Troutman seminar for Federal Job Seekers

By Chloe RodriguezAugust 21, 2018

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1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
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2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Anne Marshall, Employment Readiness Program Manager, and Kathryn Troutman and 17 military spouses are holding Kathryn Troutman's 'The Stars Are Lined Up for Military Spouses' book after the presentation, learning about military spouse hiring preferen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Fort Huachuca, Arizona - Soldiers, military spouses and civilian gathered at the Thunder Mountain Activity Center on August 16, to attend a two-part federal job seminar by Kathryn Troutman, renowned federal resume guru and author of "Federal Resume Guidebook" and "Ten Steps to a Federal Job for Military Spouses".

Organized by Army Community Service (ACS), the workshop audience of nearly 100 included service members, family member and many other DoD ID card holders. Each left with a copy of her 10 Steps to a Federal Resume book to start resume drafting and targeting process.

In the first part of the interactive workshop, Troutman elaborated on the 10-step program she first developed in 2002 to help federal job seeker. She shared several interesting real-life examples from her clients applying for jobs, to ensure attendees did not make similar mistakes. She ensured participants were active in every part of their job-seeking journey, beginning with encouraging networking with other attendees and to follow up with potential employers after interviews. She emphasized the importance of standing out with an outline format and bold accomplishment stories. Troutman also uncovered and explained many of the unknown tricks to becoming a best-qualified candidate not only through your resume, but also your questionnaire.

Participants received relevant tips and referred to pages in the latest edition of the book the received, along with a check sheet for federal resume reviews and other Employment Readiness Program documents.

During the second half of her day-long workshop, Troutman addressed the active duty spouses seeking federal employment. She explained Executive Order 13473 (Military Spouse Hiring Preference), which gives military spouses priority over most other applicants in the DoD selection process and gave a live demonstration on how to navigate USAJOBS.gov to find the most applicable positions in the area. She emphasized the important changes to EO 13473 that allows spouse to claim this preference indefinitely after their PCS move, extending previous legislation from the short two-year eligibility period.

The Employment Readiness Program at Army Community Service is a Certified Federal Career Coach and Certified Federal Job Search Trainer thru Kathryn Troutman's "The Resume Place" and also teaches the same curriculum on a monthly basis. DoD ID card holders and their family members are welcome to attend and can call the Employment Readiness Program at 520.538.5768 for dates and times.