Beyond the Military Podcast: Job Search Help for Veterans & Transitioning Service Members, Military-to-Civilian Career, Veteran Career Transition, · Wendi Wray | Military Transition Career Coach,Women Veteran, Military Mom, Military Transition Coach, Post Military Career

LinkedIn Insights and AI Hacks for Your Military-to-Civilian Transition with 2024’s Top Recruiter, Cody Ledbetter

·31 min·2 clips

Cody says transparency, salary talk, and continuous networking are the reason he became LinkedIn’s 2024 recruiter of the year.

1. Beyond the Military Podcast centers on LinkedIn insights and AI hacks for a military-to-civilian transition. 2. Wendy Ray hosts Cody Ledbetter, a senior technical recruiter, former military police officer, and LinkedIn’s 2024 recruiter of the year. 3. The episode asks how veterans can use LinkedIn, salary research, and ChatGPT to move into civilian work faster. 4. Cody says a random LinkedIn message led him to a senior recruiting manager role about 10 months before retirement. 5. He explains that the woman who contacted him had no profile photo, which made him suspect a scam at first. 6. Cody says the company recruited for CIA, FBI, and Defense Intelligence Agency work. 7. He describes working full time in recruiting during his last nine months in the military. 8. He also says he completed a career skills program with PayPal’s global talent acquisition team at the same time. 9. Cody says he moved into a senior technical recruiter role in April 2023 and has stayed there for about 17 months. 10. Wendy and Cody both connect his career growth to direct communication and putting himself out on LinkedIn. 11. Cody says his recruiting style is “very direct, very honest, highly integrity driven.” 12. He says transparency matters because recruiters should talk about salary and job details instead of pushing candidates to the next stage. 13. He says continuous networking brings him referrals from people he has interviewed before. 14. Wendy says candidates should ask about salary early because a mismatch wastes time. 15. Cody recommends salary.com, Glassdoor, and posted salary ranges as a starting point. 16. He says applicants should know their qualifications, education, and experience before naming a number. 17. Cody says veterans should build LinkedIn before separation, sometimes two years out, and remove “DA profile photo” imagery. 18. He says active-duty service members can get LinkedIn Premium and that military spouses can get a free year. 19. The conversation is practical, direct, and advice-heavy, with Wendy interrupting for examples and follow-up questions. 20. Veterans, military spouses, and job seekers preparing a LinkedIn profile will get the most value, while listeners wanting a purely personal story may skip it.

As heard by us

LinkedIn is framed as a practical job-search tool, with salary talk handled early and plainly.

The episode treats LinkedIn as a practical job-search tool and stays on the question of how recruiters use it for themselves, hiring managers, and their organizations.

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Why you'd press play

Treat LinkedIn like a recruiter tool, not a waiting room.

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