Neil Serafin ⋅ Easthampton, MA Telecommunications ⋅ 40 years experience

Hi Chas. As a ground pounder, you have more options then you think. My thoughts- College part-time and work at a blue collar service job. Go to a college with-out a jingle. Try community college and get your AA. Do not drop out, get tunnel vision to finish. Then go to a State College and get a BA/BS degree. Learn much in your blue collar job (get one that has health insurance and a 401K). Become a supervisor, then a manager at your blue collar job in the first 4 years. With your BA become a director and maybe an executive at the same place you started with your blue collar service job. Few jobs today last decades. Prepare to change jobs and move up. No matter what the "experts" say, a college degree means you will make at least 1.5 million dollars more then your non-degree cohorts. The chances of your kids graduating college with you as college graduate goes up by factor of 3. Possible industries to look at: Surveyor, Telecommunications, work-release programs for ex-cons. Good luck. Neil

Nancy Stober ⋅ Hillsborough, NJ GENEWIZ ⋅ 10 years experience

Hi:
you need to leverage and market yourself based on the skills you developed and responsibilities you had while in service. Many many employers embrace vets in the organization for a number of positive reasons. You need to figure out what may be transferable and yes even if you start at a lower level, start somewhere while going to school part-time. If you are not sure what to study, meet with the career advisor at the school for help. Best of luck and thanks for your service!!
Nancy

William Smith ⋅ Suffern, NY Right Management ⋅ 25 years experience

Hi Chas,

Brage has given you some good advice. You need to identify the positions in the civilian workforce that you are targeting. Your resume needs to link your past experience to the requirements of the job you are seeking.
Statistics show that over 75% of the jobs today are obtained through networking. You need to start that process as soon as possible. There are a number of organizations which assist military men and women transition into the civilian workforce. A good website is military.com.
I am a career consultant, I currently volunteer with several veteran groups assisting military men & women transition into the civilian workforce. I would be happy to assist you in moving through the job search process.

Best Regards,

Bill Smith

Brage Garofalo, M.A. ⋅ South San Francisco, CA Abbvie, Inc. ⋅ 16 years experience

Hi Chas,
I agree with the information provided above, including Neil's in that you have more options than you think. The first step is to identify what your goals are - short term and long term? Do you know what industries/fields you want to enter? If so, do some research on them to see what types of positions are out there and which most closely align with your experience and background. Good places to start are:
*Glassdoor.com
*Crunchbase.com (privately held companies)
*Yahoo Finance
*Simplyhired.com
*Factset.com

Do you have a LinkedIn account? If not, you'll want to build a profile. Take a look at some of the profiles of other professionals in the area(s) in which you want to move into and see how they've formatted and worded theirs. Try to word/structure yours in a similar fashion to the extent that your experience allows.

You can also search LinkedIn to find other professionals in the area in which you are interested in moving into and reach out and ask if they would be willing to talk with you about the position, company, etc. This is called an informational interview. When you request to connect via LinkedIn, introduce yourself and tell them why you're requesting to connect.

You'll also want to develop a resume as well. You can build this using your LinkedIn profile as a guide (or vice versa). I would be more than happy to help you develop your resume and profile - just message me privately and I can send you some tools.

I would also suggest you pick up the book, "What Color Is Your Parachute?". It's a tremendous resource in all things related to the job hunt. If nothing else, it would be a great guide for you as your make your transition.

Other great resources online are LinkedIn Groups. I strongly suggest you join these two as they are filled with great information:
* Veteran Mentoring Network
* Military Career Coaching Connection (MC4).

You're on the right track in that you're asking all the right questions and you're getting started early. Please let me know how I can be of further assistance.

Good luck!

Charles Krause ⋅ Glendale, AZ CJK, Inc ⋅ 40 years experience

The economy is improving and that fact will be an assist in your efforts to find suitable employment. The advise regarding education is of the utmost importance. Start now, today if possible, and don't stop until you have accomplished the degree you seek. I came out of the AF many years ago and had the same problem. It was a labor of love for nine years to finally succeed with an MBA. If you survived the military, you can survive college.

Cathy Davis ⋅ Madison, AL Guardian Worldwide ⋅ 20 years experience

Chase,

First thank you for your service. I agree with the advise Neil has to offer. If I were you, I would not wait until you ETSd from the Army before starting your education. Understanding your MOS, I know this may be difficult. If you have the time, I suggest getting a head start on your education instead of waiting until you ETS.

Please feel free to contact me at mcdavis@guardianworlwide.com if I can help out in any way.

Best of luck,
Cathy