishes to serve those who serve in her approaching civilian role.