Workshops to Meet Your Employment Goals
The Off-Base Transition Training (OBTT) pilot program is an opportunity earned through service for veterans, veterans currently serving in the National Guard and Reserve, and their spouses to take control of their career through workshops to help meet their employment goals.
Interested in Entrepreneurship?
The Small Business Administration's (SBA) Boots to Business Reboot (B2BR) extends the entrepreneurship training offered in TAP to veterans of all eras and spouses. Classes are offered in local communities throughout the United States.
Move Your Career Forward
OBTT offers the opportunity for you to move your career forward. Workshops combine the skills you learned in service and as a spouse with DOL taught employment fundamentals.
On Your Schedule
The ten, two-hour workshops are in-person, virtual and built to fit your schedule. These workshops are offered to you at no cost based on your service. You can mix and match workshops to meet your employment goals and attend workshops at your own pace.
REGISTER: In-Person or Virtually
Participants must follow all local COVID-19 protocols while attending In-Person workshops. Please contact the Employment Resource Coordinator at your desired location for current protocols.
OBTT workshops are being held virtually nationwide and in the following metropolitan areas.
Select a Location to Register
California
Los Angeles/San Bernardino Orange County/Riverside Sacramento/Solano San Diego
Massachusetts
North Carolina
Charlotte Raleigh/Fayetteville/Durham Winston-Salem/Greensboro
Pennsylvania
Texas
Austin Dallas/Fort Worth El Paso Houston San Antonio
Nationwide
Workshop Descriptions
The VETS Resource Guide [PDF] supports all OBTT workshops and includes referenced resources and websites.
Your Next Move
The Your Next Move workshop is designed to provide information on evaluating careers and developing a plan to achieve the desired career. Deciding what kind of career is the best choice involves assessing yourself and evaluating careers, looking introspectively and externally, and using your time and resources wisely. The purpose of this workshop is to provide you with resources and information you can use to evaluate careers and to develop a plan to achieve your desired career.
Objectives: At the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Describe personal factors in identifying your career choice.
- Explore DOL resources, such as My Next Move and CareerOneStop, which provide an external evaluation of careers and assessment tools to assist you in identifying careers which match your interests, knowledge, skills, and abilities.
- Explain how to conduct labor market information research to help you understand an occupation’s outlook in the U.S. market, help you identify salary ranges, and help you determine how to access work-related training and education.
Marketing Yourself and Other Job Search Tactics
When you consider that the entire process of finding a job is an exercise in selling your skills, abilities, experience, and education to an employer, it reframes the traditional concept of a job search. This workshop will introduce an updated approach to finding the right job for you. We will discuss various marketing techniques used in a job search. During the Marketing Yourself and Other Job Search Tactics workshop, you will examine what that means, how to look for that best fit career, and what specific steps to take to make your job search less stressful and more productive.
Objectives: At the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Recognize why marketing tactics are key components in your job search.
- Identify multiple methods and networking opportunities to use in a job search.
- Create an action plan for your own job search.
Understanding Resume Essentials
The Understanding Resume Essentials workshop is your quick start to building an effective resume. During this workshop, you will learn the difference between a master and targeted resumes, how to describe the elements to include on a resume, and how to utilize the Situation, Task, Action, Result (STAR) method to write your resume accomplishment statements.
Objectives: At the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Determine the difference between master and targeted resumes.
- Describe elements to include on a resume.
- Apply the STAR method to write an accomplishment statement.
Creating Your Resume - Writing Workshop
Why is writing a resume important if I’m filling out applications? A resume highlights and outlines your work history. A resume allows you to add measurable accomplishments. Having a resume will enable you to quickly identify your knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) in addition to your education. You can often copy and paste your most attractive KSAs from your resume into an application. During the Creating Your Resume – Writing Workshop, you will have time to craft an initial resume or revise a current one.
Objectives: At the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
- Prepare a draft resume.
- Review and evaluate a resume.
Interview Skills
You’ve got an interview request! All the hard work you’ve put into researching careers, getting credentials, completing your resume, finding job postings, networking, applying online, following up… has paid off with an interview request. Congratulations! While all the work you’ve done so far has been primarily on your timeline (probably all hours of the day), an interview is an event in time involving others with a beginning and an end. Because of these constraints, it is now essential for you to focus on making that event a success. During the Interview Skills workshop, you will receive information and participate in activities to build your interviewing confidence and success.
Objectives: At the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
- Understand the importance of researching industries, companies, and job descriptions.
- Use the STAR method to answer common interview questions.
- Observe and evaluate interview techniques.
- Recognize appropriate interview follow-up actions.
Federal Hiring
The Federal Hiring workshop is designed to give you a better understanding of the federal hiring process, including information on identifying preferences and executive hiring orders for veterans. At the end of this workshop, you will be able to recognize the differences between federal resumes and standard business resumes and where to obtain additional information on federal hiring.
Objectives: In this workshop, you will focus on the following objectives:
- Gain a better understanding of the federal hiring process.
- Identify preferences and executive orders for veterans.
- Recognize differences between federal resumes and standard business resumes.
- Know where to obtain additional information on federal hiring.
LinkedIn Profiles
The LinkedIn Profiles workshop provides you information and tips on making your LinkedIn profile stand out and using LinkedIn as a professional networking tool. On completing this workshop, you will walk away with the knowledge you need to set up your profile. This workshop is considered a prerequisite to attending the LinkedIn Job Search workshop.
Objectives: In this workshop, you will:
- Define LinkedIn as a professional networking tool.
- Create and improve your LinkedIn profile.
LinkedIn Job Search
The LinkedIn Job Search workshop focuses on effectively using LinkedIn as a job search tool. During this workshop, you’ll learn how recruiters search and group candidates, how the platform functions, and how you can use this information to create opportunities to make the most of your LinkedIn account.
Objectives: In this workshop, you will:
- Discover LinkedIn Recruiter.
- Expand your network through connections, groups, and organizations (companies).
- Search LinkedIn job postings.
- Set job search alerts.
- Show recruiters you are open to work.
Employment Rights
The Employment Rights workshop is designed to provide information to job seekers about their rights as an employee in the workplace. During this workshop, you will learn how to define the rights of employees, describe self-advocacy and practical techniques, and how to locate resources for assistance with workplace issues.
Objectives: In this workshop, you will:
- Define rights of employees.
- Describe self-advocacy and practical techniques.
- Locate resources for assistance with workplace issues.
Salary Negotiations
The Salary Negotiations workshop provides information on how to prepare for and conduct a salary negotiation. During this workshop, you will learn how to determine a reasonable salary range for your experience level and physical location, how to compare a job announcement and associated requirements to your experience and education level, how to evaluate job offers, and how to respond to job offers.
Objectives: In this workshop, you will learn how to:
- Determine a reasonable salary range.
- Compare a job announcement posting and requirements to your experience and education.
- Evaluate job offers.
- Identify and discuss three ways to respond to a job offer.
Contact
Contact the Employment Resource Coordinator with any questions.