Army Career Skills Program expands to include local opportunities for all transitioning service members

FORT KNOX, Ky. — As one of the last steps prior to exiting Army service, the Career Skills Program has become a powerful way for Soldiers to land a great job.

Also known as CSP, installation-level Transition Assistance Program coordinators maintained and developed the program. However, a recent change by the Department of Army has shifted the focus to a centralized location.

Andrew Cooper, chief of Fort Knox TAP, said as of May this change expands the competitive nature of local CSP career moves for all service members across the Department of War.

“The Army Transition Assistance Program has transitioned from an in-house Career Skills Program to centralized career skills in the DOW SkillBridge at the Army TAP Virtual Center,” said Cooper. “They have taken the CSP coordinators from all of the installations and created a 10-person hub at the virtual center.”

Cooper explained that transitioning Soldiers must now log into the Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army, or IPS-A, and make a request for SkillBridge participation. The request is sent to the Soldier’s S1 Personnel office, which launches a background check to determine if the request is approved.

The journey into CSP starts once a commander in the Soldier’s chain of command gives final approval.

“If it is a graded individual – E1-E5 – it only takes the first field-grade officer in that chain of command, and they can be approved for a total of 120 days,” said Cooper. “If it’s what we call a Category 2, which is an E6 through E7, a young warrant or a company-grade officer, they get a total of 90 days, and that goes to the first O6 chain of command.

“If it’s what we call a seasoned Soldier – E8, E9, senior warrant and field-grade officer – they are limited to 60 days and must be approved at the first [general officer] authorization.”

Cooper said CSP was originally designed for junior enlisted Soldiers.

“It was designed for that young service member.” said Cooper. “They are usually a first termer and only have up to four years in the military, and their skillset upon departing is usually limited.”

Momentum and interest in the program led to its expansion. However, the program retains its original intent and keeps the onus for deciding how it is implemented in the hands of commanders.

“We still have to call this a commander’s program,” said Cooper. “The commander is still responsible for being Army ready, mission ready and mission capable.”

Cooper said the primary marks of success in CSP is a Soldier receiving a job offer, educational pursuits or access to professional certifications upon completion of military service, depending on what the Soldier is seeking.

The next phase of changes to CSP, expected to begin either at the end of the current fiscal year or the beginning of FY27, will put an end to individual internship opportunities, moving the needle fully under DOW’s SkillBridge.

This includes agencies and organizations that have participated in the CSP at Fort Knox.

“We have talked to our really good partners, and we have moved them from our Fort Knox memorandum of agreement to a DOW SkillBridge agreement,” said Cooper. “That process is time consuming. They open the window two times a year – February for the spring session; and they open it again in October for the fall session.”

Cooper said companies and agencies that want to get involved in the new CSP have a six-week window each season to submit their packets.

What this means, according to Cooper, is that any transitioning service member across DOW will be able to log into SkillBridge and apply for CSP opportunities with any participating agency across the United States.

Within the parameters of the program are some unique ways to take advantage of it. One of those opportunities, called the Career Intermission Program, was recently taken by Sgt. 1st Class Nathaniel Luikens, a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) specialist at Fort Knox. While serving with V Corps, he wanted to get some training under his belt to pursue a different career upon leaving the Army. The CIP provided him with the opportunity while he remained in the Army.

Once completed, Luikens has returned and is working with a Garrison contractor for the next 90 days before he transitions out of the Army.

“After I built my CSP packet, it had to go to their legal team – what they can and can’t do,” said Luikens. “It’s so new that I’m the first one who’s ever done this.”

Although he admitted the process was a little bit lengthy, it was well worth it.

“I’m hoping when I get done with CSP, I will throw my application in and I’m able to get employed by them,” said Luikens. “This is my wheelhouse; this is exactly what I like to do.”

Luikens praised the Army’s efforts in providing Soldiers with expanding opportunities to be employed after transitioning out of the military.

“Soldiers didn’t have these kinds of opportunities in the past; the Transition Assistance Program has come a long way with giving us opportunities to advance into a new career. There isn’t much scarier than when you start seeing the clock wind down and you’re like, ‘What am I going to do?’

“CSP gives you more experience that can be put into your resume to find a job that will make you satisfied during the next chapter of your life.”