Those who leave the military can easily miss one of its greatest benefits: free transition (career) assistance. In the past, there were several reasons for this.
Sometimes, service members thought their training and high standard of ethics would be enough to make them very attractive to employers.

Those retiring after a long career faced another barrier. Their organizations wanted to get the most from their corporate knowledge and experience right up to the day they retired.

For many, their dedication to the mission made it easy to shift the transition assistance sessions further down the schedule.

Now, however, the services seem to be taking a greater interest in the program. Over the last few years, DoD has funded hundreds of career transition specialists’ attendance at professional development conferences and memberships in professional career development organizations.

Career focus seems to be folded in to more service events. For example, the long-running Air Force Information Technology Conference will integrate a career fair. Some of the nation’s top IT thought leaders are present at the event which draws some 6,000 service-connected people together for the three day meeting.

Veterans aren’t the only ones who benefit from this new focus. If you are a résumé writer or a career coach working with veterans, be sure to ask what they took away from their transition assistance program. The new knowledge these special clients have can make the work we do more efficient and effective.