Employment after service

Folks, I'm a retired First Sergeant and am currently a General Manager for Pettit Environmental in Franklin Indiana. I recently attended a job fair for veterans in Indianapolis through the company Recruitmilitary. We talked to one hundred candidates that day and these are some observations.
Rehearse what you are going to say to a potential employers. You have about 30 seconds to make an impression so keep it to the point. Stress your strengths and how they are relevant to the business. Avoid buzzwords and flowery statesments that don't really say anything. Remember "bottom line up front.
A lot of the resumes I saw were not written well at all. Many were too long. For younger Soldiers keep your resume to about a page to a page and a half, for retirees keep it between a page and a half to two pages. The statements on your resume should say something about you. These statements are very much like the bullet statements on an NCOER. They need to be measurable achievements something that can be quantified or qualified. Stay away from fluff that doesn't say anything about you.
Remove the military terms from your resume. When I was first told this I was really annoyed. This was my career, this was what I did for 29 years and I am very proud of it! The issue is not that you have to hide your military service. The problem is because only about 3% of the American workforce are veterans. Civilians do not and will not understand the military language in your resume. You must change the military language in your resume into something they can understand. For example, civilians have no idea what a First Sergeant is or does. Having that on a resume wasn't helping me get a job. I changed the term in my resume to "Personnel Supervisor and Senior Adviser" that was a term they could understand and it helped get the job I have. Another was "enforced standards" I changed to "regulatory compliance" and things like that helped as well. When you do this you are not lying on your resume or even embellishing it.
Dress for success. First impressions mean a lot. When you come to the job fair grooming is important. A fresh haircut and shave is important. Get dressed for the job fair, suit and tie are nice but not essential. Dress as nice as you can, ditch the T-shirts, cargo shorts and worn out jeans.
Attitude is everything. When transitioning to a new career, especially for young enlisted troops getting out, do not look down on a job as beneath you. Many "blue collar" jobs are harder than you think. They pay well and there is room to grow in many companies. You may be working in some rough and dirty jobs, but so what? Many office jobs do not pay what many are expecting, the same is true for IT positions, plus there is a lot of competition for those jobs as well.
When talking to the hiring reps, be polite and enthusiastic. That attitude will really help.
For retirees trying to get into management. Avoid large manufacturers, defense contractors, and other large businesses. They have systems to promote from within and often suffer from a business culture of incestual leadership and are very reluctant to hire management from outside of the business. Look at at mid sized to smaller businesses for they are more open to bringing in outside management. Get certified in things like Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma Green or Black belt and Project Management Professional as well. Those help out tremendously.
Defense contractors, if you have certain specialties, such as aircraft mechanics, avionics or other fields then you may have some luck with these companies. But they do not give one damn about the fact you have years or even decades of experience with the equipment they produce. If you are a senior field grade officer or maybe a CSM in a very high position you may have some luck with these companies but I recommend avoiding them. They simply do not want your experience that much and they know they have a constant stream of potential new hires.
Your military experience is a tremendous asset to any business but you have to present it in a means they can understand. You have to sell yourself to be successful. Businesses want to hire vets, but they also have plenty of other applicants for the positions they are seeking so you have to be able to sell your experience to stand out from your competition.