Organized Q

Remote work is here to stay!

So you’re a military spouse looking for work during the time of COVID-19. “Prior to the pandemic, military spouses were facing an unemployment rate of 24% — that’s six (6) times the national average! In April 2020, the national average for all of the American public spiked to a record high of 14.5% — the highest it had been since the Great Depression. (We haven’t seen any official studies of the unemployment rate of military spouses during COVID, but we’d venture to guess it’s much higher than the “normal” 24% they faced prior to the pandemic.)

Military family life is normally hectic, military pandemic life is at another level, especially when you’re trying to find the right job that fits your life, your professional goals, and hopefully can move with you during the next PCS, deployment, retirement, or inevitable future transition?

So how do you professionally stand out during this time when hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens are also looking for work? One of the best solutions is leveraging your military-connected status and landing the best remote work opportunity, with companies like Organized Q or Instant Teams, that fits your life and career goals so you’ll have one less unknown the next time PCS orders come rolling your way!

Hard work now will pay off in the long run.

1. Update Your Resume & Cover Letter!

• Make sure your resume and cover letter are up to date and talk to the job and position you want.
• If you don’t have a current resume or you have major gaps in your employment history, seek out one of the many agencies, like Military One Source’s Spouse Education & Career Opportunities or Hiring Our Heroes, that provide free resume-building tools for military spouses. These organizations can help highlight and translate all of your experience (volunteering included) into a well-rounded functional resume and cover letter.
• Once you’re impressed with your revamped resume and cover letter, hang on to these documents because you’re going to pull from them frequently — especially when it comes to Tip #4!

2. Hone in On Communicating the Skills You Have & the Remote Work You Want!

• Now that you have your master resume in hand, focus on how you can utilize the skills and experience you have to get the job you want. It’s not enough to say you’ll do anything, anywhere.
• Just because it’s a remote position, you still have to be professional (don’t send inquiry emails to companies like you would text your best friend), have the skills needed for the job (don’t go for a sales job if you hate cold calling), convey how you can use those skills to help solve the company’s problems (“I have 2 years of experience as a customer service agent and am excellent at handling difficult customers!”).
  

  Learn something new!

3. Not Sure What You Want? Expand, Upskill & Grow Your Network

• So now that you have your resume and cover letter in hand, what happens if you really want to reinvent your career and professional direction? Well, there are a few programs out there that can provide new training opportunities specifically with military spouses in mind.
• Instant Teams Academy is one such program. Unlike other online courses out there, Instant Teams Academy knows the value of having a support system and community to really help you thrive! Their mission is to help military-connected families find, earn, and outperform in careers that provide the opportunity to work remotely, that pay well, and that offer advancement. That’s why they’ve pulled together an exclusive community to assist you with on-going support. They’ll be there to endorse and recommend you, keep you up-to-date on the latest trends in your field with monthly guest speakers and curated content so you can become the “per​son-in-the-know” in your company. Instant Team Academy provides various remote skill training tracks that support upskilling, reskilling, and return to the workforce initiatives through guided coursework and certification programs.
• Not only does Instant Team Academy provide key training opportunities, it also qualifies you to be remote-work ready in a variety of fields that many remote agencies, like Instant Teams and Organized Q, are looking for.

4. Use LinkedIn — It’s Free!

• If you don’t use LinkedIn (a social network specifically used for career and business professionals to connect) start now! Many companies use your Linkedin profile as a basis of learning more about you and will often reference your profile more frequently than your actual resume.
• Remember Tip #1 & #3 — Use your newly revamped resume and new skills (gained from Instant Teams Academy) and use that info for your LinkedIn profile. (You know, two birds, one stone.)
• LinkedIn also has free LinkedIn Learning courses and badges that you can add to your LinkedIn profile.
• Use LinkedIn to start following remote work employers, like Organized Q and Instant Teams, and popular hashtags such as #remotework and #workfromhome to keep up-to-date on trends.

Keep it positive!

5. Be Positive & Show You’re a Good Team Player!

• In the days of remote work, we have to ensure we are keeping up with personal connections and willing to work together! With pandemic life, we no longer have the benefit of day-to-day in person interactions, so keep your online presence positive and healthy. Remember, hiring managers will seek you out on social media platforms, so what’s public is public.

Bonus Tip: Standout & Follow Up

• Just like your inbox is overflowing with #allthethings, so are the hiring managers’ inboxes! Gentle follow up and prompt attention to detail makes a big difference. Make sure your email name (capitalize the first letter in your first and last name), your Zoom name (“Spunky Nights” isn’t going to cut it for most jobs), and signature (keep the politics out) look professional. Your virtual presence is more crucial now than ever.

Love what you do & do what you love!

In the age of COVID-19, many global industries and their work-forces have taken a brutal hit. Traditional employment is changing and remote work has become the new expectation for much of our workforce. If the validity of flexible remote work was ever in question, 2020 has taught us all that flexible remote work is not only essential, it saves time and money, it works, and is the wave of the future. As a military spouse do all you can to set yourself up for career advancement and financial security by using as many of the tools and resources available to you in order to secure the best remote work opportunity for 2021.

• Organized Q, a Virtual Executive Assistant Agency, has been in business for 4 years and has always known remote work works. We have been providing virtual executive assistant services to small business owners and executives prior to remote work being the norm. Our team of virtual executive assistants consists of highly qualified professional military spouses and veterans who are dedicated to the clients we serve while also maintaining a healthy work-life balance.