Many new career candidates search for their next career opportunity using job boards. A critical step in your job board activity is to also reach out to recruiters, friends, coworkers and other contacts to seek out jobs that might also materialize from the conversation. This is networking! Networking is a very important step in the career search. It can often uncover opportunities and jobs that companies are making available. Sometimes this opens the door to start a conversation with a decision maker and makes a candidacy and resume available to a key player or intermediary who can deliver a candidate to a hiring manager.

In my work with hundreds of candidates who are seeking jobs, I see the most successful candidates as those who are proactive in reaching out to other contacts in developing a job search discussion. "What opportunities do you have?" "Do you have any leads to help me in my job search?" "Can I enlist your help in my job search?" are all questions that a candidate can appropriately pose to others as they seek out new opportunities.

There are many great websites and free services out there dedicated to helping military service members and veterans with the transition. I encourage you to check out MilitaryHire.com, which helps veterans find new career opportunities through networking opportunities and its job board. If you have any questions, please call 800-585-3690 or email help@militaryhire.com.