Once you’ve reached a point of building your resume the next step is to start getting yourself “out there”. This advice is great for transitioning service members and military spouses. Military spouses move often and find themselves starting over which can be overwhelming, but keeping your resume updated and keeping an active online presence is helpful. Whether you have done several different jobs, volunteered hours of service or had one job throughout your military service; potential employers need to be able to view your resume and find you online. You can manually apply for positions, set your profiles to receive notifications for specific jobs or let employers and recruiters find you by making your resume searchable.

I highly recommend setting up profiles on job sites such as USAjobs, Clearance jobs, Indeed, Governmentjobs and LinkedIn. Of course, there are many more sites these are just a few options I have used.

I discovered LinkedIn along my transitioning journey and I’m so glad I did. One great resource I used was USO Pathfinders. This site offered webinars specifically for “Mastering LinkedIn & Building a Personal Brand”. There is also a LinkedIn Cheat Sheet that is absolutely amazing, offering tips on setting up your LinkedIn Profile.

Leaving the military or starting over at a new duty station can be somewhat scary, but setting yourself up for success is the best thing you can do. Building your online profiles early and starting your job search as soon as possible will eliminate tons of stress.

Building your online profiles is just one step in mastering your military transition. Explore more blogs in this series by visiting My Military Lifestyle.