5 Online Tools Uncle Sam Wants You To Use

In an effort to provide military service members with post-service career opportunities, the White House has launched an online tool that allows veterans, transitioning service members, and their spouses to search for jobs, create resumés, and connect with employers.

The new Veterans Employment Center, available at ebenefits.va.gov, was announced by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden at a veterans' jobs summit in Fort Campbell, Ky. "It's time to serve our military families as well as they've served us," Obama tweeted during the summit Wednesday.

Among the features offered on the Veterans Employment Center is an online resumé builder and a military skills translator, which matches military career tracks with civilian occupations and skills. Veterans can also target job searches based on specific career paths, use a single search for both public- and private-sector positions, and save job postings via social media.

[Looking for government data and services? See 5 Helpful Online Services From Uncle Sam.]

Resumés submitted through the site become part of a comprehensive database used by employers. "Employers are provided with a direct feed of resumes from veteran applicants, can view reverse skills translation (military to civilian skills) for applicants, and can make public their own veterans hiring goals," Rich Morales, executive director of Joining Forces, explained in a post on the White House blog.

Joining Forces is a nationwide initiative launched by Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden in 2011. The initiative focuses on employment, education, and wellness of service members. Companies working with Joining Forces have hired more than 540,000 veterans and spouses, according to the blog post.

While there are already several websites dedicated to job-seeking veterans-- including VA for Vets, VA Careers, Vet Success, My Career @ VA, and Feds Hire Vets -- this is the first interagency tool that combines public and private job openings. It's a collaborative effort among the Department of Defense, Department of Labor, Office of Personnel Management, Small Business Administration, and Department of Veterans Affairs.

USAJobs.gov is an online job board that offers various resources to veterans, but it's restricted to employment within the federal government.

Earlier this year, Monster Worldwide, the Consumer Electronics Association, and several technology business groups introduced a job site that specifically focuses on moving veterans to civilian careers within the technology industry. USTechVets.org uses Monster's 6Sense semantic search technology, a more intelligent version of traditional keyword search engines that can contextually interpret the meaning behind words.

The site provided a similar tool to the Veterans Employment Center, called "translate your skills," which matches veterans' skills and training to civilian tech jobs.

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