The new year means a new challenge for many area veterans: transitioning into civilian life. According to the Veterans Administration, about 200,000 service members transition to civilian life each year, and for many of them, finding a job is their biggest hurdle. This is why two Nease High School students have started offering free online workshops to help area veterans with their social media platforms. Berkley Wiltfong and her brother, Rigby, say after volunteering to help a neighbor with her job training veterans on practical workplace skills, they realized many veterans struggle to showcase themselves online to prospective employers simply because they’ve never had to before. That’s when they decided to found a not-for-profit organization called “Content for Careers” that allows them to give free online workshops to veterans on things like creating strong LinkedIn profiles.
“Our slogan is ‘Empowering Veterans, One Post at a Time,’” says Berkley. “Rigby and I are fortunate to have parents who teach social media marketing for a living, so we’re using that know-how and our years of experience as digital natives to help serve those who have served us in this country.”
Currently, the Wiltfongs offer 30-minute workshops on weekends only because they have a heavy school load during the week in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Nease. However, they hope to expand their offerings to help more veterans in the future.
“That’s the plan,” says Rigby. “We hope there isn’t a need for expansion, but the reality is that many veterans struggle with their social media presence when looking for a job, so we’ll be there as best we can.” If you or someone you know is a military veteran looking to transition into civilian life and would like help with a free online session at Content for Careers, go to contentforcareers.org and sign up for a class.
