Contact: Kathryn Troutman or
Sarah Blazucki
(410) 744-4324

Employment Centers’ New Program Helps Jobseekers Prevail Despite Weak Economy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Baltimore, MD--

(BALTIMORE, MD - November 1, 2003) - Helping jobseekers succeed in a weak economy can feel like an uphill climb to the military’s outplacement specialists. Yet the U.S. government, with thousands of job openings, is one market still open to job hunters. The barrier to these federal jobs is often the difficult and convoluted application process. “It’s very cumbersome at best, even for the professionals,” observed Ed Roscoe, Director of the Spouse Employment Assistance Program (SEAP) which is available at 68 U.S. Navy Fleet and Family Service Centers worldwide. To help their SEAP professionals meet today’s challenges, the Navy recently acquired Kathryn Troutman’s Ten Steps to a Federal Job™ Recruitment, Training and Career Development Program. “The ‘Ten Steps’ program has been a blessing,” noted Roscoe.

Based on her award-wining book Ten Steps to a Federal Job, the program is an “off-the-shelf” package that Troutman adapts to each organization’s needs. The Certification Training for Career, Education & Training Professionals involves three days of classroom training with Troutman. In addition, professionals from the U.S. Navy Fleet and Family Service Centers receive her materials to support their teaching and advising of clients. Materials include:

• The Federal Resume Guidebook by Kathryn Troutman(with CD-ROM resume samples)
• The Trainer’s Guide, a presenter’s manual on the Ten Steps curriculum
• MS Word PowerPoint™ presentation slides
• The Jobseeker’s Guide, a student workbook with class handouts
• Career center/job fair posters, sample announcements, evaluations, and certificates of training
• 2 years’ access to the web-based Resume Builder and KSA Builder for the center and clients.

This is the first curriculum program that the Fleet and Family Service Centers have adopted. It’s creating new excitement about the centers’ ability to help customers. “My enrollment jumped by 360 percent since I incorporated the Ten Steps materials,” said Enochia Anderson, a SEAP Manager in Rota, Spain. “It’s a career saver,” said another.

“Prior to the Ten Steps training, managers in the field tried to muddle their way through,” confided Roscoe. He added, “Just finding out if a candidate might be qualified to even apply for the position took many hours trying to read confusing vacancy announcements. The managers were hungry for information to use in a workshop setting.”

Ready-to-use supporting materials greatly reduce class preparation time. One-on-one counseling time has also been cut, because the Ten Steps program makes it much easier to teach and advise clients on finding federal employment. “Now our clients’ resumes stand out from thousands of other applicants’ resumes, landing them the interview,” reported Celia Luna, a SEAP manager in Puerto Rico. “Ms. Troutman makes it easy for anyone to understand the various federal application procedures. We now know how to break an often-daunting task into parts that make both instructing and completing applications achievable goals,” concluded Luna.

Troutman introduced the Ten Steps to a Federal Job Professional Certification training one year ago in response to jobseekers’ overwhelming demand for her Ten Steps Federal Job Search training. “My goal is to get the information out there, but I’m just one person. Certifying others to teach and advise on the Ten Step approach gets this vital information out to more of the people who need it—and need it now,” she explained.

Troutman has been working with Federal jobseekers for nearly three decades. In 1995, she created the format now considered the golden standard for federal resumes. Through The Resume Place, her Baltimore-based firm, Troutman has published eight books on Federal employment, including the original Ten Steps to a Federal Job guidebook. She has also presented the Ten Step method to thousands of jobseekers and professionals for numerous organizations, including the U.S. Air Force outplacement centers in Germany, the DOD, U.S. Coast Guard outplacement counselors (in Biloxi), many Department of Labor Workforce Centers, and the National Institutes of Health.

Both current government employees and newcomers can speed up the process of creating federal resumes by turning to a second tool—Troutman’s new CD-ROM featuring 30 great-looking resume templates/samples and 25 KSAs. Going online, a jobseeker is able to download the templates/samples within an hour of making an order. Applicants may either type over the templates or use them as more samples. Using the CD-ROM, paper or electronic resumes can be written in as little as three hours. Visit www.resume-place.com for further info.

“Federal application information is especially crucial in today’s economy, but it’s a tough market,” Troutman admits. “You have to know the process, the job titles, the salaries, and how to find the jobs. There are different procedures for different agencies. But when professionals know how to properly educate and assist, jobseekers can land the jobs of their dreams.”

To request further background on the training and curriculum package, or to arrange an interview with Kathryn Troutman, contact Sarah Blazucki at The Resume Place via phone [(410) 744-4324] or e-mail [sarah@resume-place.com]. Media information, helpful articles, descriptions of various publications, products, and training programs, plus workshop schedules may be viewed at www.resume-place.com.