During an interview for a job, is the person conducting the interview allowed to hold your military service against you as a disqualifier?

There is no law to the best of my knowledge that says a private company must hire someone they don't wish to hire. Many companies have internal policies ensuring non-discrimination and many also give veterans an edge in hiring.

However, I would not care to work for a company that looked down on my service.

Walk away... do you REALLY want to work for losers who think so little of the military?

I am running into an issue similar but different in that my civilian job of many years is preventing me from obtaining any specialty assignments and affecting my promotability score simply because I am still a military reservist. While this is a clear violation of law, I cannot *definitively* prove it, even though I have been told this by people in confidence who are "in the know." It's unfortunate that the situation you describe and mine still affects veterans and there seems to be little that we can do.

Only they know if your lack of civilian experience was the real reason or not. But that is a legitimate reason I suppose so it doesn't appear that they were holding your military service against you. Just part of it.

They're not allowed to hold the fact you were in the military against you, however, it looks like they aren't directly doing that so this situation is sketchy as to if they are within the law. USERRA is going to be your best friend when dealing with these situations. Here's the link:

https://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra/userra_fs.htm

Also, this article is a good read:

https://www.aol.com/2012/09/27/7-signs-of-discrimination-against-veterans-at-work/

The main thing is to know what the law says and, in doing so, know your rights. Last but not least, I would seek legal counsel. At worst you will be told you don't have a case. At best, you will be able to seek some form of remedy. Best of luck to you.

In a sense, yes. But since they used the phrase "civilian experience," as their loophole.....

I still remember the first job interview I had after leaving the Army in 1997. I had joined the Army right out of high school and served 9 years, attaining the rank of SFC/E-7.
I had applied for a Production Supervisor position at a local manufacturing facility. The arrogant prick of an HR Manager kept asked me if I had any "supervisory experience". I told him that 7 of my 9 years on active duty I served as an NCO and that I supervised numerous soldiers in a variety of assignments and was responsible for multi-million dollar pieces of military equipment.
My answer apparently annoyed the HR Manager because he rudely interrupted me and said..."I'm talking about real-world civilian supervising experience". Needless to say...I was speechless! I looked at the guy and said "you're right....I don't have any "real-world" supervisory experience so I'm going to withdraw my application. I then stood up, thanked him for his time, and walked out the door.
Fast forward 2 months later....this same arrogant prick of an HR manager calls me up and says he wants to offer me one of their Production Supervisor openings. Apparently he offered the position to 2 other guys, who both turned him down. His only option at that point was to offer me the job or re-post and re-interview a new group of applicants. I politely reminded him that, in his own words, I didn't have any "real-world" supervisory experience. He then back-tracked, stammered a bit, and made some lame excuse that he would "make an exception" for me. I then told him that if I wasn't good enough to work for him 2 months ago...then I wouldn't be good enough to work for him now and then hung up on him.

Be prepared to hear about this on a recurring basis, both as a positive and a negative.
Many companies have had issues with problem employees that were veterans. They watch the news and surmise that we all have PTSD and might go nuts at any moment.
Others are veterans themselves, or know the values of work ethic, teamwork, and leadership that are embodied in military service and can't hire enough veterans.
The right opportunity will come. Just be patient and keep at it.

Better you find out in an interview that they don't understand the military rather than a couple months into the job. That phrase may be an indicator of more misunderstandings to come or of a culture clash.

Also, whether or not its discrimination you'll be treated differently because of your background no matter where you go - sometimes well and sometimes poorly. It comes with the territory.

Always hard to say and harder to prove. As a retired Army Reservist when ever I was interviewed I would hold off on tell them I was a reserve member because of the Battle Assembly and two week AT commitment until I had the job.