Overview
Welcome to Talent Spotlight Prep!
After completing this activity, you will:
- Understand how the Talent Spotlight works.
- Understand the elements of the Talent Spotlight’s Candidate Card.
- Understand what career fields are covered in the Spotlight.
How it Works
If you’ve been in the market for a civilian career before, you’ve likely encountered a scenario where translating your military experience was difficult. Many recruiters and hiring managers have little to no familiarity with the military, which makes translating your experience feel a little like you are speaking a different language. That’s where Shift’s Talent Spotlight comes in!
The Talent Spotlight is how we feature you to recruiters & hiring managers at our partner companies, that are specifically looking to hire veterans. We take the guesswork out of the process by helping you expertly craft your career story in a way that civilians can understand. Through the Spotlight, your Shift profile culminates into a Candidate Card, which is designed to be easily digestible by recruiters and hiring managers.
After you’ve been accepted into the Spotlight and based on your window of availability, you’ll go live on the Spotlight for a month (exception for SkillBridge participants, more info below), during which time, recruiters and hiring managers can see your candidate card, and reach out via email to set up an interview if think you may be a fit for an open role. We feature new candidates every two weeks, and you are able to go on the Spotlight more than once.
The Talent Spotlight is available to all US veterans and transitioning servicemembers. Whether you’ve been out 10 years, or you get out 10-days from now, the platform is designed to showcase your skills and abilities in a way that helps you stand out from the crowd.
Elements of the Candidate Card
The Candidate Card is a snapshot of your professional profile that is shared with recruiters/hiring managers using the Talent Spotlight. During the application process, you’ll come across two sections that together populate your card: Profile Basics & Talent Spotlight Details.
Profile Basics
The Profile Basics section of the application collects information that can be used across multiple programs at Shift. This includes your personal information (name, email, location), military information (branch, duty status, clearance), as well as your resume, profile photo, & LinkedIn Profile URL. This information supplements the Candidate Card and can be used to pre-populate information in future applications.
Talent Spotlight Details
The Talent Spotlight Details of the application collects employment-specific information that populates a majority of your candidate card. This includes your location & start date information, elevator pitch, and your professional highlights.
In a later section, we’ll cover the ins and outs of building a quality Candidate Card, but for now, remember that you have to complete the entire application in order to be featured in the Talent Spotlight.
Career Fields in the Spotlight
Shift’s partners understand the value of hiring veterans and the impact that people like you can make on their teams. Based on years of research and communication with our partners, these fields have been identified as areas where veterans are able to thrive naturally. If you’re not sure which field is right for you, don’t worry! We cover choosing the right role in the next section.
The Spotlight highlights veterans across five career fields:
- Customer Success & Support
- Human Resources & Recruiting
- Project Management & Operations
- Sales & Marketing
- Tech, Data, Engineering
You can learn more about each career field in the Career Discovery section of your profile. In Career Discovery, you can see a list of skills related to each career field, as well as relevant job titles. This helps when it comes to completing your application, as you can better understand what types of skills our partner companies are looking for from the veteran community.