The Hunter - March 2021

In This Issue

Join The Nation's Largest Veteran Owned and Operated Franchise

Meet Orion Talent’s 50,000th Military Hire, Mason Graham

PODCAST: Land Your Dream Job With a FREE Professional Video from Mission Hire Me

Exclusive Opportunities Through Orion

According to Your Peers

Career Success with Orion

Podcast Series for Job Seekers

Upcoming Hiring Conferences

Join the Orion Team

Career Transition Planning and Base Visits

Earn $100 for Every Referral that Finds their Career through Orion

Companies Recently Hiring

Connect with Orion Online

Join The Nation's Largest Veteran Owned and Operated Franchise

JDog’s Junk Removal & Hauling and JDog Carpet Cleaning & Floor Care franchise opportunities have proven to be recession resistant, after gaining 80 new franchise owners in 2020. With many hardships endured by businesses nationwide due to COVID-19, JDog’s business is stronger than ever. “As an Essential Business, our franchise owners have been fully operational throughout the entire pandemic and have grown their business operations,” said Terry Corkery, President of Franchise Sales. 

JDog attributes the recent success of its business to growth in service based industries, as well as the high profit margins, low investment, and low overhead that make up JDog’s business model. “The growth of our JDog Franchise System has been extremely strong. In 2020, the interest from potential franchise owners increased tremendously, with a 50% increase in New Franchisee Signings compared to the previous year,” said Terry.

What Makes JDog Unique?

• JDog provides franchise opportunities exclusively for Veterans and Military families

• They encourage franchisees to employ other Veterans with the goal of reducing the Veteran unemployment rate to below 1%

• JDog recycles and donates 60% to 80% of the junk they haul to keep as much out of the landfill as possible

• Franchise owners handle every job with Respect, Integrity, and Trust

What JDog’s Veteran Franchise Owners Are Saying

“I served 10 years in the Marine Corps and I spent 15 years in national and corporate America. I just wanted to get back to where it would be a team environment that I could truly help Military Veterans and their families with job opportunities.” - John Merwald, USMC Veteran

“Being able to live the mission for the last year and see how that has also turned into helping empower Veterans with employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, serving the local communities, and protecting the planet. It’s just something I knew I wanted to be a part of and it made sense to make that next step to actually do that for myself and help others.” - Kevin Haseney, U.S. Army Veteran

Visit JDog online to learn more about franchise opportunities and complete this form if you’d like to speak to a franchise specialist about owning your own business in 2021.

Meet Orion Talent’s 50,000th Military Hire, Mason Graham

Orion Talent recently announced our 50,000 veteran hire, Mason Graham, and we want you to get to know his story a little better. From the football field to the battlefield to a brand new career field, all while COVID upends life, Mason’s transition from military to civilian is definitely worth celebrating.

Mason’s Military-to-Civilian Transition Experience

Transitioning from the USMC during the COVID pandemic presented unique challenges for Mason Graham, an Infantry Captain and former Navy Outside Linebacker. Both his networking opportunities, as well as previously available positions, were negatively affected.

“Many companies that I originally contacted were on a hiring freeze due to the uncertainty of their future business projections. Networking wise, many of the conferences and programs that I had signed up for either got canceled or went virtual. I pivoted to searching for direct placement opportunities,” explains Mason.

Additionally, Mason found it hard to select a clear direction for his civilian career. And, until he nailed down a specific job industry, it was hard to network effectively. Instead, he decided to focus on his leadership and people skills garnered in the military.

He explains that the military made him comfortable speaking in front of people, which made in-person interviews more natural for him. He also had eight years of experience leading small and large teams. His experience as a platoon commander and company commander taught him how to deal with a myriad of different types of people all with different jobs and bring them together to accomplish a common goal. Mason knew that this experience was valuable, as, outside of the military, it is hard to have the same leadership experience early on in your career.

Finding the Right Civilian Career

With this in mind, Mason began casting a very wide net into many different types of careers. With a few months remaining until he separated from the Marine Corps, Mason was deep in the interview process with several different companies. “I had narrowed it down to jobs within the medical tech industry and strategic consulting,” he recalls, “As I mentioned earlier, COVID-19 restricted the number of conferences that were available which meant most of my targeting was to specific companies.” It was at this point in October 2020 that Orion Talent connected him with a career with Abiomed, a leader within the medical tech industry.

Abiomed represented the right company culture and the opportunity for Mason to develop a passion for his product. “The motto of the company is ‘Patients First’ which correlates very well with the mentality within the military of ‘Mission Accomplishment’. I am currently selected to attend Abiomed's Military Officer Training Program, which will include a year of training to prepare me for the role of Cardiology Account Manager,” says Mason. He uses his leadership experience in his work at Abiomed on a daily basis.

Advice for Veterans

For Mason, networking is integral to a successful military transition. He suggests his colleagues get comfortable networking and start doing so as early as possible. He also advises that transitioning service members talk to as many veterans that have transitioned as possible to learn from their first-hand experiences.

Mason also shared another piece of advice - do not rest on your accomplishments. “Your new career does not care about your past accomplishments as much as how your military experience will help their company be more successful. Keep that in the back of your mind when you are the new person in your job,” he explains.

And finally, Mason emphasizes the importance of tailoring a resume to the career you want and not the jobs you’ve had, dropping military jargon. This will help non-military hiring managers understand how your skills will correlate with their job role.

Advice for Hiring Managers

When it comes to advice for hiring managers, Mason advises that they ask questions that help learn more about the candidate’s role within the military and how that experience will correlate to the specific civilian role. Also, he says, understand that it is not natural for military members to network or interview, so when talking about their accomplishments within the military, they may be downgrading their pedigree. “Veterans are team players. This is instilled in them through their training, and it will pay dividends to their employers,” concludes Mason.

Celebrating 50,000 Military Hires

We are proud to spotlight Mason as our 50,000th Military Hire. He is a wonderful example for other transitioning veterans, especially in these unique times. Thanks to Mason for letting us help with his military-to-civilian career search.

PODCAST: Land Your Dream Job With a FREE Professional Video from Mission Hire Me

Mission Hire Me is serving transitioning veteran and military spouse job seekers by helping them to create visually engaging and professionally edited video profiles to use in their job applications and on social media. Mission Hire Me is funded by corporate sponsorship and organizational grants to provide a FREE service to transitioning veterans and military spouses.

Bill Barnett, CEO and Founder of Mission Hire Me, joined the podcast to discuss the impact these video profiles can have on your job search, and the simplicity of the video creation process.

Video profiles make you visible and attractive to potential employers, showing them the “real” person behind the military uniform. This helps employers envision you in their workplace in a way that a resume can’t. “A video is a door opener for your job search,” Bill explained. “It shows that the job seeker went above and beyond.” 

“In creating a video profile, the goal is to have a hiring manager say - ‘this is someone I want to work with,’” Bill stated. Mission Hire Me is trying to break down the barrier of hiring managers who are afraid to hire a veteran. “Videos break through the noise of all the resumes,” Bill added.

In fact, 60% of Recruiters will view a video before reading a resume, and they are six times more likely to recall information from a video than text on a resume. There is a 40% better response rate from Recruiters when a job seeker uses a video profile.

Creating a video is an easy, low commitment way to make you stand out from other job seekers. Now, due to the ongoing pandemic and Mission Hire Me’s mission to extend its services to veterans across the country, the whole process is done virtually. “The process is fairly simple for veteran job seekers,” Bill explained. “We meet via Zoom to have an ‘interview,’ you answer the questions, and send the photos in.” From there, Mission Hire Me takes care of the rest. “We do the editing, music, graphics, stock images, everything,” Bill said.

Mission Hire Me aims to have a turnaround time of two to three weeks for each video produced. Once completed, a veteran job seeker has a high quality, professional video profile that is a heartwarming introduction, Bill stated. 

“After receiving their video, many veteran job seekers don’t even realize their own potential,” Bill stated. “It gives them the confidence to start applying for more jobs.” As a result, Mission Hire Me's success rate exceeds 80%.

Mission Hire Me works with veterans who are interested in all job fields. “We’ve done videos from Warehouse Technicians to Medical Professionals,” Bill said. Listen to the full podcast here. If you are ready to create your own video profile, visit Mission Hire Me online and fill out a form to get started on your own video profile.

Exclusive Opportunities Through Orion

According to Your Peers

Career Success with Orion

Podcast Series for Job Seekers

Have you tuned in to From the Battlefield to the Boardroom, our podcast series dedicated to supporting military job seekers? We have a variety of episodes covering everything from the civilian transition process to valuable insights and guidance from other Veterans and business leaders.

We've recently added new podcasts, including:

137. 5 Things To Keep in Mind When You Begin a Civilian Career

136. 5 Tips for Maximizing Your Job Search During COVID

135. Veteran Career Readiness with Mike Abrams, Founder of FourBlock

134. Financially Preparing for Your Transition, with Ryan Guina (The Military Wallet)

133. Become a Business Owner with a Veteran-Owned Franchise

If you are ready to enter the interview process, visit our Interview Essentials page to sharpen your interview skills!

Visit us online to listen to all the episodes, and explore our new podcast categories on each stage of the transition process. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast platform or RSS feed, to automatically receive new episodes as they are released.

We'd love to feature your questions in our upcoming episodes. If you have any questions you'd like to hear us answer, click below to email us!

LET US ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS!  »

           

Upcoming Hiring Conferences

Virtual 

 Click here for more information.

Join the Orion Team

Account Executive Careers with Orion 

Orion Talent is currently seeking transitioning or former military officers with a strong record of achievement to join our Sales Team as an Account Executive. We are hiring for our San Diego, CA office.

As an Account Executive, you will be responsible for identifying and working closely with America's leading companies in order for them to hire transitioning military veterans and develop smarter hiring programs. Average total first year income for Account Executives is $80K+, with a goal of $100K+ in your second year and beyond. 

To qualify, you should have military experience, a Bachelors degree, and a desire to succeed in sales. You do not need prior sales experience, as we will provide you the training, tools and resources needed to succeed.

Visit our Account Executive Careers with Orion Talent page to learn more about working at Orion, including a video, podcast, and webinar on our Account Executive positions. 

If you're looking for a quick way to introduce yourself, please send an email that includes your resume to Isabel Jessee.   

Business Development Director Careers with Orion

Orion Talent is currently seeking transitioning or former military to join our Sales Team as a Business Development Director. This position will be remote.

As a Business Development Director, you will be responsible for the identification, selling, and expansion of accounts in a specific designated industry, to include Finance/Accounting, Medical, Technology, IT, Construction, or others. This is a national position able to penetrate deeply into the vertical while developing into a subject matter expert. Compensation for the Business Development Director position is $80K-$150K.

Visit our Current Openings page to learn more about the Business Development Director position and to apply, or please send an email that includes your resume to Chris Hurst or Bob Berkholz.

Career Transition Planning and Base Visits

Our virtual base visits are a chance to get a jump start on your career search, regardless of your ETS date. Our Recruiters will discuss your goals and preferences with you and present a realistic picture of what to expect in your search. You'll get resume advice, interview preparation tips, and much more! 

We will be holding virtual base visits for JMOs and Degreed NCOs on the following dates:

March 19 - San Diego, CA area
March 26 - Norfolk, VA area

If you would like to attend, please fill out this form or contact Morgan Causie.

Earn $100 for Every Referral that Finds their Career through Orion

Did you know that Orion candidates earned $29,300 in referral bonuses through the third quarter of 2020?

For every job seeker you refer to us who is subsequently hired through Orion, you'll receive a $100 gift card to a retailer of your choice after they reach 90 days on the new job!

It's simple - just click here to refer a friend. 30 seconds of your time could be $100 in your pocket!

Companies Recently Hiring

Connect with Orion Online

Follow us to keep up-to-date on all things Orion, including hiring events, base visits, webinars, and news pertinent to veterans through our social media listed below.