 I'm Elizabeth DiPompe with DAV and I'm joined by DAV National Employment Director Ryan Burgos and we are coming to you from Great American Ballpark here in Cincinnati, Ohio. Tomorrow we'll have a job fair with DAV Recruit Military Job Fair, hosting lots of employers and of course lots of great candidates and we're here to tell you about that today. Ryan, if you can tell us first kind of how many employers we expect to have here tomorrow and then what kind of employers. Awesome. So tomorrow starting at 11 a.m. we're going to have over 60 employers here all vying to hire veterans and spouses just like yourself. We're encouraging everybody that's out there listening and watching to jump on to jobs.dav.org. It's free to register and come out and join us tomorrow and hopefully find your next dream job opportunity. And I know we have great representation from different fields and industries. Can you touch on maybe some of those? Sure. So we're going to have industries all the way from logistics to security to airport personnel anything that you're looking for and one thing that we always like to point out is the fact that you know just because you don't you might not think that you want to work for that exact company talk to them and see what kind of jobs that they have there for you. Every company that's going to be here tomorrow they've got jobs from PR to communications to marketing to human resources management jobs project managers. So don't do yourself that disservice and say okay well I've seen the list of vendors I don't want to work for that company. Come out here and engage with every single employer that's here. Yeah I'll say in talking to a lot of veterans and spouses the ones who I think have the most success are the ones who talk to everyone or as many as they can even if it's not within their field. And you kind of alluded to this in your intro but what makes DAV recruit military job fairs different from just a typical job fair? Sure so every single employer that's here knows the value that military veterans and spouses bring to the table. There's that certain set of team building skills leadership qualities project management skills that just your average civilian counterpart might not have. Every employer that's going to be here tomorrow they've been vetted and they understand the fact that hey you know we want military members a part of our community so we can build and grow our organization. Also say it doesn't hurt that we get to go to great locations like this you'll see Ballpark there in the background. Let's head inside here and we'll talk a little bit more about what folks can expect tomorrow. You'll get kind of a sense here of just how many employers will start filling this room just getting set up it's empty now it'll be a full tomorrow. So someone maybe who's never been to a job fair or a DAV recruit military job fair and they walk in the doors what can they expect what are some of the first steps they should take? Sure so I mean one of the again one of the great things about coming to our events you're going to be with fellow brothers and sisters who have served this is a private event it's for military and military spouses and dependents so everybody that's here is in a situation just like yourself you know they've got those soft skills that only come with the military background and again every single employer that's here is looking for people just like you. So come in the door talk to every single employer engage with everybody even if let's say you already have a job and you're looking for the next job opportunity everybody says the best time to find a job is when you already have one so come in here and see what's out there you know put your resume to the test get that 30 second elevator pitch drafted just right and get your next dream job out here. Also important to know that DAV will be here so of course if you need help or connection with any other services folks like Ryan can help they'll help you navigate as needed I know for some people it can be a little intimidating but like everyone here like you said is on your side we're here to help you. How else in getting kind of just touched on this but it's not just about landing a job of course that's why a lot of people go to job fairs but there are different kind of skills and opportunities even if you're not looking can you talk a little bit more about that? Sure I mean like I said a few minutes ago it's just the fact that you know maybe you need some some work on your interview techniques. Employers that are going to be here they have the option to do on-the-spot interviews in some cases they can do on-the-spot hiring but maybe you just need to brush up on brush up on those skills and just to touch back again I mean the best time to find a job is when we already have one. Maybe you're not in the market right now but whenever you are in the market to find one you're going to be polished and ready to go and have the tools that you need for success go on the jobs.dav.org to register to get all the free mentorship opportunities that are out there there's a job board that we have with over 340,000 vacancies currently you know there's a plethora of resources online and of course it's with disabled American veterans we're helping from start when you come off active duty all the way to whenever you're finding the next meaningful job opportunity. Any advice for people who who plan on attending what can they do before they even get here? Sure so we always explain to everybody do your research go to jobs.dav.org we've got a complete list of employers that are going to be there be here tomorrow. Figure out which employers are going to be here figure out what they're all about see which one peaks your interest the most but one key for success that we always tell everybody don't just stick to that list don't pick one and two out and say okay well I'm going to go and visit only these two employers it's great to do that and we encourage it however we also encourage more than that to hit every single table that's here it's very very important I haven't I've been to countless job fairs where people will we'll catch them leaving out of the door 10 minutes after it started and say you know where you going get back in there and try again and an hour later they'll come back hey you know I just got a job in there so it's very very important that you hit every single table that's in here and do your research. Yeah and important to note too that you can show up and if you kind of follow this advice you can end up with a job offer certainly a great lead that that is correct correct. I also want to point out that this is for veterans service members and spouses we actually just we spoke to Veronica Medley maybe last week or a couple of weeks ago to remind folks that this is this is for spouses. Can you also talk about some talk about the virtual job fairs those opportunities and maybe some upcoming in-person fairs. Sure so currently this year we've got about 107 virtual and in-person career fairs this year and we are still adding a few events so if you can't make it out to this event you know we're going to be in Fort Bragg next week we're going to be an Eglin Air Force base next week as well but if you can't make it in person we've got that virtual environment it's not just remote jobs like a lot of people think just sitting behind a computer i'm going to find a remote opportunity i want to go to work every day and engage with people well that remote job or the virtual environment the employer can see you you can see the employer dressed for success because they can turn the camera on and do that physical interview with you there in person. Great Ryan anything else you'd like to add. No I just want to encourage everybody please visit jobs.dav.org register for the event it's free to attend your next job opportunity the next meaningful employment opportunity could be behind these doors. Ryan thank you so much thank you all for tuning in again visit jobs.dav.org for more information and follow us on social