Alan Dankwerth ⋅ Tucson, AZ S.C. Johnson Wax ⋅ 45 years experience

Hello Janelle:
You have gotten some good advice. Will be glad to review your resume and profile.
Best,
Alan Dankwerth
e-mail: ajdankwerth@hotmail.com

Janelle Hughley ⋅ Riverdale, GA U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

Mrs. Brigger,

Thanks for your response! I really appreciate the feedback and I will be emailing you shortly!

Kelly Thrasher ⋅ Denver, PA Accolade ⋅ 20 years experience

Janelle, Just some quick thoughts; You are listed as a Student seeking volunteer, internship and job opportunities. Yu might look at rewqriting this as it reads that you have little experience and really are seeking a "first job experience". The head-line/attention grabber should be a "hook" to get someone to read your profile. Your experience needs more explanation. Explain what you did in each are with some solid numbers, etc. Did you manage anyone? As a Sergeant, I know that you did but how many people, work load, think of what you would have on your NCOER. For instance, managed a team of 5 individuals in providing human resource support to over 1,000 people. Managed performance appraisals, pay inquiries, and benefit issue resolution as the manager of the team. Received 2 awards for excellence in service and management.

Janelle Hughley ⋅ Riverdale, GA U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

Hello everyone,

I posted this thread in hopes that ACP advisors would hopefully take the time to read my profile and resume and give me feedback on areas of improvement and places where I am lacking. A lot of employers talk about not being able to translate military experience into civilian terms. There is also another side to the story veterans don't know how to translate experiences and accomplishments into terms everyone can understand. People often say translate, but no one is taking the time to help us translate. I would love to receive help from my ACP advisors who understand military and civilian terms. I believe if you don't understand some terms or acronyms you will most likely take the time to ask the questions to help us translate that many employers can't or won't take the time to do do.

Veterans have a lot of hands on experience and being told what, how, when, and where to do things. If we didn't have this experience we wouldn't have made it through years of military service. I hoping as time goes on and the U.S. becomes more concerned about unemployed veterans someone will be more than willing to meet us halfway. No I don't want someone to do all the thinking for me, I just want someone to give me a little more than 5 minutes of their time in hopes to help me better understand how to translate.

Janelle Hughley ⋅ Riverdale, GA U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

Status Report/AAR

Where do you currently stand in regards to your career search, education, additional training, etc.?

-I am about to begin my efforts to further my education and obtain my bachelor's degree, and work on getting my PHR certification (Professional in Human Resources). I am actively searching for an entry level role in human resources. I am willing to work in retail sales until I can get into HR or I obtain my bachelor's and certification.

How and in which areas can we help?

-I like this platform because it allows you to be able to just ask a quick question or develop a mentor relationship with an advisor. I don't think there is more that the Advisors can do. I would love to see more active advisors, but I know everyone's lifestyle doesn't permit for them to be on this site often.

In reference to the questions I have asked so far on ACP AdvisorNet:

What was helpful?
-Being able to openly ask a questions others before me may have asked and no say refer to this question for your answers. This makes me feel like a person, and every answer is tailored to me and my current situation. Having advisors answer my questions and provide additional contact information to further ask questions or follow up has also been helpful! I've gotten so many answers that I can take away from one question. Most of all no one is disrespectful or being negative on any of my post or of others I've seen so far.

Was the question answered to your satisfaction/ Do you have any follow-up questions?
-Yes I questions were answered to my satisfaction! I don't have any follow-up questions to my original questions.

What advice do you have for others on this topic?
My advice to others about the questions I've asked are to give feedback to the advisors so they know if the information is valuable or if they are seeking further answers. I think feedback is great, for both the veterans and advisors.

Status Report

I've reached out to the Advisors who've offered to help above and received some excellent feedback. I am currently working on incorporating the feedback into my resume and LinkedIn post.

Richard Buck ⋅ Patterson, NY EY ⋅ 25 years experience

If you still need someone to review resume and LinkedIn profile, I would be honored.

_____________________
Richard Buck
76warrior85@gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/in/ribuck/

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco, CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

Janelle,
It looks like you have some great replies and offers of assistance. Let us all know how things progress, and what you think your goals are. Once your resume and LinkedIn profile are complete, and you have defined your goals, I encourage you to begin work on your "elevator pitch".

I recently attended a career seminar hosted by Human Resources personnel at several large Silicon Valley based firms. I think one of the most productive sessions focused on the "elevator Pitch", and how job seekers and just about everyone needs to formulate and master their one-minute "Elevator Pitch".

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-06-18/the-perfect-elevator-pitchbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice

https://www.google.com/search?q=elevator+pitch

Janelle Hughley ⋅ Riverdale, GA U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

Mr. Thrasher,

Thank you for the thoughts! I been trying to work on elaborating on my experience but I wanted to list accomplishments that weren't already on my resume. You've given me some ideas for some accomplishment I can list on my profile. I will definitely be updating my profile, I had to delete my old profile and start a new one due to some hacking and spam I've received through my email. I'm working on my new profile and building connections as well.

Lavonne Brigger ⋅ Frisco, TX U.S. Air Force ⋅ 26 years served

I absolutely agree with the post above- you are not just a student. You have a solid work history and, I'm sure, accomplishments. Post those. Are you looking to stay in HR/benefits coordination? If you want to email me, lavonne.myers@verizon.com, my mom retired as the head of HR for a city in the DFW area. She still does HR contracting and coordinationg of benefits for cities in transition. I'm happy to reach out to her and see if she has suggestions and possibly connect you. My dad is retired Navy so she understands second and even third careers. As well, with your telecom experience I'm sure you're aware that both Verizon and ATT have robust internship programs and a big presence in your area.

Janelle Hughley ⋅ Riverdale, GA U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

Mr. Cal,

This was the thread I was looking for before I posted this question! Thank you so much for sharing the link!

Janelle Hughley ⋅ Riverdale, GA U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

Mr. Cal,

I'm not a huge supporter of for-profit schools. I thought going to Rasmussen would be a good choice for me because I don't want to go further into debt and my GI Bill benefits are running low. I'll admit I had a bad habit of choosing to attend schools without doing my research and seeking out opinions of other veterans. Rasmussen offers some IT certifications in their IT programs which was the main reason I decided to try and attend. After doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on my past experiences from for-profit school I felt it wouldn't be worth it and I would be giving in on one of my goals to earn a degree from a non-profit respectable institution. I'm not saying Rasmussen College is a bad school it just wasn't a good fit for me and my goals.

I prefer mentoring in this online format! I actually love it! It gives everyone a chance to interact with others and provide input and feedback for more than one person. My favorite part is everyone can read the questions and responses. You never know you may help someone who had the same question or someone afraid to ask the same question.

I won't consider writing any officials since there was no harm done in this situation! Some veterans may love Rasmussen College! I wouldn't want to ruin that because everyone situation is different.

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco, CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

Janelle,
OK, great feedback. A lot of for-profit "colleges" are unfortunately filled with selfish, greedy individuals most interested in exploiting students and government dollars.

I think one approach you can take is to step back, define your goals and resources (G.I Bill, etc.) and then proceed from there.

Pleases consider emailing government officials (our President, your Congressperson, Senators) and provide feedback (good or bad) re: Rasmussan and other colleges.

I'll message you and see if we can schedule a time for a call next week. But I like to provide "most" mentoring online, so that others can see it, critique it, and provide additional information and advice.

-Tom

Janelle Hughley ⋅ Riverdale, GA U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

Mr. Cal,

Thank you for your feedback! As far as employing Rasmussen College in helping me with resume and linkedin critiques its not happening. I decided to not attend Rasmussen for the session beginning on July 7th. I felt as if the tuition was too high and too them I was just another number. I need to update my profile to reflect the changes. Also from my experiences in employing some college career services they aren't very helpful in helping you explore careers, internships, and volunteer opportunities. I've been to several and they've all told me my resume was great before I went to a Google Resume workshop and the person who read my resume and helped me rewrite it couldn't fully understand a lot of my resume or accomplishments.

I want to invest my time and money into something that will eventually return a profit and right not I don't feel like Rasmussen College will help me get a return on my investment in a college education.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco, CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

Janelle,
I see from your LinkedIn profile that you are attending Rasmussen College. Ask Rasmussan's career services department for assistance and advice in terms of a resume and LinkedIn profile critique, career advice, and advice regarding IT certifications, etc.

Unless you are on a full-scholarship paid for by Rasmussan, you are a valuable revenue stream for the college, and they should be able to help you with these services. If they do not, I recommend seeking a college that can, and voting with your dollars.

http://www.rasmussen.edu/student-life/blogs/career-services/

Let us know what Rasmussan offers in terms of advice, etc. This information is useful to both proteges and mentors.

I found this highly somewhat report on Rasmussan on the U.S. Senate's web-site. You may want to read it and ask for Rasmussan's feedback.
http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/for_profit_report/PartII/Rasmussen.pdf

Again, don't hesitate to vote with your dollars and enroll in a college that offers service you need.

Also consider enrolling in educational/degree programs that are well-integrated with industry certification programs such as the Project Management Processional (PMP) exam, the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) exam, etc.