Your NLHC Profile is the launching point for your career search. It contains all of the resources that you need, and more! Make your profile stand out to remain competitive in the civilian market: easy changes that will make you a superstar candidate!
After you have completed the first three steps of your profile that are required upon registration, you should go back through each section to verify and expand on your experience. In the blue boxes on the right side of the screen, you can click on each section to view and edit your selected information. Your profile contains many features that allow you to show off your experience.
Employment Information: Your employment information should already be complete from when you first registered, but it is still important to review. This feature allows you to quickly indicate key characteristics such as; the branch of military you served in, your educational background, and the languages you speak. This feature is highly appreciated by employers because they can easily view important statistics quickly and easily.
Education: On the Education page, you can specify all of your academic experience and military training. You are prompted to specify the schools and seminars you attended, your majors, any degrees or certificates you attained, as well as any additional information that you feel is important, like your GPAs or awards received.
Industry: If you have skills that can apply to many different jobs but are in the same field with the same fundamental requirements, you have experience in that “Industry”. This page allows you to select the industries that you have experience in. You can select as many as are applicable. Include your military experience as well, for example; “Aerospace & Defense”, “Engineering” or “Telecommunications”.
Skills & Certifications: You can use the military skills translator, or search by specific skills to find the exact skills in which you are experienced. You can then indicate the number of years you practiced the skill and your level of proficiency.
Work Experience: On this page, you can indicate your specific work experience, including the names of your branch and division of the military, your job titles or specialties, and descriptions of your responsibilities.
Objectives: In Objectives, you can indicate what you want to achieve in your civilian position. Additionally, this section allows you to designate information that is important to employers like professional memberships, certifications and awards that you may have received. Employers greatly appreciate this section because they are able to view your previous accomplishments and your current goals.
Preferences: Preferences is the area in which you can indicate the way your profile will work. You can change your password, manage email accounts and access your personal resume URL.
Attachments: On the Attachments page, you are able to attach the documents that you would like employers to view. You can upload a resume, cover letter, letter of recommendation, work examples, and even a picture!
Your Personal URL is a unique feature provided by the NLHC which is like your own personal website link that you can send to prospective employers. You give them the link, and they can go directly to your career profile! The information that you have entered into your profile is electronically organized into a clear, concise resume. You can print, email or fax the NLHC-generated resume, or you can distribute your Personal URL for the employer to directly access.
Each time you log in to your NLHC profile, be sure to go through the checklist that appears on your Profile page. The sections that you have completed will have a green checkmark next to the item. If you have not yet completed the section, a red X will appear next to the item. Verifying that each section has been completed is critical to the success of your profile. Employers will see many profiles, so yours should be as current and detailed as possible to attract the most employers.
Keep an eye out for the next part of this article: Managing your NLHC Profile Part II: Finding a job!