SXSWEDU 2022 Panel Selected

SXSWEDU 2022 Panel Selected

Oct 20, 2021 | News & Updates

Our team is headed back to SXSW in March with another successful submission for the EDU stage. Our panel session “Adapting SoftSkills Training for Today’s Workforce” will be facilitated by Skills After Service Director, CJ Niehoff. Guests on stage with CJ will include Aaron Demerson, Jay Burcham and Starr Corbin. See below for additional speaker information.

Session Title: Adapting Soft Skills Training for Today’s Workforce

Overview: Today more than ever, common sense soft skills are essential to any productive workplace or team. They are hard to define but we all know it when they are lacking. Soft skills can make or break our collective ability to work together effectively. We’ll explore the post-covid need for innovations in soft skills training for workers and employers, for veterans transitioning to civilian life, for working adults navigating career changes and for young people out of school, now new to the workforce.

Takeaways will include:

  1. We’ll establish soft skills as tangible, teachable tools that can be measured, reinforced & leveraged for better paying jobs and personal development.
  2. We’ll discuss research and methodology for teaching working adults how to recognize & improve soft skill deficits in their own behavior & with others.
  3. We’ll look at this post-pandemic opportunity to reset expectations for common sense, dependability, initiative, and respect for self & others at work

About Our Submission

We are very excited to feature some of the top voices in leadership, innovation and tech to take on this challenging topic. Below is our video submission for the conference.
You can find us in the SXSWEDU 2022 Schedule here:  https://schedule.sxswedu.com/2020/events/PP103583

 

We’re partnering with the Local Business Institute

We’re partnering with the Local Business Institute

Dec 4, 2020 | News & Updates

We are excited to share news of a growing partnership with the Local Business Institute to bring our soft skills courses to more veterans and their families across the country.

For the past two years, the SAS team has been developing a comprehensive skills training course for veterans and their families who are making the shift from military service to civilian life. But the changes affecting many households because of the COVID pandemic, more people – not just veterans – are experiencing the woes of transition stress. Soft skills are one way out of the struggle and we’re excited to have the chance to bring our training curriculum to many more people in coming months.

Today we are announcing that we have a partnership in place to provide our soft skills training content for two pilot programs, one in central Texas and another in Cincinnati, Ohio. We’ll have thousands of veterans, small business owners, job seekers and people experiencing difficulties with any kind of transition taking our classes in coming months.  Our work with the Local Business Institute is bringing us into a whole different set of conversations. Our content has now been accepted by the Texas Workforce Commission, Workforce Solutions, The Texas Governor’s Office of Economic Development & Tourism, and the American Independent Business Alliance. We’ll start in the two pilot regions, expand across the state of Texas and move across the country with the course over the next 12-18 months.

It’s an ambitious plan for production and development but our team is ready and we’re coordinating with an amazing group of organizations to help carry some of the load. We will be providing updates over coming weeks and months, it’s been a long year for everyone and we have just kept our heads down, feet moving forward and trying to keep things going in the right direction in spite of the crazy times.
Today we are a lot closer to having the kind of impact we’ve been working toward, with so many people gaining access to these helpful, practical tools.

Soft Skills Training Curriculum Update

Soft Skills Training Curriculum Update

Nov 19, 2020 | News & Updates

From the beginning, the Skills After Service team has been creating and curating content for a comprehensive soft skills training program that would deliver real-world, practical advice and insight for veterans and their family members who are transitioning out of military service and into the civilian workforce. This shift is not a simple change of address and some paperwork. There is so much more to it – and if you know, then you know. Leaving the military affects every aspect of family life. Getting some training that explains not just what working in a civilian office is like (are you working from home now?) but what the interoffice dynamics look like, what is appropriate conversation, language differences, tone, everything can seem like a foreign language.

We are putting the finishing touches on our Soft Skills program and it’s not anything like what we thought we were setting out to build. It’s bigger and better. We’re using an online portal that makes it easy to participate from anywhere, any time of day, even from a cell phone. It’s all on demand, flexible to adapt to your own schedule and the content is first rate.

There are five different learning tracks to choose from, based on your persona preference or need. There is a track for young people, new to the workforce so that veterans with teens can invite their son or daughter to take the course and get a jump on job readiness before they’re earning a paycheck. Can’t hurt. There is a leadership track, tracks for career growth, shifting to management and for those with a small business who employ others, you can send your team to class as well.

For veterans, this training is more about translation that learning new information. Veterans don’t need to relearn the importance of punctuality, respect, decision-making. It’s really more about understanding the language of work for civilians, differences in communication and knowing what to expect from others. Likewise, we’re also taking the chance to teach civilians more about how to communicate with veterans at work – it’s not just vets that need to make a shift.

We’re almost ready to roll out the curriculum. Stay tuned for updates in coming weeks!

Vet-owned businesses pulling through COVID-crisis

Vet-owned businesses pulling through COVID-crisis

Nov 2, 2020 | News & Updates

This article was in the Colorado Springs Business Journal – they quoted our Director, CJ Niehoff

Veterans who own small businesses appear to be making more progress towards recovery than their peers, according to a new poll from Alignable, a small business referral network. The poll shows greater optimism, resilience and recovered revenue among male and female veteran business owners.

Alignable asked veterans how they’re getting through the COVID crisis in the poll, conducted among 8,092 small business owners Oct. 24-27. Ted Rejman of King Ferry Bottling Co. identified a unifying theme among veterans: “There is an ingrained sense of always looking for the good to come from what may look not so good. There is a sense of never giving up, always looking forward to a better situation.”

Jerry Bowden, a disabled veteran and president of Revealio Software and Media Solutions, added, “Veteran business owners are battle-tested and accustomed to overcoming adversity and difficult circumstances. They’re trained to survive in the worst of situations. When COVID first began threatening the way we conduct business, veteran business owners started analyzing and strategizing how they were going to navigate through the changes and come out on top. Strategy plus action equals success.”

While 65 percent of the veterans said COVID continues to negatively affect their businesses, the survey showed veteran-owned businesses are making strides despite their challenges.

  • 75 percent of veteran-owned businesses will pay their rent in full and on time in November, compared to only 68 percent of their peers.
  • 69 percent of veteran-owned businesses are fully open vs. 62 percent of others nationally.
  • 61 percent of veteran-owned businesses report having cash reserves to cover at least three months, while only 50 percent of other businesses have that kind of cash on hand.
  • 38 percent of veterans say they’ve matched or exceeded their pre-COVID monthly revenue, in contrast to 31 percent of other SMBs.

“Many business owners continue to fight hard to keep their operations going despite countless COVID issues,” Alignable CEO and co-founder Eric Groves said. “But amid this unparalleled struggle, it’s inspiring to see these determined,  optimistic warriors forge what appears to be a stronger path toward recovery, leading the way for their local economies.”

Another poll finding highlights the positivity that propels many veterans.

When asked, “What aspect of your financial recovery gives you the most concern?” veterans were 35 percent more likely to answer, “Nothing, everything is good,” compared to other business owners. That said, veterans and non-veterans alike agreed that the No. 1 concern looking ahead is that governments might enforce new SMB shutdowns due to increasing outbreaks. While a new wave of closures would lead to yet another round of battles for small businesses, Alignable member and veteran Bryan Tuggle of The Butler Did It suggests how everyone can maintain the right mindset. “I constantly remind myself that, ‘You are what you think, what you think, you believe, and what you believe, you become,’” Tuggle said. “I choose success. I adapt and overcome.”

Alignable’s poll illustrates that “adapt and overcome” is a lesson everyone can learn from veterans, according to a release Nov. 2. These veterans bring leadership values to small business communities. “It’s a patriotic act to support local businesses that are veteran-owned,” said C.J. Niehoff, president of Skills After Service, a company that prepares veterans for the civilian workforce. “Veterans typically run their businesses with honor and integrity. They’re often the best of what our society has to offer and during Veterans Small Business Week [Nov. 2-6], we’re reminded to purchase goods and services from small, veteran-run businesses. They want to get things done and they want to get them done right.”

Alignable is the largest online referral network for small businesses with over 5.5 million members across North America. Alignable established its research center in early March 2020, to track and report the impact of the coronavirus on small businesses, and to monitor recovery efforts.

See previous polls here.

The original post can be viewed here:

https://www.csbj.com/news/daily/poll-vet-owned-small-businesses-pulling-through-covid-19-crisis/article_613f0834-1d8c-11eb-877d-7701976203ce.html?fbclid=IwAR1bVUAteMJupb9eFFSmnzdzr3psboDKEH2Ooc-diImHWbIQQ1_tLSiMLF0

We’re Building The Transition Hub

Dec 27, 2019 | News & Updates

Skills After Service is working with a network of partners to create a new tool for veterans and their families making the transition from the military to civilian life. 

The Transition Hub is a state-by-state field guide for veterans and their families with links to key resources, training & tools all in one simple portal, so vets can forge a new path forward with meaningful work and career opportunities that leverage the valuable experience and leadership skills they earned while serving our nation.

“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here,” says Founder, CJ Niehoff. “This new tool is meant to provide a single-source hub of information, bringing together all of the great organizations, services and offerings that are out there for those leaving the life of a servicemember.” Skills After Service is getting help from nonprofit partner, Transition Skills Training to fund development and ongoing maintenance of the hub.

Our goal is to make it easier for veterans and their family members to find what they need to find a job, get an education, establish their new home and to make friends and begin to build a new network. Life in the military comes with many questions already answered, but once you leave those questions need to be answered. Right now, it’s not easy to sort all of that out. We’re hoping to change that process so that our heroes can dig in and build a life that makes good use of their time spent in service to the country.

The Transition Hub will be a web portal along with a series of city-based apps so that a soldier moving back home or to a new town can download the app and find what they need to get settled, claim their benefits, start school, get a job, meet new people and more. For a quick preview, click here. This is a work in progress and will continue to change and grow.

#AllInForVets

Click to preview the Transition Hub

Do you really want to thank veterans for their service?

Do you really want to thank veterans for their service?

Nov 11, 2019 | News & Updates

Want to Know How You Can Really Thank Veterans for Their Service?

We all feel good when we see our soldiers and veterans treated with respect and appreciation – we see it at airports, in restaurants and once in a while, just as part of every day life. And it’s nice, right?  We all clap when they are in a group. We post patriotic images and hashtag #VeteransDay – and that is good. It is good to feel that appreciation and respect for our military service men and women.  But it falls short, because words, social media posts and applause are not going to make things right. They are not enough.

3 GREAT WAYS TO REALLY SAY THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

1. Spend your money with veteran-owned businesses.
Not sure where to find them? Here are some helpful links.

Note – Google has just released new tools for small businesses to designate themselves as veteran-owned so in coming weeks, you can also search for veteran-owned along with whatever you’re looking for to find options for your shopping, dining or services.

2. Hire veterans for jobs that make good use of their skills and experience.
Veterans make great employees. They are highly skilled, loyal and honest. Our military entrusted them with millions of dollars worth of equipment, trained them on some of the latest technology and instilled a work ethic that can be hard to match in the civilian candidate pool. Here are some resources to help you hire veterans.

  • Contact Military Accelerator 
    They help corporations develop a hiring strategy works with veterans to help develop their resume and interview skills.
  • WizeHire
    This vet-owned business offers a completely new process for hiring, They combine great online DIY tools with actual human recruiters at a low monthly fee that you can turn on and off as needed. Simply let your recruiter know that you’re interested in hiring veterans and they’ll prioritize candidates for you.
  • Department of Labor 
    The DOL provides a lot of information about the benefits of hiring veterans, not just the “feel good” kind but understanding the tax incentives, training options and more.

3. Make a donation to Transition Skills Training Inc.

Transition Skills Training is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that works closely with Skills After Service and other groups to provide free access to training and education for veterans and their families as they make the difficult transition from military to civilian life. Every single penny goes toward ending Transition Stress, the number one challenge for veterans after they leave the military. Click here to make a donation in any amount.