Recently, I saw a post on social media by a service member who was frustrated with outdated DoD systems and had used Trello and Slack to solve an issue in the barracks.
A year ago, those systems would have been completely foreign to me. As an old-fashioned, pen-and-paper kind of girl, I was completely behind in the there’s-an-app-for-that generation.
To make things worse, since leaving the service, I had worked for government entities, a college, and non-profits, almost all of which used software that made the Oregon Trail game look like cutting edge technology.
But, last year, I started another graduate program, which required me to use some systems and skills I hadn’t used before. Then I decided to start my own business and found even more programs I hadn’t known existed.
Now, I recognize that I’m older than the average service member and my luddite tendencies put me behind a lot of people in the tech curve. So, if you’re a savvy individual who solves your problems like that service member solved the barracks issue, then I might not be telling you anything you don’t know.
But, if you’re maybe a bit like I was and you still carry the little green book everywhere rather than automate everything, you might find today’s post helpful.
Here are five skills or systems that I’ve learned to use and that vets and transitioning service members can add to their resumes for free.
1. Slack: This is a communication system that allows for team collaboration, file sharing, and video calls.
You can organize the conversations by channel, so all items related to a single topic are together, rather than having to dig through tons of e-mails to find details.
I convinced my Women in Defense chapter to start using this and it has massively cut down on the back-and-forth e-mails that I was getting bombarded with.
2. Trello: This is project management system that uses a system of boards, lists, and cards to keep projects organized and on time.
You can share it with other people in order to collaborate and keep track of projects.
I use it for everything from tracking work projects to keeping track of all the things I need to do for my upcoming move to a new apartment.
3. HTMLdog: As you can probably tell from my earlier comments, I know nothing about coding.
But I had to learn some basics for my graduate program and this was the resource the professor had us use.
It has fun (and funny), interactive tutorials at various levels of capability that can teach you about HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
4. Loom: This is another grad school find and its free screen and video recording software.
With it, you can record, trim, and share videos on whatever topic interests you.
I had to build several pertaining to a pretend publishing press I had to create and I found it pretty easy to use.
5. MailChimp: This is a marketing tool that helps you create marketing campaigns, landing pages, and other tools that you can use to communicate with groups, whether that’s far-flung family, blog followers, or customers.
It’s simple to use, integrates with 100s of other systems, and allows you to track the analytics of whose connecting with your material.
These are just five systems and skills veterans and transitioning service members can use to boost their resume and automate their lives. Did you find any of them helpful? Is there a different free system that’s your favorite?
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