It was a banner year for “Talk About It Tuesday” (TAIT). Our LinkedIn livestream celebrated its second anniversary and brought you another full year of tips, advice and information on VA career opportunities.
Today, we’re sharing some of the episodes that really resonated with viewers this year.
Advice aplenty
A big part of what we do on TAIT each week is find ways to help you in your journey to a job at VA, and much of that comes in the form of advice tailored to job hunters like you. While we presented a great many tips for you throughout the year, two episodes, in particular, seemed to resonate most with our audiences.
“There [are] a lot of different things that can help an application get better or get you moved to the hiring manager,” said host Mike Owens as he discussed how to get your application to rise to the top.
But to help break down the discussion into something a little more manageable, we talked about using “the three Es” — experience, education and enthusiasm.
Another of our most popular episodes centered around tailoring your federal resume, and Owens hammered home some evergreen advice by sharing, “You tailor your resume, because if you submit a generic resume, your resume may not accurately tell the hiring manager that you’re not the perfect person for this position.”
Guests galore
We welcomed numerous guests onto TAIT this year as a way to hear not only from people who have found employment at VA but those who have gone through experiences that we think would be valuable to our viewers.
Two of our guests, Veteran Kelly “Murph” Murphy, winner of Season One of CBS’s “Tough as Nails,” and Will Williams of VA’s Veterans Canteen Service, ranked among our most popular broadcasts this year, and both offered insights.
When it came to transitioning military personnel and their plans for what is to come after their service, Murphy had some valuable advice: “Take advantage of every opportunity because you never know where it will lead you.”
In turn, Williams offered some thoughts about what it means to join the Veterans Canteen Service, but his words easily apply to every job here at VA: “Get ready to be a servant leader. Get ready to take care of Veterans, to have a great personality, to come in and work alongside your coworkers as a team.”
Open opportunities
Something that also drew the attention of our viewers were the actual opportunities available at VA.
In August, our broadcast on the Military Spouse Employment Partnership struck your interest. This program allows military spouses to explore employment opportunities and connects them with VA and other government agencies where their skills and training might be a good fit.
Then, when we talked about entry-level positions in October, you responded again. From administrative assistants to motor vehicle operators and more, we showed you some of the unique jobs that are available at VA if you don’t have much experience or just don’t have health care experience.
Asked and answered
Several of our more popular episodes this year featured viewers like you in the spotlight, thanks to our regular question-and-answer sessions, which we host the second Tuesday of every month. In addition to regular host Mike Owens, we were joined by Kendra Wilson-Hudson and Tim Blakney of the National Recruitment Service to get you the answers to the questions that were on most of your minds.
Whether you were wondering how to include your volunteer work in your resume, how to translate your long-term experience to careers at VA, or just how to put your best foot forward when it comes to your interview, our team was able to offer plenty of evergreen advice to those you hoping to join us at VA.
“A lot of you left a lot of great questions for us. Thank you all for the great, overwhelming response,” Owens shared during one session, a sentiment that we absolutely share as we close the book on 2022.
Work at VA
We want everyone in our TAIT community to know we appreciate your viewership, your readership, and you interest. We do this for you, and we hope you’ll continue to join us in the new year and beyond.
- WATCH TAIT each week at noon EST on LinkedIn.
- READ more job search advice from our VA Careers team.
- JOIN our communities on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor.
- SEARCH for your next opportunity at VAcareers.VA.gov.