Jerry Welsh ⋅ Middleville, MI Master Military Transition Advisor/HPS GPO ⋅ 30 years experience

Steve,
First 95% of companies are beginning their searches on LinkedIn or other social media. I reviewed your LI profile and it states nothing about PM. To market yourself that TAG line needs to scream project management and then your experiences need to address your success. Do you have a degree from Ferris? If not I would leave Ferris off, many will assume you have a degree and that may be embarrassing. Search PM positions you can find on Indeed, look at 50 or 60-get the lingo many are using in the requests, then fill your profile with that language. Of course social media gets you the invite to send a resume, make sure that the resume is targeted to the job (if they do not provide a job posting, ask for the job description and match it with your successes. I understand the years and rank and your pride in being a veteran, especially the sacrifices you may made. First only 0.5% of Americans will now serve their country-you may be scaring them off,(years of experience, if they need 7 you have 8+, not 29, overqualified) they want a project manager not a Marine, who does project management on the side. Please do not take that with disrespect, those who retire all have the same pride and deserve a huge CONGRATULATIONS, but civilians want to know WIIFM (what is in it for me), and you show them value and #$% from your evals you will be recognized. Here are a couple of articles written from my experiences with 1,200 interactions with transitioning service members. Thanks for your service, Marine, and God Bless. P.S. in your intro you misspelled Marine, 80% of resumes/applications have errors, many companies drop those from consideration.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-more-right-jerry-welsh/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/transitioning-career-military-does-transition-assistance-jerry-welsh/

Steve Haas ⋅ Seattle, WA Nordstrom ⋅ 28 years experience

Hi Gerald -

Thank you for your service.

I went through a job transition several years ago that lasted longer than I wanted and through the process learned many lessons that I would be happy to share.

I respectfully disagree with the previous gentleman who suggested that you should have applied for over 100 jobs by now. Blind applications are no longer an effective way to secure an opportunity, relationships and targeted conversations are much more likely to be successful.

While I'm not sure what field you are looking in, many of the job search fundamentals are the same and I can at least share what worked and didn't work for me and you can use whatever parts make sense to you.

Feel free to contact me at SteveHaas2@gmail.com.

Regards.
Steve Haas

mike gordon ⋅ Tendon Mfg ⋅ 35 years experience

Gerald, Thank you for your service. What kind of job are you looking for ? The key to looking for a job is volume, how many irons do you have in the fire ? Are you on linkedin, it is a great tool to find jobs and also to find people you might know in companies that you might want to work at. At this point in your search you should have applied for over 100 positions, made 50+ follow up calls to anyone you have a name for at any of the companies, networked with 25+ people. Looking for a job is like prospecting for sales leads, but in this case you are selling yourself. Send me an email on the side at mike@tendon.com if you want to talk more. It is a great time in the economy to find a job you want.

Barron Evans ⋅ Ann Arbor, MI Customer Experience Change Management ⋅ 30 years experience

Gerald... foremost, thank you for your service. In your 'ask,' there's much you don't say … so foremost: if you haven't already, I'd become a part of LinkedIn … for employer options, resources, connections, etc. -- all targeted to your geo. I typed in Commerce Twp. MI with the word 'Manager,' and received over 13K responses!
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?keywords=manager&location=Commerce%20Township%2C%20Michigan&locationId=PLACES.us.1-3-0-63-7
Obviously a broad sweep, but you can narrow your search criteria. More importantly, however, is LinkedIn will help you identify professionals in your geo and interest areas with whom you can network (talk/meet/email) and discuss what you've done to date … and what more you might do … to "get noticed." In support of those interactions, and for future employer discussions, I'd also create a 'USP' (unique sales proposition) for yourself … e.g., a statement that embodies who you uniquely are -- and can uniquely offer -- that differentiates you amongst the competitive set. And it goes without saying: have facts to substantiate it! Once written, command to memory and practice in front of a mirror so it's an unconscious response mechanism when network connections and/or prospective employers ask. So those are my Mon. morning thoughts; best wishes for success … the market is good right now … so it's really a matter of time.