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Career Resources

Resources & Services

Student veterans and military-affiliated students have a lot to offer when it comes to landing a new job in a new career field. We've provided career resources to help you maximize your education.

Student veterans and other military-affiliated students are good learners and highly adaptable after a career or a lifetime of adjusting to the needs of the military. But sometimes, military-connected students have difficulty articulating how their experiences demonstrate their skills and abilities for positions in the non-military workforce.

These resources may help kickstart an updated resume. We recommend scheduling a one-on-one session with Office of Military Affairs staff to discuss your career goals and workshop job search documents. From there, we can refer you to the UNCW Career Center for events, career coaching and personalized support.

Career Resources

Whether you are hoping to continue working in the same field after you complete your degree or you are making a change, it always helps to be able to identify the kinds of work you've done previously and the kinds of work you may be interested in doing in the future.

The first resource we recommend is PathwayU, which will ask you to complete a series of interest surveys, then match you according to your skills and interests; you can choose whether to include the Military Crosswalk feature.

Each fall and spring semester, the Career Center hosts CareerFest, an informal fair where students interact with people from a variety of different career fields to learn more about their day-to-day working life. You may also find these services helpful:

  • Military Crosswalk Search from O*NET OnLine: Allows you to review careers similar to positions held within the military, based upon codes or titles from your Military Occupation Code.
  • CareerScope Assessment Portal: An online assessment that measures your interests and skill levels to determine the best career path for you, following the transition into civilian life. You can use this resource if you are a veteran, service member, or dependent who qualifies for or is currently using VA educational benefits.
  • Veteran Job Center: This resource translates your Military Occupation Code into relevant civilian occupations. Once you enter your code, it will generate a list of civilian occupations that best match your skill set.
  • CareerOneStop Veterans Job Matcher: Allows you to find civilian careers that match your military skills. It will also generate more information on the occupations, such as average wage, education requirements, job outlook, and a link to current local job postings.

Working with a career counselor to edit the initial drafts of your resume can be good preparation for tailoring cover letters and preparing for job interviews.

We recommend trying out the NCWorks Career Center, which allows you to create, store, and update your resume online. You can also meet with a career counselor to assist with tailoring your resume and other aspects of the job search process. The UNCW Career Center also offers resume writing assistance.

The "translation" tools listed here can be a helpful starting point when it comes to figuring out how to describe the work you did in the military in a way that non-military people can easily understand.

UNCW hosts a career portal called Handshake, which lists anything from part-time jobs, both on and off campus, to internships (both paid and unpaid) and professional jobs for students who are preparing to graduate.

What's great about this portal as compared to other job search portals is that applicants are only competing against the pool of applicants from UNCW. In other words, employers who have a listing in Handshake are especially seeking UNCW graduates for their available positions.

CREATE a HANDSHAKE ACCOUNT