Female service members learn skills for transitioning to civilian workforce

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Sinthia Rosario | Bob Topping, director of strategic initiatives at Regional Education and Training Center, speaks with female service member who are transitioning out of the military about defining who they are, their purpose and challenges they may face once they transition during the two-day “Redefining Your Future” workshop, at the Salvation Army at Tacoma, Wash., May 18-19. During the workshop, experts from different career fields provided guidance on what to expect in corporate America, interview reviews and other valuable tools when moving to the civilian world. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Sinthia Rosario, 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)  

WA, UNITED STATES

05.20.2016

Story by Sgt. Sinthia Rosario 

5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment   

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash., – For the first time, Joint Base Lewis-McChord female service members preparing to leave the military participated in a transition workshop known as “Redefining Your Future,” at the Salvation Army Citadel Corps, Tacoma, Wash., May 18-19. The two-day workshop was designed to provide a unique set of skills and professional counseling to prepare women for the civilian world.
“Women are a demographic within a demographic,” said Shellie Willis, director of strategic initiatives for WorkForce Central. “They don’t realize they are, so the whole point was to get them out and to get them to start to reconnect with themselves, who they are and addressing those things that they need to address as they start to transition because transition is hard.”
No matter how prepared Soldiers are, they are not always mentally and emotionally prepared to leave the military, she added. The workshop gave female service members tools to define themselves.
“Defining a purpose and understanding what core competencies they can bring if employment is the next thing that they seek,” Willis said. “What their goals are and creating their signatures for themselves. It’s a really compressed version of what we do over two-days, but we wanted to be very deliberate about what we gave them.”
Through the workshop, they were able to bring in experts from different career fields with military and non-military connections with the intent of providing professional guidance.
“The key pieces that they’re going to be getting during this workshop are they’re going to hear from high power female executives in corporate America about diversity, challenges and opportunities that they may face when they transition into corporate America,” said Robin Baker, transition services manager.
In addition, they connected with mentorship programs, received some one-on-one coaching and had resume reviews.
“One of the speakers was talking a lot about how you have to champion yourselves,” said Capt. Katrina Berendt, a transitioning service member and a human resources officer with 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. “I think as women and also veterans and kind of fitting both of those things, if you champion yourself in that way and also support others, then it’s great. The more support systems you have out there, the easier it is to get through life.”
Some of the attendees learned how to dress for and approach an interview.
“It is a challenge for a lot of females,” Baker said. “If you think about it, some of the males and females join the military right out of high school and so they wore whatever they wore to high school. Then they went into the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard, and they wore their uniform.”
She explained that a lot of troops have never had to dress themselves for a professional environment or go through an interview process.
“It’s just a new set of skills that they maybe don’t possess,” she said.
At the end of the workshop, there were a number of vendors. The service members received a dress style demonstration and a professional photo for job seeking sites.
With the tools acquired during the workshop, service members became better equipped to deal with many of their challenges and worries.
“I think this program gives you the opportunities to learn what makes yourself marketable,” Berendt said.

• Date Taken: 05.20.2016
• Date Posted: 05.20.2016 16:23
• Story ID: 198664
• Location: WA, US