9/11 Inspired "Ten Steps to a Federal Job"

Author Kathryn Troutman shared the story over the weekend about how the 9/11 tragedy inspired her book, "Ten Steps to a Federal Job." I requested permission from her to reprint the story on my blog. Here it is:

"Starting on the day after the attack, concerned citizens were calling our office at The Resume Place, Inc. to ask for help with applying for federal positions. We saw that Americans needed a quick, step-by-step guide to federal jobs in order to understand the complex application process and successfully apply for the anti-terrorism, emergency management, and law enforcement careers (that resulted from the attacks). I wrote and published the first edition of "Ten Steps to a Federal Job" (Bridget's note: link is to the third edition, which was just published this month) within months after Sept. 11, 2001.

U.S. citizens would call and say, "I want to have a job that will make a difference. I want to help protect our nation's security. I don't want to sell computers, or cars, or financial services anymore. I want a job with a federal agency that can make a difference for America. I don't know anything about federal jobs, but I want a job where I can help make America more secure, somehow, some way."

Job seekers were in a hurry to land a job where they could make a difference in America against terrorism. They wanted jobs where they could contribute their skills to new careers in security, safety, disaster preparedness, analysis, data, and communications to increase information about and reduce terrorism toward America.

Financial job seekers from New York City's financial district were calling to find new careers using the financial background that they had developed for many years in NYC. Their businesses were gone, many colleagues were lost during the attacks, and thousands of jobs were wiped away. We helped many financial analysts and financial specialists to relocate and redirect their careers into financial services in government agencies. Hundreds of new public service job seekers were asking about first-time federal jobs where they could make a difference.

Agencies and jobs that were of the most interest for first-time federal job seekers to help protect our nation's security included:

• FBI: Police and law enforcement officials wanted to help the FBI track terrorists.
• TSA: This agency was formed very soon after 9/11, and many retired police personnel, security, and law enforcement personnel flocked to TSA.
• FEMA: Emergency preparedness, disaster preparedness, and EMT personnel were seeking positions to take care of emergencies that may occur in America following this day.
• CIA/NSA/NGA: People from all walks of life were interested in intelligence positions, including language specialists (especially Arabic language speakers).
• DHS (including CIS, CBP): People wanted to be a part of change in immigration, customs, and boarder work to help monitor those who came into the country safely.
• HHS/CDC: Public interest spiked in epidemiology, biology, and forensics, as it related to possible terrorism in America.
• Military Services: Thousands of brave Americans volunteered for the active duty and reserve services and would deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan for many tours over these past 10 years to protect America.

The Next Step:

Now, Certified Federal Job Search Trainers are helping thousands of first-time job seekers today who are public service-oriented!

Ten Steps to a Federal Job gave thousands of patriotic, public service-oriented Americans the steps they needed to try to begin a public service career that could help improve our watchful eye against terrorism, to serve expert skills in counter-terrorism, to assist with emergency preparedness, to design continuity plans, and to help manage disasters that we hope won't occur.

The "Ten Steps to a Federal Job" curriculum is still being taught on military bases around the world to military personnel and spouses who are currently serving America to ensure the safety and security of U.S. citizens.

A message of sincere appreciation goes out to the military personnel who have served for the last 10 years and sacrificed so much to protect America in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We at The Resume Place, Inc. are dedicated to helping the military and public servants continue to protect the security of Americans.

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Resume writers: If you are interested in obtaining training to become a Certified Federal Job Search Trainer, click here for more information.

Kathryn Troutman Photo courtesy of Emily Troutman, Photographer.

What's New, What's Next

For the past two months, I've been working on a new project for Resume Writers' Digest -- a membership site. Because Resume Writers' Digest has been around for more than 10 years now (I started it in 1999), I have a lot of content (in various formats) that I think can be useful for my fellow career industry professionals.

I've got more than 40 back issues of the Resume Writers' Digest newsletter. I've got recordings of teleseminars I've done. I've got about a dozen special reports -- some that I sell and some that I give away. I've got articles, blog posts, and pages and pages of handwritten notes and ideas. All looking for readers/listeners/viewers. But I didn't have a good way to package the information ... until now. (Some of these are incorporated into the site; others will be added over time.)

I'm not starting an "association" -- there are already plenty of those in the industry! This is a portal to help you gain access to information that will make you a more effective resume writer and better businessperson. It ties in with the mission that I've had for Resume Writers' Digest since the beginning -- when I identify something I'd like to know more about as a resume writer, I seek out the information and share it with you.

There are currently two levels of membership:

• Free. Get access to the current issue of Resume Writers' Digest, selected free special reports, the general discussion forum, and a free listing in the public directory of resume writers. (Register for a free membership; applications are manually approved to keep out spammers.)

• Bronze. For $10/month, you also get access to the entire archive of Resume Writers' Digest issues, additional member-only discussion forums, access to an enhanced Membership Directory (for networking!), several special reports (currently: Write Great Resumes Faster -- which normally sells for $14; Best of the Conferences -- which normally sells for $8; and Getting Started on Google+), business templates and forms (currently: Resume Critique Form, Company Profile Sheet, My Websites, and Backup Resources) and the first of the Pass-Along Materials (PAMs) content packs.*

* What are PAMs? Pass-Along Materials are content packs that you can re-brand, re-write, and/or re-package for use with your clients. The first PAM package is a guide that your client can use to ask questions in an interview. One new PAM content pack will be released each month for Bronze members. The previous month's content pack will be removed from the site when the new one is added.

The more members we get, the more resources that will be made available!

The membership site will be launched on Sept. 30 -- but I'm doing pre-launch testing this week (and a special Charter member offer next week). If you are interested in being a beta tester, email me at editor(at)rwdigest.com.

Don't Take Too Many Social Media Shortcuts

As this Hubze blog post points out, sometimes the tools you use to manage your social media presence can backfire. Although Hootsuite is one of the timesaving tools I mentioned in the Spring 2011 issue of Resume Writers' Digest to help you manage your social media presence in 30 minutes a day or less, over-relying on Hootsuite -- especially for Facebook -- can penalize you in two ways.

The first is by reducing your Edgerank score (Edgerank is the algorithm Facebook uses to determine which of your posts are seen by your page's fans). The second is that Facebook sometimes "bunches" posts from Hootsuite together. (We've all seen the "See more posts from Hootsuite" link in our Facebook news feed ... and raise your hand if you've skipped over clicking to see more of those posts. Yep.) The same is true for some other services, such as Twitterfeed.

See this example:

While it's perfectly fine to use Hootsuite to help you manage your social media presence, there's no substitute for manual posting, especially on Facebook. So mix it up a bit -- throw in a manual posting at least every other day, in order to maximize fan engagement. (For most resume writers, you should be posting on your fan page no more than twice a day and no fewer than twice a week.)

Great JobMob Post on 4-Step Recipe to Become a Golden Job Candidate

Rosa Vargas wrote this excellent post on the JobMob website (thanks to Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter for the link on Facebook).

Rosa writes that job seekers must identify their "golden distinction," using the following formula:

a. In alignment with what is needed for the type of jobs I am targeting, I need to promote the following three personal profile qualities _______, _______, and ______ in my marketing message.

b. To perfectly match what is needed from the ideal candidate, I need to convey my unique talent in being able to achieve _______________________________________ consistently throughout my career. This is evidenced by the following examples from my career: (choose at least 3).

c. This skill (“b” above) is unique of someone with my qualifications and experiences in that I, unlike most, will go about it this way ___________________________________________________.

d. To convince employers my distinction positions me to solve their problem(s) and deliver benefits for XYZ Company, I must promise them the following ______________________ as an end result.

Read the full post at: http://jobmob.co.il/blog/golden-job-candidate-recipe/#ixzz1VUI3zsav

Are you sharing this kind of valuable information with your clients, or are you just writing their resume?