This SOF for Life-focused blog post was written by GSOF President and CEO, Stu Bradin. SOF for Life is the Global SOF Foundation’s Military Transition program.
The Global SOF Foundation (GSOF) has about 2 – 3 DoD SkillBridge Fellows at any given time on 4 – 6 months internships. Like most people close to leaving the military they are focused on preparing their paperwork for the Veterans Administration (VA) benefits, revising their resumes and scheduling all the tasks required to be completed on their out-processing checklists.
What they often miss is creating a solid biography that tells people–and possible employers–who they are as a person.
Why-o the Bio?
Businesses have a lot of automated means to find and screen potential candidates seeking employment but very few of those systems tell the employers about the character and passions of the people being screened.
When GSOF looks at hiring a new member we get a lot of resumes and recommendations that we use to narrow down the number of potential candidates. What is almost always missing is a biography (#bio) that gives us insight into the person. Often that is pulled out of the candidate in the interview, but if a candidate has provided a bio then it really helps elevate the interview.
A good bio tells someone who you are that is beyond the scope of a resume or past performance. What inspires someone and what they do with their free time speaks volumes to who they are. Their parents and how they were raised often give insight into the character of a candidate.
Recently I read a resume of a friend, and it was good, but it really never told me about him. He is a Triathlete and Ironman competitor, a black belt in Jujitsu, has a real estate license and his parents were career intelligence officers. Those are things that are not in a resume–but are big indicators into the values and dedication of the candidate.
The Bio Challenge
If you look at the jobs market you know it is really competitive and hard to find someone that matches your corporate culture. Bringing in new people is critical because one bad hire can do significant damage to an organization.
As service members look at transitioning I would challenge them to start with a bio first.
Capture in words who you really are and ensure you have a high definition photograph on the bio so a face is matched to the words. Hiring people is not hard but hiring the right people is really hard.
A great bio helps and moves the interview process into a higher level and often gives the candidate an advantage.
GSOF is always looking for more SkillBridge interns–if you’re interested, contact us at info@gsof.org. Or if you just want to run your bio by us, we’re happy to look at that too!