job hunting--my resume

[bikemoore]

I am retiring from the U.S. Air Force this coming October after 20 years of active-duty military service. I would love to stay on for another 4 years, but "force-shaping" means I must retire. After spending the past year re-learning the civilian job world, I am now starting to push hard with resumes and job hunting. This is a big transition point in my professional life. Those of you with long military service understand what a big change this can be.

Anyway, my #1 fantasy goal is combine my passion for bicycling (20+ years riding...mostly on the road) with my professional experiece to establish a new career in the bicycle industry. I am currently contacting companies for this. My #2 goal (and probably more realistic) is to start a new career in a good location for cycling while working in a cycling-friendly professional environment (company culture that encourages exercise, health, and fitness through action and policies instead of just words).

I have posted my resume in the standard places (Monster, Careerbuilder, DICE, and others) and am contacting companies and government agencies. However, I'm also hoping that putting my resume on this forum could be productive. Since a large number of cyclists are also educated, experienced professionals, you all may know of and have effective contacts in good organizations with job openings in good locations that are looking for someone with my qualifications. If so, please feel free to forward my resume and use my e-mail address to contact me directly.

Please note that I am currently deployed overseas and am not contactable by telephone until July, though I can initiate telephone calls when needed. I do have access to my e-mail address.

Resume:

Name: Daniel J. Keeler
Mailing address: 4709 South Creek Road, Oklahoma City, OK 73165
Home Phone: 405-759-3308
Cell Phone: 405-408-1567
E-mail: danberniekeeler (at) cox (dot) net

PROFILE:

- Military Officer (Major, U.S. Air Force) completing 20 year term of honorable active-duty service.
- Leader of diverse, professional teams (25-65 people) accomplishing complex missions during crises.
- Headquarters staff officer; project and program manager; lead long and short-range plans & execution.
- Educated and experienced in leadership, planning, technical management, engineering, and operations.

OBJECTIVE:

- Manage programs, projects, and lead cross-functional teams.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Leadership and Supervision:
- Command diverse, professional aircrews (25 people, 11 specialties) flying AWACS aircraft worldwide.
- Analyze mission tasking, determine objectives, assign work, lead execution, track and report progress.
- Responsible for complex missions start to finish; plan and execute on schedule accomplishing objectives.
- Ensure aircrew operates safely--manage risk to life, equipment, and mission success appropriately.
- Supervise 8-person staff periodically evaluating performance of 65 operators and technicians.
- Make critical decisions under pressure; control combat aircraft over large area; direct armed responses.
- Significant accomplishments
-- Commanded 65-person, multi-national, remote radar control site on 3-month operational deployment.
-- Multiple crisis deployments; combat flights; supervised control teams striking time-critical targets.

Program and Project Management:
- Plan joint training program and exercises: guide supporting programs, lead plans for large-scale events.
- Coordinate efforts of 250+ planners working towards common objectives; resolve competing priorities.
- 18-mo. timelines, budgets >$3M, 3000+ participants, tied to operations plans; complex requirements.
- Program Manager--Critical Infrastructure Protection; assess theater vulnerabilities; supervise 3 analysts.
- Mitigate risks to assets critical for long & short-range plans; program budgeting; author direct guidance.
- Set performance criteria, evaluate proposals, assess compliance for $1.2M annual contract support.
- Significant accomplishments:
-- Lead planner--U.S. / Greece security & consequence management exercises for 2004 Olympics.

Communications:
- Create & present senior Command / Executive briefings: update status, proposals, plans, results, solicit decisions.
- Organize and chair large planning conferences; set objectives, assign work, accountable for results.
- Write and distribute operations orders and plans; executive guidance to supporting commands.
- Instruct & evaluate others for certification as combat-ready; classroom, simulator, & flight instruction.

Engineering:
- Designed and implemented automated process control systems for manufacturing TV glass components.
- Improved and maintained manufacturing and materials handling machines for auto and truck tires.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

- U.S. Air Force, Active Duty Commissioned Officer, 1987-2007. Assignment history:
-- AWACS Mission Commander; 552d Air Control Wing; Oklahoma City, OK; 2005-present.
-- Joint Staff Officer; U.S. European Command; Stuttgart, Germany; 2002-2005.
-- AWACS Exchange Officer; Royal Air Force; Waddington, United Kingdom; 1998-2002.
-- GTACS Mission Commander; 31st Fighter Wing; Aviano, Italy; 1994-1998.
-- AWACS Fighter Controller; 552d Air Control Wing; Oklahoma City, OK; 1988-1994.

- Prior professional employment:
-- Process Engineer; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; Pittston, PA; 1984-1987.
-- Assistant Plant Engineer; Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Findlay, OH; 1980-1984.

EDUCATION (Degree Programs):

- MA, Public Administration; University of Maryland; Heidelberg, Germany; 1998
- BS, Mechanical Engineering; The Ohio State University; Columbus, OH; 1984

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION (Military Non-Degree Programs):

- Joint Forces Staff College; National Defense University; Norfolk, VA; 2002.
- Air Command and Staff College; U.S. Air Force Air University; Montgomery, AL; 2000.
- Squadron Officer School; U.S. Air Force Air University; Montgomery, AL; 1994.
- Officer Training School; Air Education and Training Command, San Antonio, TX; 1987.

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS:

- Proficient in MS Office and collaborative information applications.
- Current U.S. security clearance (TS/SCI).

[rwsaunders]

Check out the websites from some of the larger specialty builders like Serotta (looking for a COO), IF and Seven. They all have job listing posted. Perhaps Trek and Cannondale as well. Good luck.

[Serpico]

Dan, it's a good idea to remove the @ from your email address. bots scan these forums for email addresses. as your post is now, you should be receiving some interesting emails soon. you can easily ruin an email address.

name@domain.com ---> name at domain dot com

btw, good luck RE:job search

[Louis]

One option that you may have already considered (and perhaps rejected) for Goal #2: Boeing (https://jobs.boeing.com/JobSeeker/JobSearch)

They usually have quite a few opportunities for folks with your background...

[ada@prorider.or]

bikemoore
i would try a pro cycling team ,as trainer and motivator
and do a good job with all things with planning equimenment traveling and so on

you the man for that job i think

[cmg]

if you haven't done so visiting the air force personnel center, randolph afb. refer to https://ww2.afpc.randolph.af.mil/resweb/search_by_state_nlo.asp?src=ql should work. with a degree in mech. eng you should qualify. Here's an example https://ww2.afpc.randolph.af.mil/resweb/job_search_results_nlo.asp?location='%25'&state='%25'&country='%25'&announcement=All&pay_plan='%25'&title='0830'&series1=All&series2=All&series3=All&occupational_group='%25'&Grade='%25'&withinDays=9999&Submit=+++++++++++++Search+++++++++++++

[C5 Snowboarder]

My first advice would be please run Spell Check on your resume.. unless you really mean Eduction.

[bikemoore]

I really need to make spell check a routine habit. Posting my resume on-line requires so many different formats on so many different systems that I never have my resume "finished." I'm always having to fool with it and errors creep in.

[eddief]

among other things your resume should have your acccomplishments stated in the form of challenge, actions, results. If you can't measure it, it don't belong in your resume. The whole world is doing the passive thing by posting and waiting for the world to beat a path to your door.

those who get hired are those who find a way to become an industry insider. somehow, somehow you need to meet the decision makers face to face...just to get info and not to beg for a job.

if they know you are passionate from face to face or voice to voice, your chance of getting what you want increases by a lot.

have counseled myself and thousands of others in this process.

[C5 Snowboarder]

My first advice would be please run Spell Check on your resume.. unless you really mean Eduction.


My second round of advice would be -- Tailor your resume to fit the company to which you send it. If possible find a way to network your way in to the manager of the department to which you wish to apply.

My third round of advice would be -- If your career/job produces a product or an object of any kind -- bring as many of your product/object samples as one can carry to your interview. It is much more impressive to show someone what you can do than to tell them what you can do. You will never get a second chance to make a 1st impression.

I say this cuz I have been hiring engineers for 30 years. :beer:

[bikemoore]

Dear eddief and C5 snowboarder,

Thanks so much for the advice.

To eddief's suggestion to focus on accomplishments: I'm really getting conflicting advice on this. The other side (who works as HR manager in a large corporation) tells me that accomplishments and specific actions are what you talk about in the interview...the first hurdle is to get past the HR screener who is looking for the best match between the job requirements/qualifications and the duties/responsibilities that the applicant has held....so using her template makes a resume read like a job description.

C5 snowboarder says to make personal contacts. I couldn't agree more. Even with all of the gucci tools on the internet for job hunting, resume posting, etc...its still personal contacts that land us jobs. My father, who did a lot of corporate hiring told me long ago that resumes are corporate junk mail and they assume that much of what's in any resume is exagerated and/or bogus. To that end, I have contacted directly the division manager and the HR chief of federal agency that I really want to work for. Told the division manager that I want to be a part of his team and that I am actively applying for positions in his division. Told the HR manager that I am worried that my applications aren't getting anywhere because none of my experience is in their area and asked how I get over that hurdle. The need to network is largely why I am putting my resume on this site.....gotta act a little outside the box sometimes.

Another C5 snowboarder piece of advice is taking actual work samples to interviews or meetings. Good idea....however.....the vast majority of my work deals with classified information.

One thing that I have to be aware of when trying to describe challenges actions, and results in my work: it can be very offensive to some people. Listening to me coldly describe how my effective team leadership ensured that hundreds of thousands of pounds of precision weapons found their targets (with live people inside) while "managing" collateral damage (more live people...though in this case innocent) can really turn some people off. I love my work and the contribution to national security that it makes, but even I have to not think about the real immediate results of it sometimes.

[ti_boi]

Find your niche man.....and then enjoy life. Looking is often much harder than doing the actual job. Good luck. :beer:

[eddief]

are a shorthand way of telling the employer high leverage snippets of what you've done that include, ideally, key words from the job description.

then when you "earn" the interview you will have a chance to ellaborate. you can only tell a short short story in the the three or so lines i recommend for a c.a.r. statement.

you need to find a more generic way to transfer your military accomps to private sector. a good career counselor should be able to assist you with wordsmithing that would be effective.

if you have money in the bank and want to do something completely different from what you've done in the past, sometimes volunteering or a paid or not paid internship is a great way to get foot in door.

read kate's books or join her club. google five o'clock club. they help people on the phone if you're not in NY.

[Ginger]

The advice you're getting is great.

If you're not going to go to a pro to have this rewritten, here's my two cents...or four (I'm no pro, but I play one on...oh hold it...).

Things that mean something to you may have absolutely no meaning to the person or persons reading your resume. Remove or clarify unnecessary or vague words or phrases.

If, from your perspective you don't know what might be unnecessary or vague pay a pro to fix it. (I know I know...that's partly why you're here) Have a non-military buddy or career counselor go through it with you. Not only will that help clarify where the document isn't clear for a non-military audience, it will help prep you for the interview cycle.

Oh, and don't let someone just rewrite the thing without going over the copy once they're done so you know where they pulled stuff from to create other stuff. You don't want to get into an interview and find some well-meaning writer changed something you did into something you didn't.

Check your categories and their content.

Proof the document. You've seen this thing 10 million times. Spell check only works to a point. Use the old proofreader's trick and print it out and read the document backwards letter by letter. You'll be surprised what you find.

Be consistent with content and punctuation.
Significant accomplishments:
(no significant accomplishments in communications?)

Remove profile and objective: Those can go in your employment history and cover letter. Objective in the cover letter/inquiry letter should be tailored to each company/job opening/inquiry.

Rather than look for job openings, send letters of inquiry. Do your networking, find out who's who and send the letters of inquiry to them along with HR.


Good luck!

[weisan]

Who am I to give you advice? ...but I will.

take the road less travelled.

IMO, you are ready for some adventure and invest in a certain degree of risk.

...be flexible, willing to try different things even if they don't appear exactly what you want at the beginning, but a little bit of patience and the leap of faith might pay off later on...

clarify your mission, the rest is easy...nothing like a resume that expresses itself in overflowing enthusiasm, and a great attitude.

bikemoore-pal, you have the opportunity to do whatever you want.
So, what is it that you really want? Do you want it bad enough to do whatever it takes...

Too old to take risk?
Hogwash.

Don't let ordinary concerns get in the way.