The following email was written by a friend to me who wishes to remain anonymous but could have come from so many of my fellow Veterans.
"A year out from transition and I realize I have overestimated the job opportunities in my area. I joined the local transition center distribution email list in hopes of finding plenty of opportunities in the area. I was very disappointed to find out 95% of the jobs were kicking boxes, driving forklifts, or working in the service industry. Nothing wrong with any of those jobs but not what I was expecting. Most of the jobs were for $15 or less. Is that really what I have to look forward to after 30 years in the service? I completed college in between deployments and while on shore tours so I could compete when I finally retired and am going to get paid less than $15 an hour?
How have the transition centers not figured out how to get better job boards and listings for transitioning service members? Have we not learned low Veteran unemployment hurts recruiting efforts at the front door to the services? How hard is it to partner with the local community and help them harvest the talent that is in the fence line? Is it not free to advertise at the transition center? Mike, PLEASE HELP!!"
I thought I would share the above because I really believe a lot of us have felt or currently feel like the jobs we “qualify” for are just not the jobs we want. Let’s be honest, we think we deserve more. I will say that if you limit yourself geographically then you do limit yourself for career opportunities. Even if you lock yourself in on an area, do not sell yourself short. There are a ton of Veteran organizations that will help you with you on your job-hunting journey. I assure you that if you served 30 years then you can disregard those $15 an hour jobs.
One of our goals at SkillMil is to educated employers on the value of our Veterans. We want to add more quality/good paying jobs with businesses nationwide. More and more companies are realizing the value of the Senior Enlisted. Please visit our website at www.SkillMil.com and fill out your profile. We specialize in our Enlisted Service Men and Women and their spouses.
Enjoy the hunt and remember to treat job hunting like any other mission. The kind of job you ultimately decide to take will depend not only on your desires but also on YOUR effort.
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