How employable am I and at what level?

The Coffee Shop
1

Not sure exactly how to start this so I will begin with the background:

I have been in the military since graduating college and am looking to get out in the next 2-3 years. I’ve performed well and consider myself to be smart with a strong work ethic, so I’ve always assumed I would be able to do very well immediately after joining the private sector. After reading a recent retention study I realize that a lot of my beliefs about private sector employment opportunities are largely based on conjecture and wishful thinking. I’m pretty firm on getting out of the Navy regardless of what options are in front of me (to make a long story short, my wife and I have been in the same state for barely 4 months out of the last 2 years and despite my pride in my service and the fact that I’m sure I could continue to serve until retirement, I believe the purpose of my life is family now). Regardless of the fact that I’ve already decided to separate, I’d still like to make sure my expectations are reasonable.

My background:
-Top-25 university, BA Psychology
-Served as an officer in the military for 9 years
-Jobs included:
–Flying tactical/fighter aircraft (5 years)
–Managing a budget of $21,188,800
–Responsible for the logistics of requisitioning and distributing 2,203 items of government property totaling $19,687,479
–Responsible for the human resources management and training of a staff of 200 personnel
–Responsible for the safe and efficient maintenance of and accountability for $840M of military aircraft and hardware as well as the management and leadership of the 200 personnel working on them.

Complicating my plans for the outside world is this little fact: I have no idea what I want to do.

Realistically all I want is a job that only requires 50 hours a week or less (give or take, really anything would be better than the consistent 65+hour work weeks I’ve put in for years) and doesn’t require me to leave my family for more than a week or two at a time as well as paying me fairly well and (most importantly) challenging me mentally. The idea of waking up at 5, running 10 miles, taking a shower and eating breakfast, going to work and being home in time for dinner with my wife AND having most weekends free literally makes me green with desire.

I think that most people on this forum have jobs like I describe and hopefully you can tell me where on the food chain I can expect to enter the “real” working field and how hard it will be to find reasonable employment. Also, any suggestions on fields I should look into would be appreciated. I don’t particularly want to pursue med or law school, but have considered MBA programs (scored 710 on the GMAT) although if I could avoid a 2-year, $100,000+ stint of schooling I’d like to unless the recruitment opportunities are worth the investment.

Thanks all.

DISCLAIMER: Please do not interpret from this that I regret serving our great nation. I will forever be proud of my service and thankful for the excellence and steadfast dedication of the people with whom I served.

2

How personable are you? Do you like to sell things, create relationships, live to network?

Or do you like to stay behind the scenes, internal process improvement, operations?

Large company, small company?

Business acumen?

Relevant technical skills?

Any industry specific knowledge?

3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roiRpwv9zFs

EDIT: The above is meant in jest, of course. Thank you for your service, and good luck in your civilian career.

4

I’m personable in that I’m a good leader/manager and people seem to enjoy working with me, but I don’t think I have the right skill set to really make it as a salesman and at the end of the day I’m introverted so I’d have to go with ‘behind the scenes…’

Don’t care about size of the company at all.

Business acumen: see above leadership/management experience

Technical skills? What are these you speak of?

Industry specific knowledge: defense/acquisitions/federal government/aviation.

5

I would look at civil service (SPAWAR) and your military time will count towards your retirement or government contracting, with your skills NGC, Boeing, or LM would probably be interested.

6

I ran your responses through my patented career placement algorithm and I think you will have the most success in the following two areas.

  • Move to the DC area and target management consulting and professional services firms doing federal contract work.
  • Directly target companies like Lockheed, Boeing, Raytheon etc.
7

Thank you for your service.

What do you like about the work you’re doing now? Do you want to work for a government contractor, or do you want to go fully into the private sector?

Personally, I’d hold off on an MBA until you know what you want to do. It could be useful for private sector connections, but without a goal in mind it could turn into an expensive way of deferring this decision. Or an expensive way of finding out you don’t need an MBA to get where you want to go.

8

Come to Amazon! Tons of ex-military end up in our Ops divisions (not just packing and shipping boxes). Leading teams, figuring out logistics, managing inventory, etc are all highly valued. Look at Operations Management, In-Stock Management, Transportation/Supply Chain Management to start, though officers end up everywhere. The only question is location, what type of place do you want to live in? HQ in Seattle, many jobs far flung throughout US. Though I can’t guarantee 9-5, especially at holiday!

https://www.facebook.com/AmazonWarriors
http://www.amazonfulfillmentcareers.com/opportunities/military/

9

Current fighter guy here, have you thought about bush flying in Alaska. I’m up here as an ALO and make friends w/ the locals. There is pretty good money in it if you have a few planes.

10

I know two guys just like you. One got his MBA while running the ROTC program at a top 5 MBA school (sweet gig) and the other got his MBA after being out a few years. The only other unifying thread in their careers is they leveraged the shit out of their networks of contacts. Start talking to guys you went to school with, worked with, etc. Feel around see if someone knows someone and next thing you know you are running a 50 person group at facebook pre-IPO. You’d be surprised at the number of ex-officers working in “the right place” to help you land a gig and the weight your experience carries with employers. The first thing you need to do is a self-assessment: What do you like doing at your current job that translates into the corporate sector? What are you good at in your present job that translates? Where do you want to live? Do you like the logistics part? Budgeting? Strategic planning of operations (not in the military sense)?

11

The first thing you need to do is a self-assessment: What do you like doing at your current job that translates into the corporate sector? What are you good at in your present job that translates? Where do you want to live? Do you like the logistics part? Budgeting? Strategic planning of operations (not in the military sense)?

At my current job I like problem-solving (logistics and budgeting) and short- and long-term planning (training / manpower as well as movement / timing).

I want to live anywhere in the pacific NW, ideally Portland. Also would be interested in the SLC, UT area.

To answer some other questions: I would prefer to get as far away from the military as possible, even from contracting although I’d consider one of the “primary” defense contractors like Boeing or Raytheon only because I expect the pay and benefits would be pretty competitive. I’ve considered trying to go in the FBI but I don’t know much about that other than it’s relatively low risk as far as law enforcement goes and it would involve a good deal of practical problem solving.

12

Not sure exactly how to start this so I will begin with the background:

I have been in the military since graduating college and am looking to get out in the next 2-3 years. I’ve performed well and consider myself to be smart with a strong work ethic, so I’ve always assumed I would be able to do very well immediately after joining the private sector. After reading a recent retention study I realize that a lot of my beliefs about private sector employment opportunities are largely based on conjecture and wishful thinking. I’m pretty firm on getting out of the Navy regardless of what options are in front of me (to make a long story short, my wife and I have been in the same state for barely 4 months out of the last 2 years and despite my pride in my service and the fact that I’m sure I could continue to serve until retirement, I believe the purpose of my life is family now). Regardless of the fact that I’ve already decided to separate, I’d still like to make sure my expectations are reasonable.

My background:
-Top-25 university, BA Psychology
-Served as an officer in the military for 9 years
-Jobs included:
–Flying tactical/fighter aircraft (5 years)
–Managing a budget of $21,188,800
–Responsible for the logistics of requisitioning and distributing 2,203 items of government property totaling $19,687,479
–Responsible for the human resources management and training of a staff of 200 personnel
–Responsible for the safe and efficient maintenance of and accountability for $840M of military aircraft and hardware as well as the management and leadership of the 200 personnel working on them.

Complicating my plans for the outside world is this little fact: I have no idea what I want to do.

Realistically all I want is a job that only requires 50 hours a week or less (give or take, really anything would be better than the consistent 65+hour work weeks I’ve put in for years) and doesn’t require me to leave my family for more than a week or two at a time as well as paying me fairly well and (most importantly) challenging me mentally. The idea of waking up at 5, running 10 miles, taking a shower and eating breakfast, going to work and being home in time for dinner with my wife AND having most weekends free literally makes me green with desire.

I think that most people on this forum have jobs like I describe and hopefully you can tell me where on the food chain I can expect to enter the “real” working field and how hard it will be to find reasonable employment. Also, any suggestions on fields I should look into would be appreciated. I don’t particularly want to pursue med or law school, but have considered MBA programs (scored 710 on the GMAT) although if I could avoid a 2-year, $100,000+ stint of schooling I’d like to unless the recruitment opportunities are worth the investment.

Thanks all.

DISCLAIMER: Please do not interpret from this that I regret serving our great nation. I will forever be proud of my service and thankful for the excellence and steadfast dedication of the people with whom I served.

I’ve worked in the recruitment advertising/technology industry for the past decade (enterprise sales) so pretty much my entire civilian professional career post Army. My only feedback is with your experience the skys the limit once you figure out what you’d like to do…especially with your security clearance level. My advice there would be to have a good understanding of how long it will be active at your current level and start by looking at opportunities that require it. There is a huge shortage of qualified candidates out there (speaking broadly) with clearance and a good deal of employes who are consistantly looking for this (ie the supply/demand is very much an advantage for job seekers here).

So the question is “how employable am and what level”. Very employable, level will fluctuate. An example is you decide you want to go into enterprise sales - they will value you’re experience, but not enough to put you at a global account exec level, as they will value sales experience more in that scenario (again speaking very broadly and yes there are exceptions). On the flip side if you’re looking at consulting then you’re experience usually trumps corresponding civilian experience hence a higher level.

If you’re not doing this already - network with buddies who have ETS’d already that have similar experience. Get an idea of what they like/don’t like about what they are doing and repeat as many times as you can. You should also be asking them what other types of positions exist within their respective employers.

You’re in a great position man. Thanks for all your service, and best of luck with this. It’s a little daunting I’m sure, but should also be very exciting.

Lastly, on the daunting front (if you’re feeling this way). Average employee changes firms about 9x during their career anymore so you’ll move around. Go with what covers your needs (family, decent schedule, limited traveling etc) and understand you’re likely not selecting the employer/opportunity you’ll be with for the next 20 years.

13

Hey tacetman…

Retired USAF B-1 WSO here, working at Wright-Patt AFB as a contractor…

You are very employable with your background; depends on how willing you are to be flexible in where you live. I know you want to get away from all things military (and I totally get that), but your military background is your main selling point right now, along with your security clearance. If you don’t want to be a government civilian employee, there are lots of jobs with contractors in the DC area, Pax River, Eglin AFB area (Florida), Dayton area (Wright-Patt AFB in Ohio, home of USAF acquisition), Omaha (STRATCOM), Denver area, Nellis area (USAFWS contract instructor, perhaps), St Louis (Boeing), Fort Worth (Lockheed). Unfortunately, the Pacific NW isn’t a hotbed of jobs for folks with military background, although that Amazon gig that was mentioned above could be pretty cool. The one caveat to that is Whidbey Island…there could be some cool jobs there.

All that being said, there are a fair number of firms that like to hire mid-grade officers, so I would start an intensive job search in the areas you want to live. I would also try very, very hard to find someone you know fairly well in a firm you are interested in…resumes sent in via the internet have a very, very low Pk. Your chances are far better if you can work with a personal contact inside the targeted firm. Job fairs are a possible way to meet folks in a firm you don’t have any contacts in.

Last thing…for resumes that you do send in via internet…every resume should be a custom resume. If you quals don’t have the same key words as the job description/requirements, it will be automatically shit canned before a human even lays eyes on it.

PM me if you’d like.

Spot

14

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend that you start looking at the various workshops and seminars available in your local area. Firms like the Lucas group can provide a lot of info, even if you don’t use their services. They have lots of experience placing military officers, and will be able to tell you exactly what your military skillset translates to in the civilian sector, and what that will mean with regard to what kinds of jobs are available. They can also help you translate those skills when you’re writing your resume, prepping for interviews, etc.

I wouldn’t rely on them solely, but they have a wealth of information that you should definietly take advantage of. I guarantee that they have placed officers in almost your exact position before, and can point you in the right direction.

15

I would chose where you want to settle down and grow roots. Location, location, location. Then over the next two years, I would start the self-education of the financial industry (stocks, bonds, funds, etc.) then target a stock brokerage firm to begin your career. Many stock broker firms will pay a small salary while you train for the job and ramp-up your production. You can, in fact, target a brokerage firm that has senior brokers looking to transition their “books” to a newer/younger broker. Chose a firm that will pay for and help you attain your CFP, as well.

Starting out in a city where you know no one would be difficult but with your background and ability to reach-out to others… this might be a career that fits your lifestyle.

16

Run for President!

I’d vote for you.

17

I don’t necessarily have any advice, but what exactly what in the OP’s background did you see that made you think that he should get into finance? He said he doesn’t want to do sales (which is exactly what being a CFP is), no education or working background that is remotely related. That came out of nowhere.

18

I don’t necessarily have any advice, but what exactly what in the OP’s background did you see that made you think that he should get into finance? He said he doesn’t want to do sales (which is exactly what being a CFP is), no education or working background that is remotely related. That came out of nowhere.

Lifestyle. He could choose anywhere to live and work his own hours. Imagine that. And I’ve worked with a lot of people who say they are not salespeople. But they are and they are good at it. Finance (stock broker) is not a difficult field. He appears to be bright and ambitious so I suspect he’ll be good at whatever he chooses.

Really, I threw it out there as an option for him to think about.

19

The first thing you need to do is a self-assessment: What do you like doing at your current job that translates into the corporate sector? What are you good at in your present job that translates? Where do you want to live? Do you like the logistics part? Budgeting? Strategic planning of operations (not in the military sense)?

At my current job I like problem-solving (logistics and budgeting) and short- and long-term planning (training / manpower as well as movement / timing).

I want to live anywhere in the pacific NW, ideally Portland. Also would be interested in the SLC, UT area.

To answer some other questions: I would prefer to get as far away from the military as possible, even from contracting although I’d consider one of the “primary” defense contractors like Boeing or Raytheon only because I expect the pay and benefits would be pretty competitive. I’ve considered trying to go in the FBI but I don’t know much about that other than it’s relatively low risk as far as law enforcement goes and it would involve a good deal of practical problem solving.

To catch up on some of the other replies – thanks all for your helpful suggestions. I’m not totally averse to finance mostly because I have a strong background in math (despite the fact that I majored in psychology I took a good bit of calculus in college and also minored in statistics) and am interested in economics…when I Say I’m not much for sales it’s mostly because I don’t like tap-dancing and trying to talk people in to doing what I want. But as far as financial planning goes, I really enjoy being able to analyze situations and figure out the best course of action (like logistics), so finance is definitely attractive.