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I AM A RETIRED VETERAN IN NEED OF A JOB. PLEASE HELP

Veteran

RODNEY F. LEWIS Orlando, FL

I AM HIGHLY SKILLED; A MASTER CARPENTER; CHEF; SECURITY & SURVEILLANCE; ELECTRONICS;

10 January 2019 4 replies Career Advancement

Answers

Advisor

David Eastman Gresham, OR

GREAT, GREAT ADVICE FOR RODNEY, MIKHAIL, AND SOME VERY VALUABLE ONLINE LINKS. DAVID EASTMAN

Advisor

David Eastman Gresham, OR

Hello, Rodney

First of all, thank you for your service.

The U.S. is experiencing the highest level of employment in several decades including new opportunities for African Americans and veterans. After I got out of the Navy--and I was an avionics technician--I went off to carpenter's school and joined the union building condos in Colorado and apartments in California.

I know it is obvious to you, but joining the carpenter's union is a great easy pathway for a master carpenter and most of the jobs come to you. I would also place my name and contact information at Home Depot and Lowe's because people with building projects are always looking for carpenters, plumbers and electricians to help them, and as a contractor, you can command a good hourly or project rate.

I think the Congress--if they ever can get together with a single mind and purpose--will approve a massive infrastructure project this year and there is going to be call out for tens of thousands of trades people.

As for your second set of skills, surveillance and security, again there are thousands of jobs in this category and especially in industries where there are highly confidential and secret products being produced such as in the electronic, military equipment and weapons, data security and financial communities. I am not proposing that you end up a security guard, but rather join a security firm where you can take a higher paying and longer lasting management leadership role.

I hope these ideas are helpful. I wish you much success as you seek employment.

Regards, David F Eastman, Veteran, US Navy P-3 Avionics Technician

Advisor

Kathleen Dunn-Knudsen Brooklyn, NY

Hi Rodney,

Thank you for your service and for using ACP AdvisorNet! We’re delighted to have you on the site. Mikhail has provided some great information and I thought I might share another tool that could be useful for you.

On ACP AdvisorNet, our site features a Community section (you will see it on the top bar of the site under the ACP AdvisorNet logo). In the Community section you are able to search for Advisors by industry, years of experience, zip code and company. You are then able to privately message these Advisors with questions or to begin building a network of professionals in your industry. Networking can be a very important part of finding a job and I think you’ll find the Community section helpful.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a private message or email me directly at kdunn@acp-usa.org. I’d be happy to provide additional assistance or take you on a tour of the site to help you take advantage of its features.

Best,
Kathleen

Advisor

Mikhail Relushchin Brooklyn, NY

Hi Rodney,

Thank you for your service! That's quite the diverse skill set, and I think a good place to start would be identifying and connecting with the right employers.

One consideration might be companies with a lot of Veterans like yourself. Take a look at the links below - maybe there are some near you?

https://www.hirevets.gov/about/award-recipients
https://charts.militarytimes.com/chart/5

Next, how comfortable are you with networking? Landing a job isn't so much about going out and asking for one as it is about speaking to people that can put in a good word for you. Do you have a LinkedIn, and a resume that you're satisfied with? A couple of articles:

https://usmc-mccs.org/articles/why-linkedin-is-for-you-marines/?platform=hootsuite
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-survey-reveals-85-all-jobs-filled-via-networking-lou-adler/

I know it's not the most satisfying answer. Job searches take a long time to do right, so this is something you'd want to mobilize on ASAP.

In the meantime, there's a few jobs placement or prep programs specific to Veterans that you can consider:

https://www.veteranjobsmission.com/
https://www.bridgemyreturn.com/
https://ivmf.syracuse.edu/our-programs/

And jobs boards:

https://wehireheroes.com/Orlando/index.html
https://recruitmilitary.com/

There's quite a bit there, so comb through it whenever you have a second. Hope it helps!

Best,
Mikhail

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