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GREETINGS TAP FACILITATORS AROUND THE GLOBE!
Well, we have entered into the hot, steamy summer season here in D.C. with temperatures reaching the high 90's! The winter snow now seems a distant memory!
In this newsletter, we are pleased to announce that Melissa Lawton has joined the Inverness team as our new Regional Project Manager, Western Region. Thanks to Yolanda Rayford who stepped in to cover all of CONUS TAP in the meantime. We have also highlighted several more CONUS and overseas TAP facilitators who continue to share their interesting bios with us. It's great to read about their varied and unique backgrounds. You can read an overview of Marjorie Love's recent trip to Italy and the UK complete with photos, as well as a group photo from NVTI where several CONUS and overseas trainers had a chance to meet with me while they were attending the NVTI TAP Trainer course in June 2010. What a fabulous group! We also enjoyed a nice visit from B.J. Holman from Germany who stopped by the HDQ office while on a visit to the states. It was great to meet her in person!
The feature article for this newsletter is Should You Use Social Media to Support Your Military Transition? It is an interesting topic that pertains to the job search and networking sections of the TAP workshops. We have tried to give a balanced view and appreciate the contributions for this article from Kathleen Smith, CMO of ClearedJobs.Net, Jen Farrell and Yolanda Rayford, members of the Inverness management team. For all of you experienced, seasoned facilitators (you know who you are!), get ready to Facebook and Twitter! We have also highlighted an exciting new resource tool, the National Resource Directory (NRD). The U.S. Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs worked in partnership to create this online tool that provides access to more than 10,000 programs, services and resources at the national, state and community levels. Good stuff!
The TAP program continues to grow and we have now completed expansion into Turkey and Bahrain. CONUS TAP is also having a growth spurt, and we have been asked to cover additional workshop locations in Ohio, California, Kansas, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee and New Jersey. We appreciate all those CONUS travelers who have volunteered for these new assignments!
In closing, I want to share an email we recently received from the Chief, Airman and Family Readiness Center in Yokota, Japan about Dee King-Shepard after her very first TAP Workshop. This is just one of so many…
"Since it was also my first (TAP Workshop) since arriving and becoming the Chief of the A&FRC, I stuck my head in to see how it was going several times, and the engagement of the attendees was outstanding… in fact, they seemed a bit perturbed with me for "interrupting" the flow. I happened to be in the hallway when the workshop completed and the feedback from the attendees as they walked by was unbelievably positive!!....... And to think this was Dee's maiden voyage… We are extremely pleased to have her as a part of our Airman and Family Readiness Center Team!!!"
These comments highlight the outstanding work that you do each and every day. It just doesn't get any better than that! THANK YOU!
With very warm regards,
Diane Miller,
Executive Vice President
In this issue:
Helpful Links:
INVERNESS AWARDED DTAP BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING PROJECT BY THE VA
Inverness Technologies recently won a contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service to help the agency assess the current design and business processes of the DTAP briefings and activities, and develop options to modernize the service-delivery of information provided to exiting service, guard, and reserve members who may have a service-connected disability. DTAP is an important program with far-reaching implications for service members and veterans with service-connected disabilities and their families. The redesign of this program will shape the quality and delivery of the program for years to come. Inverness was honored to be selected to participate in this exciting project!
A Visit to HDQ
SHOULD YOU USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO SUPPORT YOUR MILITARY TRANSITION?
Everywhere you look you see people connecting on Linkedin®, Twitter™ and Facebook©, but are these connections useful to you during your military transition? The answer is Yes!
While there is much hesitancy about using social media, it is helpful to remember that these networks can be leveraged to support useful connections in your career search, used as a way of keeping up with colleagues, and to do research on companies that you may be interested in working for. It is very common for companies to have a company profile on LinkedIn, a Fan page on Facebook and a Twitter account for job postings. Social media has moved way beyond watching Super Bowl ads on YouTube© or connecting with family and friends for the next get together.
There will be some things that you will want to remember which are just extensions of your offline common sense:
- Don't connect or accept invitations from people you don't know.
- Don't share information that you would not want a future employer to see unless it is in a Private News feed.
- Don't share any private information such as home address, phone numbers or other information.
- You always have the option of notifying the social network that someone is spamming you, is someone you don't know, or is acting inappropriately.
- Clean up digital dirt before you begin your job search. Remove any photos, content and links that can work against you in an employer's eyes.
- Consider creating your own professional group on social networking sites.
- Keep gripes offline. Keep the content you posted focused on positive things, whether it's related to professional or personal information.
- Be selective about whom you accept as friends.
- If you're still employed, don't mention your job search.
The below provides job seekers with pros and cons of utilizing social networking sites:
| PRO | CON |
| One email or update can contact hundreds | Process has to continually be updated |
| Name/resume recognition | Must ensure there isn't any unsavory information out there |
| Widely recognized as a way to connect | Time consuming |
| Ability to network within one's own career field | Need to ensure that your credentials/certifications are current and one is using the language of the career field |
| Your opinion within a field may receive review and/or recognition | Blogging or whining within these areas isn't appropriate |
The collaborative nature of social media tools is used well beyond supporting a career search and is now employed in many defense contractor firms and federal agencies to connect employees in disparate locations or facilities in order to work more efficiently and effectively.
At Booz Allen Hamilton, for example, they utilize wikis to collaborate on proposals and client management as well as use a Facebook-like application to connect all their employees, share information, identify key competencies for proposal development and to identify internal candidates for new positions.
While social media may have started as a way of being more "social," the tools are part of every day life and are a vital part of any career search and development plan.
Information for this article was provided by Kathleen Smith, CMO of ClearedJobs.Net, a veteran owned job board. Ms. Smith frequently presents on Social Media to TAP/ACAP classes on military installations throughout the Washington DC area. Contributions were also made by Jennifer Farrell and Yolanda Rayford, Project Managers with Inverness Technologies.
INVERNESS ANNOUNCES NEW REGIONAL PROJECT MANAGER/WESTERN REGION - MELISSA LAWTON
Inverness Technologies is pleased to announce the selection of Melissa Lawton as the Regional Project Manager, Western Region for the CONUS TAP Program. Melissa will lead a team of TAP trainers located throughout the Western U.S. region and be responsible for 100% delivery of all TAP workshops in her region. Melissa has a solid working experience with all branches of the military, the federal government and the Transition Assistance Program. She is a strong communicator with a significant training and management background who is skilled at working with service members, federal civilian employees, and professional staff. From 2005-07, Melissa worked as the TAP Assistant Project Manager - European Region and was located in Germany where she recruited, trained, and supervised a remote professional training staff of facilitators throughout Europe. Further, she has over 7 years' experience with the Combined Federal Campaign, most recently serving as the Executive Director of CFC-Overseas. In that capacity, she led 8 paid staff members and thousands of volunteers throughout the overseas DoD Community. Permanently based in Olympia, Washington, she holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and is working towards her master's degree. Welcome Melissa!
Inverness Facilitators Attend NVTI in June 2010
A group of outstanding Inverness facilitators attended NVTI in June. Diane Miller, Exec. VP, was able to meet the group on Sunday evening for a delightful dinner before they started their training. What an impressive group! From left to right are Diane Miller, Ronna Dietrick (Wash State), Nashawn Turner (Okinawa), Sheri Meyer (Wash State), Cathy Douglas (Germany), Deb Stone (TN), and Mark Wade (Korea)
MARJORIE LOVE, PROJECT DIRECTOR OF OVERSEAS PROGRAM OPERATIONS VISITS ITALY AND THE UK
Marjorie Love, Project Director of Overseas Program Operations, recently completed site visits to Italy and the UK. The first stop on her trip was at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, which is located outside of Catania in Sicily. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean and is southwest of the Italian mainland. Dana Murguia, European project manager, flew in from Germany to conduct the class. Marjorie and Dana enjoyed the opportunity to have a face-to-face catch up on program business before the workshop, and Marjorie also found Dana to be a skillful driver-escort as she navigated the narrow and confusing Italian roadways. Participants in the Sigonella workshop were an interesting mix to include a priest, two doctors, the base Commanding Officer, and a couple of individuals married to locals who planned to stay in Europe upon retirement, among others. The sites always appreciate Dana's maturity, breadth and scope of experience, communication skills, and subject matter knowledge. While there, Marjorie visited with the TAP manager, Lavoshia McCracken, and met the center director, Dr. Marlene Casel. Site staff members are very pleased with Inverness trainers who are assigned to the site, all of whom fly in from other European locations to deliver the workshops.
The next stop was at Royal Air Force (RAF) Alconbury, north of London. Here Marjorie was greeted by an entire team of Inverness representatives to include Inverness president Pete Peters, along with Alconbury trainer Robert McMillan and Angie Kiker who drove down from her usual training site in Menwith Hill. Mr. Peters was there on personal vacation and stopped by for a TAP visit!
Marjorie observed Robert to be a superb facilitator who is capable and adaptable to effectively empower any TAP audience. His examples and scenarios are current, relevant, interesting and very appropriate to the topic of discussion. An interesting factoid that he had pulled from BLS was to have the class guess which job was the worst one to have in the United States. After several guesses, he shared that the answer was that of "cat food tester," which caused some chuckles. He really drew participants in with his "Magic Pen" scenario, in which he uses an actual 4-color Bic-Click pen to represent Job, Location, Money, and Lifestyle (the four pen colors).
Angie Kiker took over the platform briefly from Robert to conduct a short morning session. She continued the high energy and involvement set by Robert to keep the class engaged throughout the setting goals and getting organized portions of the TAP curriculum. She stretched her style in that brief period to use a relevant personal example for goal setting, conducting a small group activity for goals set and achieved within the groups, and charting ways participants get themselves organized. Angie is very skilled in getting the TAP participants involved and engaged in the workshop - great job, Robert and Angie! Site manager Linda Logan was extremely friendly and welcoming, having remembered both Pete Peters and Marjorie from her time spent at Bolling AFB. She is very pleased with our facilitators and the program there.
The third stop was at RAF Mildenhall, where Marjorie met up with trainer Mona Tate; Angela Cottman, TAP Manager; and Jeff Nelson, Team Lead.
Marjorie met with site staff while Mona was continuing the workshop on the afternoon of Day 2. TAP manager Angela Cottman told us that she "loves the Inverness trainers." Typically either Robert McMillan or Ramona Tate is assigned to the Mildenhall TAP (although we have since hired Robin Lovewell who will also be assigned to Mildenhall). Angela said that both Robert and Mona have wonderful styles, that they take the time and really care about the participants. She noted that because they are both retired from the Air Force and chose to stay in the United Kingdom, they bring a valuable perspective and important information to the workshop participants. Marjorie then had a chance to personally observe Mona Tate deliver a portion of the workshop and found her to be a caring and passionate facilitator who clearly enjoys being on the podium. She is approachable, and her smile shows that she likes to be there and is interested in helping TAP participants with their career transition.
The final stop of the trip was made to RAF Lakenheath for an office call with TAP manager Ed Cole. There was no workshop in session that week, but Marjorie received a tour of the AFRC offices and the TAP classroom. Mr. Cole was very appreciative of the partnership that Inverness has with the site and stated that what he values most in our facilitators is seeing a total positive can-do attitude towards the service members and their transition.
This was an overall extremely productive and positive trip. The positive impact of the interface and interaction with our outstanding TAP facilitators, project manager, and DOD site managers cannot be overemphasized. On top of it all, Marjorie was grateful to have successfully navigated the British roundabouts and roadways without incident on her first trip to a country where they drive on the wrong side of the road!
TAP FACILITATOR SPOTLIGHTS
Lillian Opeña-Guerrero
Country and Principal TAP Training Site(s):Brief Bio:Interesting/Fun Fact: |
Mark Wade
Country and Principal TAP Training Site(s):Brief Bio:Interesting/Fun Fact: |
Sarah Starks
Country and Principal TAP Training Site(s):Brief Bio:Interesting/Fun Fact: |
Stephen D. Heyman
State and Principal TAP Training Site(s):Brief Bio:Interesting/Fun Fact: |
Marguerite Ivy
State and Principal TAP Training Site(s):Brief Bio:Interesting/Fun Fact:Great Times: |
Janet Spadola
State and Principal TAP Training Site(s):Brief Bio:Interesting/Fun Fact: |
NATIONAL RESOURCE DIRECTORY
An online partnership for wounded, ill and injured Service Members, Veterans, their families and those who support them
An exiting, new resource tool, The National Resource Directory (NRD) serves as a link between military and Veteran communities and those who want to help. The U.S. Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs worked in partnership to create this online tool that provides access to more than 10,000 programs, services and resources at the national, state and community levels. The National Resource Director will help transitioning service members and their families navigate the many layers of questions and decisions they will encounter during their transition. Still, with so many resources, it can be tricky to plot a course through the rapidly moving lives in which Veterans find themselves. Thankfully, the NRD team has provided a solution. Each resource added to the Web site is vetted for relevance and appropriateness by Veterans and subject matter experts to ensure only the best resources are made available. Additionally, the key word search is organized by relevance so users do not have to wade through pages of search results to find the best program for their immediate needs. The National Resource Directory has nine different subject areas, including:
Veterans, Service Members and their families, as well as organizations providing services to these communities, can browse for information by topic if they are unsure of what their exact needs are. They will find resources arranged by popularity, so they can see what their peers are most interested in, and they can compare similar programs to determine which is best for them. There are also individual sections for 56 states and territories where local resources can be found. Designed by Veterans, with Veterans and Service Members in mind, the NRD presents an effective way to answer the mountains of questions veterans encounter. The new look includes a Stay Connected feature where anyone interested in military and Veterans issues can suggest a resource, sign up for email notifications, subscribe to RSS feeds, and share what they learn with friends and family through social networking tools. Log on to see what interesting programs and information you find useful! Website Address: www.nationalresourcedirectory.gov |
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