Student Veterans

The Career Center at Florida State University thanks you for your service. We are here to assist you as you transition from service member to Student Veteran and plan for post-graduation.

One critical factor for post-graduation success is learning to translate your unique skill set acquired through military service into transferable knowledge, skills and abilities.   While civilian hiring managers and employers highly value your military skills and experiences, you must be able to describe them in a way civilian hiring managers and employers can easily understand. 

Below are resources designed to help you showcase your military experiences during the civilian employment hiring process on your resume, in your cover letter and during interviews or through the graduate school application process.

For additional information on support services specifically for Student Veterans at Florida State University, visit the Student Veterans Center website.

FSU Career Center Resources & Events

The Maximizing Your Diversity Quick Guide has been prepared to allow you to explore how ethnicity, age, sexual orientation or other topics may relate to your career planning. Its purpose is to spotlight Career Center resources that might be especially useful in this exploration as it relates to your multiple identities.

Meet with your Student Veterans Career Liaison for support with resumes, cover letters, choosing a major, and other career advising resources.  One-on-on career advising appointments can be requested via email to meet with a Career Liaison outside of drop-in hours, including semester breaks. 

Billy Marcantel, Veteran Liaison for the Student Veterans Center
wmarcantel@fsu.edu   850.644.2149     

Drop-in Advising

  • Tuesdays: 9:00 a.m. - Noon, William Johnston Building, Room #2011A
  • Wednesdays: 1:00 - 4:30 p.m., William Johnston Building, Room #2011A
  • Thursdays: 1:00 - 4:30 p.m., William Johnston Building, Room #2011A

Additional resources include: 

  • Quick GuideMilitary to Civilian
  • Student Veterans Center First Friday Feast -  Student Veterans, Veteran Faculty/Staff, Liaisons and friends - enjoy a free lunch and get to know other student veterans while sharing relevant career, campus and community resources. 
  • Student Veterans Resume Book: NoleNetwork is The Career Center's registration system linking students and alumni directly with employers.  When any FSU Student Veteran uploads their resume to NoleNetwork and makes their profile public, it becomes visible to Hiring Employers through the exclusive Student Veterans Resume Book - upload yours today!

Developing Your "Civilian-Friendly" Resume & Cover Letter

Career Center Resources 

  • View the "Resumes and Cover Letters" section of our website for additional information on crafting compelling documents and samples.
  • Build a Civilian Friendly resume or have your current version reviewed with your Student Veterans Career Liaison.
  • Review the Military to Civilian Career Guide – Help identify skills which may be transferred from your military service to civilian employment as well as describing  your military experience in civilian terminology on a resume.
  • O*Net’s Military Occupation Codes (MOC) Crosswalk – The MOC helps you identify civilian careers similar to your military job, then helps you translate your military experiences into the civilian skill equivalents and learn about related civilian career paths.

  • COOL (Credentialing Opportunities On-Line) helps Service Members and Veterans find information on civilian certifications and licenses related to their military jobs. Certifications and licenses can enhance your resume, making you a more competitive candidate within certain industries.

FSU On-Campus Resources for Student Veterans

  • Student Veterans Center Provides support to Florida State University students who are veterans, veteran-dependents, active duty personnel, Reserve and National Guard members, and ROTC cadets.
  • Veterans Student Union –  The Veterans Student Union is committed to serving all student veterans and the interests of those who support them. The primary goal of the VSU is to promote good academic standing and successful employment for all members. 
  • University Counseling Center – The University Counseling Center (UCC) is a welcoming and confidential place to come and is here to help! They enthusiastic about assisting our students with all kinds of questions and concerns, like homesickness, struggles with relationships, sexual identity and gender questions, cultural issues, eating and body image, substance use, worries, and depression.
  • Veterans Legal Clinic –  The Veterans Legal Clinic provides free legal services to veterans. The clinic handles a wide variety of cases, including driver’s license reinstatements, family law cases, expunging criminal records, clemency applications and landlord/tenant cases. Under the supervision of licensed attorneys, second- and third-year law students enrolled in the clinic gain valuable legal experience as they assist veterans. 
  • Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Veterans Accelerate (EBV) – EBV Accelerate is a 3-phase program that gives veterans with a successful business the tools and coaching to propel their business to the next phase: sustainable growth. Topics will include acquiring growth funding, rebranding for expansion, determining a sustainable growth rate, establishing partnerships, managing cash flow, and much more.

Veteran Specific Job Search & Career Decision Making Resources

  • Veterans Employment Trajectory (VET) Initiative - The Washington Center has developed the Veterans Employment Trajectory (VET) Initiative, an immersive internship program to help translate the extensive skills you developed in the military and in college into a successful career. During this ten-week program, you'll be matched with an internship that fits your personal and career goals. This is a fully funded internship program sponsored by Prudential Financial. Sponsorship covers the cost of the program and housing. You will be responsible for food and living expenses. However, TWC will give you $2,000 to help alleviate these expenses. You'll intern full-time Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, you'll get special training that helps you apply your experience to build your career path. You'll focus on key parts of your workforce preparedness like your resumé and personal brand, job interviewing, networking and job search skills. Additionally, you will learn from more than 60 speakers and panelists, get more than 46 hours of individual mentoring and career enrichment and attend the Veterans Summit hosted at Prudential's Corporate Headquarters.
  • ClearanceJobs.com & ClearedJobs.Net – If you hold an ACTIVE security clearance from the Department of Defense, Department of State, or the Department of Energy and you are interested in positions within the defense and intelligence community, these job boards are for you.
  • Feds Hire Vets – The federal employment process can be challenging and many veterans may not understand the Federal Employment Process. Feds Hire Vets provides information specificity for Veterans, transitioning service members, and their families who wish to work for the Federal Government. 
  • GI Jobs Magazine –  Most student veterans who have transitioned out of the military have been in uniform since they were 18 years old. Now, you’re between the ages of 22 and 42, brimming with talent, and that’s where GI Jobs Magazine come in. Their job board for veterans is a great place to find top companies looking to hire veterans. Offering articles, tips and online tools to help student veterans explore different career and post-secondary education options. Recommending specific, how-to advice on everything from job searching, to writing a resume and interviewing.
  • Hire Heroes USA Hire Heroes USA has one mission, to help veterans like yourself find employment. All services are FREE and offered virtually. Clients are individually-paired with a Transition Specialist, who is from their network of more than 750 volunteers, most of whom work in corporate America (as entrepreneurs, or as federal employees), coach, mentor and conduct mock interviews to help clients prepare for their job search. Additionally, their job board houses tens of thousands of jobs posted by companies who have been vetted by the staff.
  • My Next Move –  My Next Move for Veterans is designed for veterans who are current job seekers. The interactive tool helps you learn more about different career options. The site has tasks, skills, salary information, job listings, and more for over 900 different careers. You can find careers through keyword search; by browsing industries that employ different types of workers; or by discovering civilian careers that are similar to their job in the military.
  • Six Sigma Wings for Heroes –  Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Training and Certification Scholarships now available for US Military Personnel and Veterans.  Lean Six Sigma Black Belts are highly trained Six Sigma experts who possess the knowledge and skills that are necessary to facilitate breakthrough improvements in key processes that support the overall aims of an enterprise or operating unit. They serve as change agents, internal consultants, mentors to Green Belts and assistants to Six Sigma Champions. Black Belts optimize existing technology, or bring new technologies on line at optimal operating conditions and are the masters of problem solving.  The aim of Six Sigma for Heroes is to enhance the job opportunities for those that honorably served in the defense of our great nation. This is our way of saying Thank You for Your Service.
  • Troops to Teachers – Interested in a career as an educator?  Troops to Teachers is a Department of Defense program that provides career transitions assistance services to current and former military members who desire a second career in public school teaching.
  • The Veterans Employ Florida – An initiative by the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs that helps match Veterans to the jobs and training opportunities here the State of Florida that suit the skills and experience gained in the military.
  • USA Jobs Dedicated Veterans Website – With veterans’ preference, you may receive preference over non-veteran applicants in the hiring process. Veterans' preference can be used when applying to permanent and temporary positions in both the competitive and excepted service (of the executive branch).
  • UndergraduVets & Cadets National Career Conference & Expo – Each October, this hiring event connects Student Veterans and Cadets from across the US with campus, military, and diversity recruiters representing the nation’s leading companies and graduate schools. The Conference offers 6+ hours of networking with recruiters from top companies as well as 5+ hours of onsite interviews and 5+ hours of career education. Student Veterans enrolled at a Top 125 National University and are a sophomore, junior or senior status are eligible to attend the conference.
  • Veteran Jobs Mission – The Veteran Jobs Mission is one of the leading private-sector job boards for Veterans who are wishing to gain employment in the private-sector. Started in 2011 as a coalition of 11 leading companies committed to hiring 100,000 Veterans by 2020, the coalition has evolved to more than 230 private-sector companies that represent virtually every industry in the U.S. economy and has collectively hired more than 400,000 Veterans since inception.