Pros and Cons of Military Headhunters

A lot of the information that’s written on this site revolves around successfully translating your military skills for the civilian job market.  This means putting together a clear and concise resume and effectively conveying your military duties in civilian terms for prospective employers.  In some interviews, your interviewer will be well-versed in military lingo, but you should never expect this.   The fact is that translating skills in civilian terms is one of the most difficult parts of making the transition back into civilian life.  You don’t want to sell yourself short and you want to secure a long-term career with some room for advancement and fulfillment.  It can be difficult to do this all on your own.  You may be overwhelmed by what career to choose, let alone how your military experience fits into each possible career.  Making the Job Hunt Easier Which leads to one major option: military headhunters.  Instead of having to handle all the transition duties yourself, including plugging your military experience into a skills translation calculator and pouring through job openings, military men and women instead use a headhunter to do much of the work.   There are a number of advantages to using a headhunter (also called a recruiter, which adds some confusion because recruiters most often recruit people into the military).  One of the major advantages is that a headhunter also acts a career counselor.  He or she will not only help translate skills but also try to determine a career path based on those skills.  This is a good idea if you’re currently struggling with narrowing down a career path.  They’ll help with interview skills, preparing a resume, and finally putting you together with relevant job offers.   The disadvantage is that headhunters don’t always have access to the widest range of jobs.  In part it depends on the headhunter, but generally military headhunters aren’t well-connected to more 21st century industries – namely the Internet or start-up tech firms.  Even so, working with a headhunter can help narrow down your career choices, so it is advisable.  You may just find out that your best suited for the tech sector and have to undergo an independent job search.  Do Some of the Work Yourself Though a military headhunter can help you narrow down your career choices and determine your skills to match that career, you should still come to the table with some idea of what you want to do.  Using a skills translator and a career assessment test are both good tools to help give you some direction about what you want to achieve.  Additionally, after you meet with a military recruiter, you should not cease looking for job openings yourself and should still check out military job boards or attend military job fairs.  Think of a recruiter as a very useful tool, but not someone who will necessary do everything for you.  It takes some planning on your part both before and after you meet with a military job recruiter.   Comments (0) Show/Hide comments Write comment Show/Hide comment form Name Email Website Title Comment Add Comment