How to Use This Website


Whether you're doing some independent career planning, transitioning to new job, participating in an outplacement program, or engaged in any similar activity, you'll find tools and resources here to help. Flexible learning paths will help you choose the best resources for your particular needs.

In order to get the most out of this website, please take a little time to familiarize yourself with its content and features. The overview video on this page is a good place to start.

If this is your first visit, you will find it helpful to review of the "Eight-Step Job Search" (accessible via the Home menu). It will give you a good overview of the career planning and job search processes covered here.

Also, you may notice we sometimes reference job search, job transition, outplacement, and career transition in the same context. This is because they share many common processes and this website is designed to address the varied needs and goals of most job hunters.


Overview Video

The Basics

There is no single path that will work best for every job hunter. Some people will want to take a deep dive into every detail, while others just want some high-level advice so they can move forward as quickly as possible. We've developed Flexible Learning Paths to accommodate these differences. The important thing to remember is that when you want more detail, it's available.

The following provides an overview of this website and recommendations on how to use it most effectively. Let's start with an overview of key features you'll want to explore. Click on each of the thumbnail images below to view a brief description. Click on the description link to go to that page.

Job Search Roadmap

The Job Search Roadmap will help you structure your career transition based upon your particular needs and job search experience. "Cookie-cutter" approaches to finding a job seldom work well. People have different backgrounds, job markets, perspectives of the job search process, etc. The Job Search Roadmap presents flexible learning paths to help guide you in choosing the best approach.

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Job Search Jumpstart

Whether you're looking for a way get a jump on your job search or you just want a quick refresher, the Job Search Jumpstart is for you. We've condensed a lot of information into a small package. Each topic area covers key concepts and helpful hints. The Jumpstart provides a great overview of the job search process. When you're ready to dig deeper, the Job Search eBook and other resources provide in-depth coverage.

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Job Search eBook

The Job Search eBook is a comprehensive electronic book that teaches the end-to-end essentials of searching for a new job. It includes information on resume preparation, networking, interviewing, frequently asked job interview questions, negotiating, and much more. It also contains little-known facts about how the applicant selection process works.

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Job Interview Trainer

The Interview Trainer will help you master the job interview. After reading the sections of the eBook covering interviewing, you'll be ready to review and practice answering interview questions from the sample questions provided. The questions are organized into question-type categories and each question includes hints on how to craft an appropriate answer.

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Job Search Tools and Forms

The Tools and Forms menus provide additional resources to assist in the planning, preparation, and execution of your job search. You'll find job aggregator tools, interview tips, information on how to access training modules, links to Internet job search sites, forms, plus resume, cover letter and thank-you note templates, and more.

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Job Search Consulting

While this website has been designed to be a self-service tool, one-on-one job search consulting may be available. When provided, the consulting service is customized to meet your particular needs. There might be a charge to you for these services, however, your sponsoring organization may cover some or all of the cost. Contact your sponsoring organization for details.

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Recommended Use of the Transition Services Portal

The following process is recommended for your initial review of this website. It follows a logical sequence that will introduce you to the content and features available. It will also help you learn and implement the essentials of a successful job search and interview process.

  • Review all of the "Home" menu, and Home sub-menu items. Important messages and overview information can be found there. Be sure to review the Job Search Roadmap and Career Planning pages. They will help guide your use of the rest of the website.
  • Check out the "Jump Start" for a quick look at the end-to-end job search process. It provides a great starting point with accelerated learning, and gives you a foundation for additional information available throughout the website.
  • Explore the "eBook." This electronic book will give you a good foundation for all other job search activities by taking an in-depth look at the job search process.
  • Click on the "Interview" menu and review the Interview Trainer. Practice answering a few of the sample questions. You'll want to come back to this tool often. The "Mock Interview" will walk you through a sample job interview.
  • Review the job search "Tools" and "Forms" menus so you are familiar with the forms, templates, utilities, job aggregators, downloads, etc. available to you. You'll find a lot of useful tools and information there.
  • Use our site search capability. You'll find a search box near the upper right hand corner of the screen. You may enter one or more terms you would like to search for, and then press the enter key or click on the magnifying glass icon. You will be presented with a list of website pages that match your search criteria.
  • Links to job search sites, job aggregators, company research sites and the like are provided for convenience. However; because we have no control over the content or terms of use of these external sites, we cannot endorse or recommend any particular site.

After going through the above process, you should have a good understanding of the content and resources available to assist you in your job search. As you become more familiar with this website, you'll discover many more features that will help make your job search easier.

In addition to the above resources, you may be eligible for one-on-one job search consulting services. The job search consulting can be customized to your particular needs. There may be a separate fee for those services. Contact your sponsoring organization for details.

Navigation Using PCs, Tablets, and Smart Phones

This website has been designed to work with all types of devices and screen sizes. Like most content-rich websites, optimal viewing is experienced using tablet- or PC-sized screens. However; content can be viewed using any sized screen.

Depending on screen size or whether you are viewing content in portrait or landscape mode, screen layout may be shifted to optimize your viewing experience. In some cases, users will be automatically redirected to a webpage that is optimized for smaller-sized screens. This typically happens when the website server detects certain devices or screen sizes. If this automatic redirection does not occur, an optional link will take you to the appropriate screen.

Any device

We support the latest versions of all major web browsers. However; there are some differences in the way browsers manage applications, touch screens, fonts, etc. Since browser technology is changing rapidly and because of security vulnerabilities found in older versions, we highly recommend that you download and install the most recent version of your favorite browser.

Touch Screen Differences

There are some navigational differences that typically occur when using a touch screen versus a mouse, touchpad or other navigation device. Many touch screen devices do not have the ability to detect or interpret a "hover" event, e.g., when the cursor hovers over a link or menu. For this reason, certain navigational features that would normally be activated by cursor movement must be activated instead by touching a link or button displayed on the screen. This is often the case where drop-down or expanding menus are used. We've provided added links to accommodate this difference in devices. Depending upon the device you are using, you may use either or both methods to navigate this website.