Job-seeking veterans and military spouses on LinkedIn remind me a little too much of John Cena at the 2024 Oscars. You edge onto the LinkedIn stage like all your phenomenal naked power is hidden behind the tiny clipboard that is your profile. You act like you are about to be exposed before God, the Academy and everybody, instead of demonstrating how hugely useful you are to the world.
As Military.com’s transition master coach, I’ve helped more than 19,000 veterans with their job search. I can tell you this: You are so much more than you think you are. You are John Cena quality in a SpongeBob world.
That can be hard to perceive, especially when you start on LinkedIn and get very little interest or activity at first. It can feel like you are invisible. Worse, it can feel like you are failing in public.
But you are not failing at LinkedIn. You are just trying to apply the on-label, civilian uses of LinkedIn to your off-label military job hunt.
Free LinkedIn Master Class for Veterans
That's why you need our exclusive FREE master class, LinkedIn Power: Cranking Up Your Visibility, on Thursday, March 28, at 4 p.m. Eastern. After this 60-minute class, you will be able to do these five essential things:
- Learn how to use your free LinkedIn premium subscription to access off-label tools to help you shave months off your job search.
- Learn how to search privately so you feel less exposed on LinkedIn.
- Zero in on your career goal. What kind of job are you looking for? You must know this answer before your network can begin to find you.
- Crank up your visibility by signaling hiring managers, recruiters and peers that you are part of the in-group -- supremely skilled, eminently hirable and worth bringing in for an interview.
- Rein in your networking efforts and organize them in a way that will lead you to your next job months earlier.
LinkedIn is a fabulous tool to wield in your job hunt when you know how to use it. You have so much good to offer the world. Don’t try to hide it behind a clipboard.
Jacey Eckhart is Military.com's transition master coach. She is a certified professional career coach and military sociologist who helps military members get their first civilian job by offering career-level Master Classes through our Veteran Employment Project and on her website, SeniorMilitaryTransition.com. Reach her at Jacey.Eckhart@Monster.com.
Find Your Next Job Fast
Transitioning military, veterans and spouses may be qualified for the job, but they are missing the secrets of civilian hiring. Find out everything you need to know with our FREE master class series, including our next class. You can view previous classes in our video library. Questions for Jacey? Visit our Facebook page or reach out on LinkedIn Jacey Eckhart.
