Lee Woodruff ⋅ Tucson, AZ Banner University Medical Center Tucson ⋅ 8 years experience

Maybe this is not so much what you are doing wrong but looking at what you are doing right and seeing if that just needs a little tweaking. What was your rate in the Navy? Did you enjoy that work? With 20 years experience, you have some skills to leverage. Was your job technical? It's important to note that you will be competing against other candidates, so you must find a way to stand out. Your resume is the first impression to a future employer's HR office. Typically, this is where you are selected as potential AND qualified. Don't expect to be a 100% match for the job posting, but at least 80% is the level of confidence in that you'll be successful in the role.

George Wilhelmsen ⋅ Rochelle, IL Sargent & Lundy ⋅ 38 years experience

John,

I'm looking at the answers above, and some of them say "look at the salary." I'm more in the camp of figuring out what you do well, and crafting your resume towards landing a job that you'll enjoy doing.

I've found the aphorism "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life" to be entirely too true. So, let's find the right job for you.

Relocation is a headache. Start with where you think you want to live. Research the cost of living there on sites like Zillow, and find the right place with the right home price, taxes, and the right schools and infrastructure. For example, do you like to be around big cities / can't live without malls in the area - that will help you figure out where to live.

So, we have the two key elements:
1. What do you want to do?
2. Where do you want to work / do it?

Now we start looking for jobs with an tuned resume, targeted to the job you desire.

So, what do you like to do?

George Wilhelmsen

Henry ("Dr. Hank") Stevens ⋅ Fort Lauderdale, FL Human Resources Quality Assurance, LLC (Now Retired) ⋅ 50 years experience

Short answer: define what your TALENTS are and pursue careers that fit those TALENTS. All too often my clients have been following a path as determined by what they have done or the skill sets they have acquitted - they often do not take the time to step back and ask, "What am I good at and what do I enjoy doing?"

Here is a (free) link to Carl Jung's assessment (MBTI). If you wish, share with me, the letter and percentage associated with each. There is also a kind of vocational interpretation on the site - I have my own.

http://www.humanmetrics.com/hr/jtypesresult.aspx

Emanuel Carpenter ⋅ Alpharetta, GA SDR Master Class ⋅ 20 years experience

Hello John Adams: Great question. You've spent 20 years in the military, which means you're probably retired or are retiring. The great thing about that is you already have income for life. Save as much of that income as you can and/or consider investing in the stock market. (I wish someone would have told me to invest in Amazon stock 20 years ago.)

Now you just need to figure out what to do with the REST of your life. I suggest you read a life-changing book by Po Bronson called "What Should I Do with My Life?" The author interviews several people who had the same questions as you do today. Here is a link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/What-Should-Do-My-Life/dp/0345485920

Also, know that there are resources available for you when you decide what you want to do. For example, if you want to start a business, the Small Business Administration has excellent loan programs for post 9-11 veterans. The organization called SCORE will gladly give you free business advice on things like how to write a business plan or which types of business to start. There is also a free and all-expenses-paid program for veterans called Veterans Entrepreneurs Program (VEP). They teach veterans how to be entrepreneurs. First there is a one-month, online college-level course. Then they fly you in to a college campus (mine was at Oklahoma State University) and have college professors and guest speakers give lectures on all business topics, including finance, marketing, and more. Lodging, food, and air travel are all paid for during this week of learning.

If you don't want to go into business for yourself, check out resources like HirePurpose.com that lists veteran-friendly jobs. (They also have templates to help you convert your military resume to a civilian one.) There are others like Hire Our Heroes that do the same. If you haven't already, be sure to join LinkedIn. Tell LinkedIn you are a veteran and you will get one year of free access to a premium subscription which includes free online classes and more. I just read a survey that says the greatest percentage of veterans end up working for the federal government. So if the hiring freeze is over, be sure to check out that option too. And by all means, send your resume to everyone you know because most companies hire faster on a referral than they do if you answer a classified.

For home purchases, visit your local VA to get started on getting your certificate that gives you access to a VA-guaranteed loan. You can buy a home for up to $417,000 (might be more now) and you pay zero down payment.

One door may be closing but the world is about to open up for you, John.

Best of luck.

Jim Schreier ⋅ Milwaukee, WI 212 Leadership/Career Coaching ⋅ 50 years experience

I agree with the starting point that you may be doing nothing wrong. However, taking an assertive, positive approach to every step of the transition is critical. Even in today's better job market, every job seeker faces what can seem to be overwhelming numbers. it's often easy to get discouraged.

At the same time, you absolutely must make sure that your resume and LinkedIn profile are the best they can be. Unfortunately, the biggest problem I see with veterans is poorly constructed resumes/profiles. It is often complicated by well intentioned weak advice on resumes, promoting bad practices (like focusing on "skills"). The articles I've posted on this site (and others) focus on stronger, sometimes harsh, advice for the job search process. The same is true when I review resumes and profiles for veterans.

John Green ⋅ Cary, NC Information Technology ⋅ 40 years experience

Hi John -

Don't know that you are doing anything wrong.

First step is to figure out what job you want . To do that, look at Robert Half salary guides (there are seven, broken down by career field).

https://www.roberthalf.com/workplace-research/salary-guides

Look for the positions that are more highly paid, for example, ones that are $160,000 base salary per year or more. These are the ones that are in high demand right now.

Second step, once you figure out what position you want to fill, look for Job Descriptions based on that position to see what the desired qualifications are.

Third step, go get those qualifications.

For example, a Cyber security engineer can make $200,000 base salary. To qualify, you need to complete this course :

http://www.umuc.edu/academic-programs/cyber-security/index.cfm

While your military experience is very useful, the key to getting a job in today's job market is having the right skills. You likely are not possessing those right now, which is no big deal., You just need to acquire them.

STEM career fields are the highest in demand. Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Cyber-security are at the top.