JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If you or someone you know is a veteran looking for that next career move, there's an event Thursday that can help.
The city of Jacksonville is hosting free career counseling.
A Jacksonville based staffing company is helping veterans review their resumes, prepare for interviews, whatever they need to land that next job.
All you have to bring is your resume, have willingness to sit down and talk about your skills and the ability to take criticism. What makes this event special is that veterans are getting help from people who really understand the challenges unique to veterans.
Matt Tuohy has held quite a few jobs since retiring from the Navy more than a decade ago. Now he's using that job hunting experience to help other veterans.
"Through that I've learned a lot about what it takes to market yourself. And that's really what veterans don't know," said Tuogy, who is involved the Incepture Veterans Program.
Tuohy said marketing yourself will be just one part of the free career training that includes resume and interviewing tips, as well as helping veterans articulate their experience.
"We've had people come in and say well I don't know how to do anything I've only been in the navy for 20 years and so by the time you finish and sit down and talk with them, and point out what they really have done from a soft skill prospective, leadership prospective and management prospective, they're amazed," said Tuohy.
The event is hosted by the city of Jacksonville, that holds more than 200,000 veteran residents. The city said this event is open to veterans at any stage, and they are already seeing results.
"We have veterans who got jobs already. And it is a mixture of veterans. We've seen veterans who have been out of work for a long time as well as officers that are just getting out of the military," said Harrison Conyers, with the city of Jacksonville.
"We owe veterans an opportunity to get on with the next point in their lives and this is one way that we're trying to eat the elephant one bite at a time," said Tuohy.
The city of Jacksonville will be hosting the free event monthly. Thursday's event takes place at City Hall from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.