When it comes to helping veterans get started in their new civilian lives, career counseling is a must. There's a large marketplace of resume writers and career strategists on hand from which veterans can seek counsel.
There's also an official, established group of these kinds of career counselors to help manage and self-regulate their burgeoning industry. The Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches (PARWCC) uses its combined expertise to help job seekers maximize their time and effort.
PARWCC also offers certification for those kinds of employment specialties, including resume writing, career coaching, motivational and interview professionals, and career strategists. The group's latest offering is one designed to help the military-veteran community, Certified Veteran Career Strategist (CVCS).
Not only does the CVCS professional help veterans looking for work in the United States, it offers them an understanding of the gap that exists between the civilian and military worlds. The new certification assists these career coaches in translating military skills to civilian life and explains the nuances of military culture as it relates to the workplace. It costs just $715 and can be completed in 11 sessions.
"There are about a quarter of a million unemployed veterans in the U.S. today, and the average age of a veteran is only 28 years old," Don Orlando, a career professional and 27-year member of the board of directors for PARWCC, said in a statement. "One of the best ways we can serve those that served us is by better understanding military culture, as well as setting them up for success in their transition."
According to PARWCC's research, veterans in the civilian workforce can be seen as inflexible, unfamiliar with profit and loss, and can be too reliant on taking orders as opposed to critical thinking. These perceptions, PARWCC says, are an unconscious bias and far from the truth.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) says that in practice, employers see veterans very differently. SHRM believes veterans are an untapped talent pool that are dependable, organized and dedicated to their jobs. SHRM also cites a Center for a New American Security study that finds 68% of employers reporting veterans perform "better than" or "much better than" their civilian peers.
PARWCC's new certification course for veterans and employment professionals offers a chance to bridge the civil-military divide in the workplace. For veterans, it will help them leverage the skill they picked up during their service, even in jobs very different from their military career. For career counselors, it helps sell employers on the return they can get from investing in veteran employees.
To learn more about the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches or its Certified Veteran Career Strategist program, visit the PARWCC website.
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