When employors say we hire military they must mean military officers not enlisted. Anyone else have or had trouble finding a good job?

Sir,
Great post. I was going the make a joke about your comment ‘as an educated officer’ but some people seem to get sensitive at humor…attempts at humor…and I will just let everyone take this and run with it on their own.
I have also been told that I should be making more. I was told by a fellow employee “With your experience and education, what are you doing working here, you will NEVER make what you should?” I have been blessed, so far, in finding a job when I have needed one but I know that my time in recruiting made it easier to transition because of the apple to apple crossover of skills. I can speak in their terms, on their level. The thing that most surprised me, was how FUBAR some of these civilian companies are? Leaving the military, I thought that the civilian world would be more organized and professional, was I ever wrong? There is a steep learning curve coming into the civilian employment world, how to tone everything down and they look at everything…in many cases I have encountered…on much different level of intensity?
Additionally, I think one reason military leaders find it hard to transition to positions of leadership in the civilian world, is because the civilians are afraid of their own failings, I.E. they at least know they are weak leaders and do not want an actual leader making them look bad.
Another thing I have learned as a tip for our brothers and sisters in uniform seeking civilian employment, just because you take a position does not mean you have to stop seeking something better! The military instills a sense of loyalty to your service, but do not let this handicap you in the civilian world. You can, should, keep searching until you reach the position you want? I think, many think they need to holdout for the ‘right’ position, when they can take a lesser job now and keep driving for that ‘right’ position as soon as it presents itself?

MSG, great advice, and for the future I tend to take humor well. As for the moving through the positions, that was a lesson I had to learn the hard way, but its true in the civilian environment.

@MSG - 100% correct! But with that said, even those with marketable skills are facing a huge problem in the public sector. Most want to transition to GS positions and, until recently, those were frozen. If you look at the data, private sector has been increasing rapidly while the public sector has been declining. This is austerity policy. Don't be surprised when you say "starve the beast" and the beast gets starved.

When I originally ETSed as an E-6 I could only find entry level jobs with my military experience. I was a college graduate and the job market just demanded more civilian experience. I think it is worse today. Good luck on your job hunting.

I have noticed that if your are not within a certain distance from the job you are looking at they will disqualify you right away it is a new localized hiring for people already living in those communities

I would say it's subjective considering the company. I was enlisted USAF. Got my BA, working on an MBA, and was directly told by more than 3 companies that they were looking for officers due to leadership capabilities and real world knowledge. Regardless of how educated you are, If you wore stripes instead of brass, it's harder. I know from experience.

Great points, and in keeping with what I've experienced. Having transitioned myself and interviewed veterans from junior enlisted to junior officer I can tell you that being a veteran will, at best, get you an interview you wouldn't have gotten. From there you have to sell yourself. Why and how are you an effective leader? What was the total value (in dollars) of the inventory you maintained and kept accountability of? What concrete accomplishments did you achieve while in service?

There are certainly pros and cons in hiring managers' heads regarding veterans. In my opinion, the pros will be heavier than the cons.