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When I interviewed for my current position at National Able Network with the Veterans Forward program, the team asked me what I thought we did here. I’ll be the first to admit, I was stumped. I had never been specifically employed in workforce development before. The term itself was entirely alien to me. I knew Veterans Forward and National Able Network as a whole got people jobs, but the process of how that worked was unfamiliar to me. Fortunately the team here takes care of the new guy and over the last month I’ve been able to learn more about how our team of career coaches turns unemployed veterans into ideal candidates for businesses in a wide range of fields.

The first step is teaching our clients that the most powerful job search tool isn’t any job board online, but their own network. Eighty percent of positions are filled through professional networks (including 100 percent of the civilian jobs I’ve filled). This is especially true in a city like Chicago where our motto may as well be, “I got a guy.” Through on-the-job training opportunities, resume and LinkedIn profile development, and counseling to translate military experience into concrete skills in demand by employers, Veterans Forward helps unemployed vets discover they are still the “guy” someone needs.

Building that narrative might be the most valuable service Veterans Forward offers. In my life I’ve worked for small family businesses and massive national political campaigns. I’ve been a carpenter, a soldier, a mechanic, an activist, a trainer, a social media professional, and a bona fide office drone (often filling several of these roles at once). Aside from my military training that qualified me to be a Blackhawk helicopter crew chief, I never entered one of those positions with a certificate saying I was one of those things.

The education that got me in those doors was courtesy of growing up with my father, the salesman. He taught me the most valuable traits to maintain in life are to be adaptable, to be a life-long learner, and to honestly communicate who I am and who I can be. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to teach those lessons as a Veterans Forward Career Coach.