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The Call of Duty Endowment has been helping veterans find positions in private industry. (Call of Duty Endowment)
If you are among the veterans looking for a new line of work, you don’t have to look further than one of your favorite video game companies to find help.
The folks at Call of Duty created a non-profit in 2009 to help veterans find a fulfilling job. Whether it is immediately after serving or a decade later, Call of Duty’s Endowment can help.
“The most important things for success are resume preparation, LinkedIn preparation, and interview practice,” Dan Goldenberg, the executive director of the Call of Duty Endowment, told Stars and Stripes. “You should think of your LinkedIn as work. You’re structuring your LinkedIn profile as part and parcel of your resume. The same level of effort needs to go into that.”
The endowment has experienced counselors who “can give you assessments to help you figure out what makes sense to come next,” Goldenberg said.
And the service is free.
“A veteran should never spend a dime on a resume, preparation services, career counseling or anything like that,” Goldenberg said. “Our grantees will provide those world-class services for free because we pay for them.”
The process begins with the resume, which should highlight initiative and achievements. After you feel satisfied with your resume, post it on LinkedIn.
The next step is the cover letter.
If the resume is the list of achievements and initiatives, use the cover letter as a space to explain how these achievements were made. A resume doesn’t covey your voice, but a letter can.
Veterans face obstacles to employment, and the journey can be arduous, but Goldenberg offered encouragement. With that said, anyone seeking employment will face the possibility of several rejection letters, but it is important to keep a positive mindset.
“Over time, these perceptions, some real, some not, you know, again employment outcomes, economic outcomes, housing outcomes, physical health, mental health, they take a toll, and it becomes part of the American consciousness that, hey, if you’re a veteran that bad things will happen to you in life. It’s not true … In fact, generally it’s the opposite,” he said.
For details about the program, go here: https://www.callofdutyendowment.org/
