Jobless veterans say military experience is not valued

When you think about coming from a whole different world, it seems hard to translate what you did into what you can do. The following has some advice on it but here's a few of my own.

If you were in leadership in the service, tell them you are a focused leader.

If you were just one of the group, talk about how much you value team work.

You are no longer mission focused but goal driven and stop at nothing to get the job done. You won't ease up because you are tired or had a bad night. After all, you've been there and done that with a lot more facing you than a bad tempered boss.

If they ask you if you will travel or not, tell them you thrive on it. At least you know when they send you on a business trip, you won't be gone for a year at a time.

Talk about how you don't call in sick. After all, when you were deployed you couldn't decide to stay in bed instead. Add up all the time you were in the service and then think about all the times you didn't call in sick.

Tell them that you want to work for them as much as you wanted to do your job in the military. That you will be grateful for the opportunity to work there and not afraid of long hours or overtime since at the end of the day you can go home to your family.

Think about all the reasons you would hire you and talk in civilian words they can understand. Focus on all you can bring to the company because in the end you are a rare worker. There are less than one percent of the population in the military right now and less than ten percent of the population are veterans.

Jobless veterans say military experience is not valued
By Roy Strom

NAPERVILLE, Ill | Mon Oct 31, 2011 4:41pm EDT

NAPERVILLE, Ill (Reuters) - When Matthew Burrell left the U.S. Army after eight years of service, he landed a job as a public relations contractor in Iraq. With a salary of $170,000, he figured military experience had finally paid off.

But five months after returning home to Chicago, 33-year old Burrell is unemployed and said his job search has been strange. Despite having six years experience as a public relations officer in the Army, companies treat him as if he just graduated from college.

"I can tell you for a fact that definitely in my field in public relations and marketing, private sector companies do not value (military experience)," Burrell said.

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