Are civilian employers ambivalent regarding the hiring of Military Veterans?

All true. I would recommend that vets do not put alot eggs in the state unemployment office basket in finding employment. NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK. Find a recruiter, find several recruiters. Be willing to move. Be willing to come in at alower level, then blow your employer away with your value. Get along with people, do not appear high and mighty because you are a veteran that expects everything. Your appearance, dress, speach, tone and body language all are important in the hiring process. You have to appear as someone who can assimilate into their work force (guys that is really important, gals you seem to have an easier time with this perception).

Businesses want to hire someone because they think you can either make them money or help them save money. It is one of the two. They will hire anyone that a manager believes can do that. The challange is you have to know how to translate that to them. Education & certifications help get a resume out of the stack, so get those certs/degrees. But that only gets you a look, now you have to close.

Sgt Randy Hill, I feel your pain. When I got out of the service, I was told the doors would swing open for me, just because I was ex-Navy and "everyone knows what good workers Navy men are." After a year of unemployment, I realized that was a load of crap (especially for those of us whose military specialty doesn't translate to the civilian sector, in my case, Torpedoman on Submarines) and went to college to earn that coveted piece of paper.

Researching the job market, I began my degree in History with the intent to teach high school only to be told (right before doing my student teaching) that the high schools in the areas of Texas I was looking at "had enough coaches."

I stayed on another year after that to do a degree in Archaeology (Anthropology) because it was a passion. In my last semester and during an internship, I was informed by my supervisor that if I wanted a career in Archaeology, I was going to need a Masters degree as a minimum. As the graduate program for Anthropology from my university didn't interest me and I was geographically anchored to my area, I was kind of stuck.

The whole while that I was in school, I looked for work, even GS positions and was never even granted interviews.

I found a graduate program that spoke to me and decided to get a Masters, because "education is always a good thing" and because I needed my education benefits and financial aid to have a place to live.

After completing graduate school, more of the same... My military experience counted for exactly nothing (to civilian employers) and I was "too educated" for entry-level positions (something about having a higher degree than the supervisor).

It took me moving to a new state to FINALLY get a job in higher education (which I held for 2 years until budget cuts forced me out, so here we go again)...

I advise veterans to go to a keyword translator like at http://www.va.gov before they write their resumes. Their is a disconnect caused by job analysis in different cultures. Because companies use these applicant tracking systems, the keywords must their or the algorithm will not pick it up and you do not get an interview.

Well said, Sir... Clearly you have been around the block a few times and your have gained experience and wisdom in the process. I have gotten several jobs including my current IT Manager position at Target with a "surrounding the decision maker" approach.  While used more frequently in sales rather than hiring, this method of putting yourself ahead of the competition works equally well in both settings.  If those of us in support of hiring veterans join forces with the objective of building a stronger argument that we should hire those individuals who have given so much to our nation, I believe we can make a positive impact.  One of the most significant obstacles for transitioning from active duty to civilian jobs is translating military experience into telling stories that are relevant to the hiring manager. This is where having coaches and mentors can make a tremendous difference.  70-80% of positions are filled with candidates who are referred by another employee, so selecting an organization and networking your way in is a great approach for getting a referral, as well as improving your chance to surround the decision maker.  Thoughts?