Identifying Transferable Skills
Which transferable skills have you found to be the most civilian-valued and what techniques have you used to bolster these skills within the veteran student population?
We have found that the following transferable skills are very highly prized by the employers that we place graduates with:
1. Problem Solving
2. Ability to Delegate
3. Self Reliance
4. Ability to Operate as part of a team
We provide vocational / technical training in many of our programs centered around computers and computer technology. Employers are looking for our graduates to be able to quickly master compex technologies and use that knowledge to problem solve and find solutions that may or may not be written down in a book.
We structure our programs to highlight these skills and the relevancy of them to an employer through lab exercises that require team work to complete, as well as the use of a variety of tools and support systems, some clearly provided as a starting point, others not discussed or hinted at. This challenges the students to work together, to support each other, and to think outside of the " box " in order to accomplish the task(s) they have been given.
We also run " Capture the Flag " exercises as part of the lab solution, allowing teams to compete to finish exercises quickly, and then present their solution to the rest of the class. This requires the team to be on target, think through their solution, validate it prior to claiming completion, and then explaining it in front of their peers in class. All of these actions reinforce skills that will be required by employers once the student leaves our program and finds employment.
Often the skill that most find in veterans that are transferrable to civilian occupations is that of leadership. But I notice that you do not list that trait. Is this an oversight or do you feel that the four traits you list overshadow leadership experience? I like the "Capture the Flag" exercise. It requires the student to think fast and also to be confident in their answer since they have to subsequently share their solution with the class. Do you find a difference between your veteran students and your civilian students in the ability to successfully present their solutions?
Dr. Williams:
We remind our students that they have set skills that can make them stand-out during their job search.
Moreover that they need to advocate them in their resume and during their job interview. They normally have strong work ethic skills, able to adapt to changes, reliable and possess leadership skills. These skills are normally acquired during their tenure while serving. Therefore they need to effectively address those skills.
Great points. The only thing I would add is to coach the veterans to have researched and practiced competency stories that demonstrate these transferable skills. Most interviews are behavior based and stories that are succinct and to the point tend to make the point. Plus, put these stories into civilian terms and eliminate the acronyms.
Leadership and loyalty definitely transfer easily into the civilian workforce. I have found the biggest drawback is translating their responsibilities in the service into civilian tasks on their resume. The websites mentioned, especially the military translator are going to be a crucial aid in helping our veteran student see their worth in the civilian world and transfer that into their resumes and talking points during interviews.
Christina,
What can we do to help this issue along? There is little need for an infantryman in corporate America, but there is a huge need for the leadership traits that he learned while in the military, for organization skills that were perfected, and for the counseling expertise. We need to help veterans concentrate more on the competencies that they learned while a service member and less on the specific job titles. Even if the veteran was a commander, translating "Commander" to "CEO" on a resume doesn't quite demonstrate the level of competency that the veteran acquired while being in charge.
