Jose Roman ⋅ Norfolk, VA U.S. Navy, Petty Officer First Class ⋅ 22 years served

Benjamin,

Make sure you are looking now at companies in the NYC area. If you are planning on going back to school using a GI Bill the student veteran organization at any particular university is a great resource for companies that are looking specifically for veterans to hire. Also start looking for veteran specific job fairs in the NYC area. http://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/career-advice/job-hunting/upcoming-job-fairs.html

Understand this!@ You go to job fairs to learn about companies. Nobody gets hired at a job fair 9 out of 10 times you will get reffered back to the company website to apply but the value is that you would have taken the 1st step in connecting with the company by meeting the HR professionals that can hire you.

Start tapping into online veteran networks and communicating with them to see where opportunites can be taken advantage of.

The Columiba University veterans community in NYC is strong with a lot of good contacts to get you started. They regulary post employer events and networking opportunities on their facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ColumbiaMilvets/

Hope this helps. I work specifically at my university with student veteran employment. If you have other questions feel free to shoot me an email: Jrroman@odu.edu

Semper Fi

Joe Paschall ⋅ Madison, AL nLogic, LLC ⋅ 26 years experience

Tom's guidance is spot-on. The answer to your direct question is "probably not" because IT companies (and others) fill positions monthly and are unable to predict openings 8 months in advance. However, with only 8 months to go you need to focus on translating your experience into as many certs as you can manage. The IT field is interested in resumes with certs, and experience is great but experience with certs is what sells. If you want to manage IT efforts the PMP is the way to go. Depending on which direction you want to proceed within IT there are a host of other certs that are critical (Security+, CISSP, ITIL, MCSE, MCITP, CSM, etc). You will have a difficult time getting interest in the IT field without a few certs to complement your experience because the certs are essentially your "license to practice" out here. S/F, Joe

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco, CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

* Do you have any IT certifications? Let us know, and be sure to mention these when you are "selling yourself".

* Become familiar with VCTP Syracuse and the 100% free remote certification training and one free exam fee VCTP offers. The next deadline for guided track admission is early December, so act soon.

* Work on concisely and effectively communicating the skills and benefits you offer to employers. Work with mentors and craft an 8-second opening statement and a 30 second elevator speech. Provide drafts of those and ask mentors for advice and assistance.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=career+opening+statement

http://www.bing.com/search?q=career+elevator+speech