The 2023 Career Development Convention provides the resources and connections needed for successful employment and professional development. This completely free professional resource day for veterans, military spouses, and transitioning service members features a job fair, vendors, headshots, video profiles, and networking to help you advance your military transition and career. ClearanceJobs sat down with Jon Meadows and Jesse Sieff, the creative professionals behind this unique networking event, to discuss the importance of personal branding in your job search and what military veterans, spouses, and employers can expect from the event.
Lindy Kyzer (00:32):
Hi, this is Lindy with ClearanceJobs.com. I’m super excited to have Jesse and John to talk about Creative Transitions. They are gearing up for an event taking place at the Army Navy Country Club, which is one of my favorite spots. It’s a great location. September 28th. So tell me more about that event. I didn’t warn you who was going to have to talk first. So which one of you wants to tee off and tell me more about the event, September 28th, the who, what, where, why, how.
Jon Meadows (01:02):
I kind of started the event. I’m John Meadows. I’m a headshot photographer and facial expression coach with high-end headshots in the DC area. And Jesse, do an intro.
Jesse Sieff (01:11):
Yes. Hello everyone and thank you Lindy for having us. This is fantastic to be able to speak to your audience here. My name is Jesse Sieff. I’m a Marine Corps veteran and a military spouse, and I’m the owner of Sieff Studios, which is a video production and strategy company in Annapolis, Maryland. And I’m delighted to be partnering with John on this new type of event that we’re doing that’s focused on media and hiring the military community specifically. So I’ll throw that back to you, John, to kind of explain what it is that we’re doing and why we’re excited to be sharing this with you guys.
Jon Meadows (01:46):
Sure. Well, it started off with a growing appreciation for the military community. My brother-in-law was a sniper in Afghanistan. I got to work on a political campaign with a retired Air Force colonel and appreciated more what the military community does for us, what they sacrifice to do for us, and I was building this valuable skill of headshots and so thought it would be great to offer that once a year for free quick sessions, people get their favorite image. And I did that for four years and it was great. Shot over 150 people and helped them in their career transitions or with their professional development. Jesse showed up the fourth year, two years ago, liked what he saw, noticed that there was networking and resource sharing happening before and after people had their headshot taken and pushed me to make it a bigger event and offered his help. So eventually I relented. So now we’re doing the Career Development Convention, which includes headshot but includes other things.
Jesse Sieff (02:45):
Yes, and that’s exactly how it happened and I am delighted to see people jumping in from various locations joining us. We’re trying to get this word out to as many people as possible, particularly veterans and active duty service members who are transitioning soon and their families and military spouses. Like I said, I’m a military spouse myself, I’m a Marine Corps veteran, and as John kind of articulated there, that was something that really resonated with me when I was transitioning out. As anyone knows, everyone has a different experience, but I think one of the biggest common threads is just the clutter and the information overload that comes with the transition process. To put it simply, that’s what we’re trying to combat by providing just an abundance of value by way of personal branding and really reestablishing that professional identity.
(03:47):
I realized that at John’s headshot event a couple of years ago, whenever I actually got my headshot back and I could see myself as a professional and I was confident in the fact that I liked the photo. So that internally opens a lot of doors when you have the confidence to go out and get that job application done, go to that networking event, say, ‘hi, here’s who I am, what I do, what’s important to me and how to get in touch with me.’ That was kind of the catalyst that made us realize, well hey, if we’re giving away these free headshots and I’m here doing video testimonials and interviews, why don’t we use that as the core of this new event so that we can have employers on site who are ready to hire veterans, military spouses, and transitioning military. So the event that we are planning is now the second one, our last one was in November last year.
(04:45):
This one is on September 28th at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia. So if you’re listening, mark your calendars; we’re trying to get the biggest compatibility of attendees and employers so that you basically have the streamlined path of knowing what’s valuable, which is updated resume, updated headshot, making sure your LinkedIn profile is good to go, and making sure you have the connections and resources to actually get those conversations started and start booking interviews. That’s what this whole event is all about. So with that, Lindy, we’re delighted to be partnering with ClearanceJobs and as one of our legacy sponsors to help us connect to a pipeline of people that have these clearances but may not have the other resources like the personal branding or the introductions to companies. So we’re really, really excited to be working with you guys on this.
Lindy Kyzer (05:50):
Yeah, I know. We’re excited too. When I found out about the event, it was definitely near and dear to my creatives heart. I had a couple questions come in the chat and somebody said, ‘the artist’s work is dead.’ It’s not, because John and Jesse are artists and look at them, look at how successful they are. So this is a great event. We talk a ton about, a big key part of our community at ClearanceJobs is transitioning veterans, but that branding piece of it is something that you’re probably not going to get a lot of in your TAP program training. Every program is different and some of them might speak to that, but having a professional headshot, knowing how to dress for the opportunities, make connections, are big. And I would say the fact that this event is free for veterans is huge because I know how expensive it is to get a professional headshot done.
(06:31):
So I think the fact that you’re providing that for veterans, it is worth attending for that alone. And also for employers, if you’re looking at the sponsorship opportunities, again, I work a ton with videographers and photographers in the DC Metro and the skills that you guys have – Jesse, John that you have – the fact that you’re bringing them to this event makes the value for sponsoring pretty key because getting anything done, presenting yourself or your company or your personal self through video or photo is really powerful and is a great part of the career transition piece. And the fact that that’s kind of a cornerstone of what you’re doing at this event is you have video, you have the videography talent there, you have a photographer there. That’s a great advantage.
(07:18):
We’d love to provide more information about the event. Again, it’s taking place at the Army Navy Country Club, so it is kind of targeted on those DC metro candidates. I love the fact that military spouses can also participate. Talk about the branding piece of it. Jesse, you having this experience as being a transitioning service member and then John as you help a lot of folks in the GovCon space with that, I do think we’re kind of an industry that’s known for being bare bones. We don’t like branding. Sometimes we feel like it’s, I think because we have such an investment in the taxpayer dollar, we don’t always think about how important it actually is to have that piece of it. So talk about, I would love to get each of your perspectives on why this kind of branding piece of it or how you present yourself is important to you.
Jon Meadows (08:05):
GovCon clients are some of my best clients. I was just at GovJam last night and it was awesome. I had 10 clients in the crowd there. I just basically walked around until someone called my name and it didn’t take long. Yeah, it is worth investing in if it’s good. I think I would say that I’d actually point out that my best personal review of headshot photography came from a veteran’s event. It was the one that Jesse was at. Jesse didn’t give me the best review, but it was that same one. It was a guy who I spent three minutes with him. It seemed to go fine. I was happy with the shots that I saw. He went over to select his image and he wrote 10 paragraphs about the experience in a review and he said it changed how he saw himself and what he wants to do with his life and he went into education instead of what he planning to do. To me, if you just get an okay headshot somewhere, that can be helpful, if you see yourself in a new way, like Jesse was talking about, if you feel ready to present yourself in a better way, you feel more confident. It’s more than just the picture, it’s the experience and how you feel afterwards. That is valuable as well.
Jesse Sieff (09:18):
Exactly. And that is why we are insistent on the highest possible quality headshots and media assets. Because if done right, as John said, it is a transformative experience. There are other people that do headshots for veterans for free, but there’s no consistency in quality. You don’t really know what you’re going to get. It’s nice, it’s a great service, but we are trying to go to the top shelf so that we can create that transformative experience for people. Kind of going back to your question, Lindy, the value of personal branding is difficult to measure because of how important it is. So it’s not just getting that one job that you want right now. Your personal brand continues on and carries with you throughout your entire career. And I think we quantified the value of $3,000 per attendee for the headshot, the video interview, and the resources that we provide.
(10:18):
And we are delighted to give that away because we understand that even if you don’t find the opportunity that you’re looking for that day, you take something away from that networking event that you can use for years to come and find you more opportunities that way. That’s the big difference with this event. It’s not just showing up to a networking event and kind of rolling the dice hoping that I’m going to bump into somebody that gives me an opportunity or sets me up with an interview. It’s like, no, you’re going to have those opportunities, but you’re going to be armed with fresh personal branding, a headshot that you’re excited about, a video introduction that you can share in your email signature or on LinkedIn. So we’re removing that resistance in the barriers to start the conversations that actually leads to meaningful employment. So the personal branding aspect of this event definitely shouldn’t be overlooked.
Lindy Kyzer (11:14):
Yeah. Talk about the video interview piece of it. What does that look like? I think most of us are familiar with what a headshot looks like. I’m a big fan of those. I mean the mom problem, all of our headshots are like we have all of our kids are cropped out of it, but you can still see the half of somebody’s head in the background. Those are my favorites. So I think anytime you can actually get a photo that’s just yourself, it’s delightful. But what is the video piece of it if folks aren’t as familiar with that?
Jesse Sieff (11:37):
Absolutely. So I’m happy to touch on that. And then I’d definitely like to shift it to the employer’s focus and why that’s beneficial for them too. Putting it simply, your headshot is a first impression to see how you look who you are, but to really know who you are and get a feel for your character, your energy and demeanor, how you can articulate your value, it really does take a one-on-one with somebody. And since you can’t really do one-on-ones at scale, you can record yourself doing an introduction or elevator pitch that you feel good about sharing. And that’s what I think is a huge benefit for employers because you actually get to know the candidates beyond that resume, beyond the text-based or even beyond the photo. You get to know who am I going to be investing in? Who am I going to be working with and how are they going to fit into our team?
(12:32):
And video is the best way to get a feel for that prior to the interview and before getting to know that candidate even further, what we do is have people, well, whenever they arrive, they’re going to register and ahead of the event, we’re going to send out a link to just do a very short 30 to 45 second introduction to say, this is who I am, here’s what my experience is, here is what is important to me and what value I can deliver as a professional, and here’s how to get in touch with me. So those three things, introduction, what you specialize in and your contact. So it’s a very simple template for the script and some people like to go off script, but sometimes it’s helpful for people to rehearse a little bit, make sure that they’re clear and we have people there on site to help coach you and make sure that you’re coming across naturally and comfortably. So that’s the video piece. And as far as the value for the employers go, it’s a combination of those two because we’re actually building out a resume bank that includes the headshot, resume, LinkedIn profile, and video profile of that candidate. So you have a more holistic look of what that candidate actually brings to the table.
Lindy Kyzer (13:49):
Yes, I love that. And we’ve had several folks ask about the event. The link to sign up and to get more information is included in the description here. So check it out. It is September 28th, the Army Navy Country Club. You do need to pre-register as a candidate and for employers there are still opportunities to engage. And I would just say if you’re looking for a tabling event or something like that, again for the multimedia piece of it, there’s really great value there for even the employers – employers get something out of it. And then for candidates, it is free for veterans and military spouses, but a great opportunity to get again, pre-registered, get more information and get engaged and plugged in. Is there anything I missed about registering for the event, John or Jesse or where they should go to do that?
Jesse Sieff (14:32):
CDC.vet has the links that you need. You can look us up on Eventbrite and maybe John, if you want to speak a little bit about the media coverage that we do for the event and for the employers too, just to know that there is a media piece for them as well if you’re their hiring for the job.
Jon Meadows (14:51):
I would also point out I see people are from all over the place. We did have people coming from hundreds of miles away for this. So if you’re not living here, you can still come. Just make sure you get there on time and you can participate. So yes, we have different sponsorship opportunities that include various levels of media coverage to give assets, media assets for the companies to take away and to be able to show their support and to benefit from. And if you’re interested in the details, just reach out to us.
Lindy Kyzer (15:31):
So there are those folks who don’t want their photo out there. They’re not people like me who work in media and marketing, but that’s why ClearanceJobs, you have your profile photo there. It is not indexed, it is a safe place. And we still say the branding piece of it’s still important. So even if you’re a Secret Squirrel and you’re not the person who’s going to be public facing online, again within a site like ClearanceJobs, we still love to have that interaction, that profile photo. We have a lot of video options and video sharing tools there. Within ClearanceJobs, we know the power of multimedia. So even if you are a clear job seeker that doesn’t kind of eliminate the benefit of this, I think it can be a big differentiator in this industry, especially the skills-based piece of it is key, but we are all people and we’re hiring people.
(16:21):
And so if you can have that profile photo, have that level of comfort with a video introduction again, and place that on your clearance jobs profile, that’s definitely something we advocate. And then we have avenues and options for, and we love supporting events like listed clearance jobs because so many of our candidates are veterans. So we appreciate that there’s those opportunities for veterans to get engaged. And the in-person piece of it is great. Like you said, it’s worth traveling even if you’re kind of outside the area because there is a value to the in-person networking piece of it. So can you walk through? I think I always love, especially candidates who I think it’s gotten better, but our first few in-person events after covid, you could tell people had not seen other humans in a while and it was awkward. So I always like to emotionally prepare for, you’re going into the Army Navy Club, you’re walking up the stairs, I think if I recall the venue you’re going in, what is kind of the flow of how the event works? There’s going to be tables set up with employers, there’s going to be a headshot, there’s going to be video, but kind. Can you walk through that process a little bit? What to expect?
Jesse Sieff (17:19):
Yes. So whenever you arrive, you’ll check in. The desk will be there. Just say, I’m here, I registered, we’re good to go. You show your id, make sure that you are in fact a veteran or military spouse. We’re going to start with just our opening remarks. So we have two speakers that are going to talk about opportunities and specifically cleared opportunities in the market currently. We’re delighted to have Justin Pearson there with Mission Box Ssolution. From there, we’ll be kind of in the center ballroom for the job fair, and at that point we’re going to open it up where people can go to the headshot station, they can go to the video profile station, they can network inside of the job fair area. All of the tables will be kind of lined around the perimeter, so you can kind of make your rounds, share your business card, meet people. We should mention the timeframe. So we’re going to start at 11:00 AM and we’re going to wrap up by 3:30 PM So a nice compact afternoon full of networking and media.
Lindy Kyzer (18:29):
That helps. I love it. So everybody get registered, sign up, employers, if you’re looking for information, there is still time. Thank you so much, Jesse and John for taking the time to chat with us. Thank you everybody. Check out the website, learn more information, and I’m excited to see you guys. ClearanceJobs will be there on September 28th.
