remember you volunteered, you enlisted. you weren't drafted. surely you knew what you were getting into and what you were facing if you made it out alive and physically, mentally intact. while in service you are paid depending on your rank and time with taxpayer monies and get full medical, food, and more. officers are paid more and have a better chance of being employed in civilian life especially if they had higher rank because almost all of them already have some kind of college degree. taxpayers who don't enlist in the military fund the various military branches. bottom line, it has been the same for all combat veterans in all wars in the 20th and this century. today you have the GI bill, extra benefits in some states, after you're discharged. rememeber you volunteered, you enlisted, you were not drafted. remember too that taxpayes fund the military, the pentagon, and more.
there are still homeless Vietnam vets. some made it some didn't, this time will be no different. unemployment is high in the nation even for those who didn't volunteer for military service. there are only so many jobs available these days. do your resume, be specific about your skills that can be used by each employer you are sending your resume to and hope for the best. business is business, and most want to hire the best qualified that will increase their bottom line or at least maintain it. be prepared to relocate, to even leave the country for work abroad if you have skills that employers are searching for these days. remember business is business, it's about the bottom line for upper management and stockholders and/or owners.
you are completely correct, when i came home in 1969, nobody would even hear me, no work for you, no welcome home, but as you say we braved challenges, and this was next.....i'm still here, and i buy completely AMERICAN-MADE products, to help our teetering economy, if we all work together we can do anything, by the way i was drafted..
The fact that there are 200,000 unemployed veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan is indeed a sad one. And it is entirely understandable that so many veterans wonder why employers won't "give" them jobs. The sad fact today is, however, that companies simply aren't in the business of "giving" anyone a job, if in fact companies ever were in business to do that. Companies are in business for just ONE reason: To make money! If they don't make money, then obviously, they aren't going to be in business long. Today, every job seeker-and that includes veterans, of course-must come to grips with this fact and make his/her own case why a company, any company, should hire them.
In essence, there are TWO principal reasons why a company hires ANYONE: They can MAKE THEM MONEY or SAVE THEM MONEY. Ideally, of course, a job candidate can convince a prospective employer that he or she can do BOTH of these things!
Now, before I get deluged with hate email, let me hasten to point out that I, too, am a veteran, having served ten years in the U.S. Marine Corps, with combat service in Vietnam in 1966-67. Certainly, I know from personal experience the tremendous sacrifices a man or woman has to make to serve this country. Still, I am a realist, and that is why I am writing this comment.
I would strongly recommend that today's veterans go online and seek information regarding how the "rules" of the hiring "game"-and that's what it is, a game!-have changed! Then, they should learn to play by these NEW rules. Once they do that, the chances that they can land a good job are significantly improved!
A challenging pursuit? You bet, but most men and women who have served in the U.S. Military certainly have shown that they can meet virtually any challenge and overcome any obstacle.
To all veterans: Thank you for serving our country and keeping us free!
Michael Garee
P.S. During the last several years I have been associated with a professional "headhunter" and he and I wrote and published a book that addresses this very issue: That the rules of the hiring game have changed . . . forever! (Because of the prohibition against "advertising" in comments posted to this site I can't name the publication. But again, it's not even necessary for you to focus on a single, recent publication that deals with the NEW job market. The information is out there . . . research it and learn how to become successful in the civilian job market of today.)
Another source of employment: overseas. I have two grown students who were laid off from the Chicago Pub Schools and are now teaching in China. If you have a degree you can do it too. The vets come home to their family and seem to think that the world owes them a living. There are people who like them are struggling to get jobs. So the vets who have experience overseas, should look to overseas for jobs.
i am truly amazed that someone thinks this way and is not commited to a mental institution...i am sure you have not served our country, about time you did and maybe understand...you do owe us, freedom for one, your life, your job, when we left to serve all of you who stayed, we lost everything, jobbs included, we should not have to go overseas to EARN a living, we came home to you and people like you, amazing, when you think about it you owe us the right to speak your mind without persecution also.....have a great memorial day anyway, don't forget to thank all who have made it possible.....i doubt you will sally.
Sally you are very mistaken if you truly believe that ANY VETERAN (regardless of era, branch, etc) thinks that the American people owe them something because they CHOSE to serve. We make this choice to serve first out of a sense of duty, to better ourselves and to defend the freedoms we ALL enjoy. Just as the students you mentioned who are now teaching in China - it was THEIR CHOICE!!!!! Perhaps you should go and sit in the waiting areas of your local Veteran's Administration hospital/medical clinics and see just how much hear what YOU the American owes anyone. Don't worry, if you happen to shed a tear or two when you see some of our youngest brothers and sisters sitting next to you with no legs, arms, and half a face......there are FREE kleenex on the tables.
Silly Sally, aren't we living in the U.S. of America, I realize most of the things we buy in the U.S. are from China, but now you think it's a good idea to send our people there also ... NOT ... Let's start thinking of our soldier that are giving their lives for us...the people of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NOT THE U.S. OF CHINA .... WE ARE AMERICANS .... OUR SOLDIERS DIE FOR THE U.S. OF AMERICA, THAT IS WHAT OUR SOLDIER HAVE DONE FOR US AND FOR UNGRATEFUL PEOPLE LIKE YOU. THEY FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM ....THANK THEM, NOT SEND THEM OVERSEAS......
I can truly relate to the vets not being able to gain employment I was a medic in the military and worked in a clinic I sutured, set fractures, ran some lab tests, administered medication, delivered babies, just about anything you can imagine we had only 1 doctor at night and 2 during the day and the medics had to do most of the actual treatment..When I got home the only job I could get was emptying bedpans until I could go back to school.. I took the test for LPN and passed with flying colors but the state still would not allow me to work as one because I had no "formal education" in the medical field. I guess all of those weeks at Ft. Sam Houston when we were crammed with information and tested over and over counted for nothing... I probably saved the life of one those people that made that decision... Still I am a proud Viet Nam era vet but I dont understand how this country can spend all of that money and time training the military and still not honor their experience and their know -how seems to me a waste ... Hope this can be changed..
I would say to justizzle, that someone is giving you wrong advice. If you're a medical expert, then you should go on the GI Bill, get your degree and become a physicians assistant. LPN is an OK, low paying job. If you're happy with a low paying, go nowhere job, then stay where you are. But all medics with that type of experience, should be going a step higher and becoming physicians assistants.
The unemployed female veteran should go to: www.USAJOBS.GOV where she can look for federal government jobs. Hill Air Force Base in UTAH for certain and I think also Wright Patterson Base in Ohio are always hiring in the field of Logistics and Supply Chain
Other resources are a site called: http://www.fedshirevets.gov/
Veterans get preference points added that give them an edge in obtaining federal jobs at bases and with government contractors. Also, she might consider jobs with trucking, logistics companies, or manufacturers because they have logistics departments to handle the movement of freight like coordinating freight orders, pick-up, transport, and delivery.
Please send contact info on the young woman interviewed today. I work for a homeless coalition and would like to try to help her. Thank you. Email to tinaod214@hotmail.com
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In essence, there are TWO principal reasons why a company hires ANYONE: They can MAKE THEM MONEY or SAVE THEM MONEY. Ideally, of course, a job candidate can convince a prospective employer that he or she can do BOTH of these things!
Now, before I get deluged with hate email, let me hasten to point out that I, too, am a veteran, having served ten years in the U.S. Marine Corps, with combat service in Vietnam in 1966-67. Certainly, I know from personal experience the tremendous sacrifices a man or woman has to make to serve this country. Still, I am a realist, and that is why I am writing this comment.
I would strongly recommend that today's veterans go online and seek information regarding how the "rules" of the hiring "game"-and that's what it is, a game!-have changed! Then, they should learn to play by these NEW rules. Once they do that, the chances that they can land a good job are significantly improved!
A challenging pursuit? You bet, but most men and women who have served in the U.S. Military certainly have shown that they can meet virtually any challenge and overcome any obstacle.
To all veterans: Thank you for serving our country and keeping us free!
Michael Garee
P.S. During the last several years I have been associated with a professional "headhunter" and he and I wrote and published a book that addresses this very issue: That the rules of the hiring game have changed . . . forever! (Because of the prohibition against "advertising" in comments posted to this site I can't name the publication. But again, it's not even necessary for you to focus on a single, recent publication that deals with the NEW job market. The information is out there . . . research it and learn how to become successful in the civilian job market of today.)
Veterans get preference points added that give them an edge in obtaining federal jobs at bases and with government contractors.
Also, she might consider jobs with trucking, logistics companies, or manufacturers because they have logistics departments to handle the movement of freight like coordinating freight orders, pick-up, transport, and delivery.
Thank you. Email to tinaod214@hotmail.com