Office of Personnel Management and D.C. National Guard Partner to help vets get jobs

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Willie G. Robinson, OPM Human Resource Specialist, provides personalized resume feedback to Staff Sgt. Vernissa Blackwell during a employment workshop Tuesday

WASHINGTON, DC (11/08/2011)(readMedia)-- President Theodore Roosevelt served proudly as a National Guardsman. Later, as president, he helped to reform the civil service to make hiring practices more fair while ensuring that veterans received special consideration for federal jobs.

So, it's especially fitting that an innovative inter-agency collaboration between the Office of Personnel Management and the District of Columbia National Guard would take place in the Theodore Roosevelt building in Washington Tuesday. In a city where the unemployment rate for veterans is more than 10 percent, the workshop was a unique opportunity for National Guard members to spend time receiving training and advice from hiring managers and human resources experts.

For the more than 60 Army and Air National Guardsmen in attendance, the workshop helped to shed light on the federal hiring process.

"The goal is to get information," said Command Sgt. Maj. Maurice Blue of the D.C. Guard's Recruiting and Retention Command, who coordinated the event. "We can apply the information we gain today to empower our soldiers and airmen and make a real difference in the way they look for jobs. We'll continue to follow up with them to hear about their successes and help them with any questions."

The workshop focused on skills that would apply to successfully finding and applying for federal jobs. A morning workshop focused on resume writing and review, where National Guardsmen were able to work with OPM human resource specialists and share lessons learned from each other. Other classes included how to find and apply for federal jobs, a briefing on background investigations, a panel with human resource professionals and a networking lunch with veteran's hiring managers from federal agencies.

During the resume workshop, service members who brought their resumes could have an OPM professional give valuable personalized feedback.

"We try to make an impact by helping each person fine tune their resume," said OPM training specialist Gerald Barnes. "We focus on what they overlook. In the military you may have many duties. I try to help people narrow down the skills to fit the job.

Sgt. 1st Class Robert Collins was thinking about his future retirement when he decided to attend the workshop.

"Military members are marketable, but we often sell ourselves short," he said. "The workshop has given me a diversity of skills in applying for a federal job."

"I appreciated the guidance on using USAjobs.gov to upload multiple resumes targeted towards different jobs." said Staff Sgt. Vernissa Blackwell of the Mobilization Augmentation Command. "You can have up to five at a time. I'm looking forward to keeping current. You never know opportunities are out there."

The event included welcoming remarks from John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, Brig. Gen. Arthur Hinaman, D.C. Guard Land Component commander, and Lisa Mallory of the D.C. Department of Employment Services. Maj. Gen. Errol R. Schwartz, the D.C. Guard's commanding general, and Chief Master Sgt. Reginald Edwards, D.C.'s senior enlisted leader, also attended the workshop.