Military Job Seekers Go Back to (Career) College

With the recent enhancements to the GI Bill, many veterans are going back to school, but for transitioning job seekers who are part of the free placement program of Bradley-Morris, Inc. (BMI), many choose to attend their no-cost Career College for Candidates.

The BMI Career College was launched during the spring of 2008, with the goal of introducing military-experienced candidates to “best practice” career transition, job search and interviewing skills.

Tom Wolfe is BMI’s Career College “professor” (his actual title is Candidate Strategies Editor and Career Coach). During his 30 year career as an author, editor, and executive in the military recruiting industry, Tom amassed a wealth of experience in the training and preparation of military personnel for the civilian transition process.

“Although all job seekers share a common goal – they want a great job – they each have their own search parameters, and the amount of preparation necessary varies from candidate to candidate,” according to Wolfe. “There is however a subset of information and guidance that applies across the board to everyone. One of the best ways to deliver that is the classroom, and if you think about it, the Internet can be viewed as just one big classroom. When we developed the content and the courses that comprise our Career College for Candidates, we made sure it could be delivered in both actual and virtual classroom settings.”

“Although our existing candidate transition program has a 17-year track record of success, we saw an opportunity to utilize technology to our candidates’ advantage,” says Craig Griffin, a principal and vice president of operations at BMI. Griffin adds, “BMI Career College students – our candidates – are stationed throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia and they can access these classes from the comfort and convenience of their homes, or anywhere for that matter, as long as they have high-speed Internet access and a telephone.”

Career College (CC) consists of four courses:

• CC 101 – Gauging your Marketability & What’s Out There?
• CC 201 – Preparing for Hiring Conferences & Interviews
• CC 301 – Site Visits & Responding to Job Offers
• CC 401 – Starting Your New Job & Civilian Career

“The course titles are a great clue as to the course content and they can be taken in sequence or independently,” says Wolfe. “Each class lasts for an hour and the courses are offered two to ten times each month.”

BMI job seekers give positive reviews to “going back to school.” One recent candidate, Navy Lieutenant J. Rogers, said, “The courses were great. They helped me put the finishing touches on my preparations for the BMI hiring conference and provided excellent interviewing advice. The ability to take the classes at home and in the evening was an added benefit.”

If you would like to learn more about BMI’s military-to-civilian transition services and / or register for consideration as a candidate, please visit, www.Bradley-Morris.com.