• Home
  • About Me
  • Testimonials
  • When I Was 17
  • 4-Year Timeline
  • FAQ
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Testimonials
  • When I Was 17
  • 4-Year Timeline
  • FAQ
  • Contact
Colleen at Collegewise

When I Was 17: Google's Veterans Search Tool

1/18/2019

0 Comments

 
PicturePhoto by Benjamin Faust on Unsplash
A few months ago, I was watching Bob’s Burgers on Hulu (highly recommend, btw), and I saw an ad that was a bit different from the usual cars and movies and fast food. It was this ad for Google’s new veterans search tool. Developed in part by Matthew Hudson, a former civil engineer for the US Air Force, this tool allows veterans to enter in their specific military codes when searching for jobs to help them identify civilian jobs that match the skills they developed in the military. And companies themselves can integrate this tool into their own search engines.
 
Hudson explains that he was motivated to tackle this project because of his own experience trying to find a job after leaving the military. He talks about the clearly delineated roles and hierarchy of the military, and how that made things even more confusing and tricky when he began to transition to civilian life. So when he got hired to work as a program manager for Google, he wanted to find a way to support other veterans going through the same experience.
 
Hudson explains the importance of this tool that acts as a translator between what service members know how to do and what non-military jobs require, “There isn’t a common language that helps recruiters match a veteran’s experience with the need for their skills and leadership in civilian jobs. As a result, 1 in 3 veterans—of the roughly 250,000 service members who transition out of the military each year—end up taking jobs well below their skill level.”
 
The reason this made such an impression on me is that this provides yet another way for young people to think about their career paths. Similar to what I wrote about last week, supporting veterans in finding good jobs when they leave the military makes the choice to join in the first place a much more positive and empowering decision. Rather than creating one path to a good job – a four-year college – our students would be much better served by having a range of options to consider. That way, they can opt for the post-high school path that’s right for them, knowing that there is a variety of supportive and satisfying jobs available to them.
 
I know Google doesn’t always get it right, but I’m impressed with the steps they’re taking to support and empower veterans. Good jobs should be available to everyone who puts in the time and effort to learn important skills, and that goes even more for the people who have risked their lives to protect our country and our citizens.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed


    What is the When I Was 17 Project?

    When I Was 17 is a blog series dedicated to collecting the varied stories of people's career paths, what they envisioned themselves doing when they were teenagers and how that evolved over the course of their lives. I started this project with the goal of illustrating that it's okay not to know exactly what you want to do when you're 17; many successful people didn't, and these are a few of their stories.  

    Archives

    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    Categories

    All

​Colleen Boucher-Robinson  

​College Counselor

​Collegewise Bay Area - East Bay


Address

171 Front Street
#203
​Danville, CA 94526

Telephone

925-391-0368

Email

colleenb@collegewise.com