Why is it so hard to find Civilian jobs that your MOS is comparable to?

Go 12N there are plenty of civilan jobs out there in that field. Since i have gotten out I have operated front loaders cranes several pieces of construction equipment in the civilian world.

As a 20 year Vet and Hiring Manager for a Fortune 500 company I have been on both sides of the fence. Most SM and Veterans suffer from the same mistakes, and I am included in that group, perhaps with better guidance I would have gotten employment sooner.
Here are some lessons learned.

Mistake 1: Lack of research on the company and position you are applying for. With the internet available there is not much you cannot find in this space. This is absolutely critical to shape your resume and prepare you for an interview. DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

Mistake 2: Build your resume to match the position you are applying for. Military translation programs are available, make use of them.

Mistake 3: Misspelling or poorly written resumes, this is a killer! I highly recommend you hire a resume writer, not someone from the Military transition office. You need someone who is far from the Military; they will be quick to point out things they do not understand and help you translate. There usually is a cost for this service but in the end it will pay dividends.

Mistake 4: One size does not fit all. Create several resumes, leadership, technical, or whatever aligns with the job you are applying for. Be ready to adjust them for specificity.

Mistake 5: If possible, use an address in the area you are applying for (a friend or family member). If you are not yet released from the Military, not all civilians understand that the military will relocate you. Make it known that Relocation is not an issue.

Mistake 6: Be prepared and willing to start at a lower position than you fill you are qualified for. As a product of the Military you will climb the ladder quick.

Try using o*net. This website converts your MOS into language civilians understand

Key is to understand what opportunities you desire to pursue. Next is where those exist in the civilian marketplace. Finally, how can you get hired into those organizations in almost any capacity! Excel in your initial role! Why? A competent, hard charging KATN individual gets noticed and gets opportunities quickly, especially in rapidly growing organizations. Most positions are sourced informally, then memorialized in a formal process. In other words - how do you stand out among the 500 other applications/ resumes for the job you are seeking!

My best advice would be to start networking (apologies if this has already been covered in some of the other responses - I didn't read each one). Job boards, hiring fairs, and on-line applications will just put you into the same pool as everyone else. If you find a company you want to work for, look hard to find someone who knows someone who knows someone else who might work for that company (Linked In helps). Then, reach out and ask to meet (informally, over coffee, etc.) to start learning about the company and jobs available.

Many times, employers use generic templates for job postings and descriptions. In my company, education and experience are flexible - just because the posting says 10 years required, doesn't mean that the employer will hold firm to that. This is where the networking comes in - the person you've made contact with can not only get your resume in front of the hiring manager, but can also help you understand how flexible the requirements are.

In my experience the problem continues to be a translation one between commercial and military. While the commercial sector continues to say it wants your leadership experience, its point of reference is civilian employees. Most often than not it takes a civilian about 10 years to gain the level of leadership and management experience we gain 3-5 years. This is why I recommend resumes should be results oriented with specifics metrics of what you accomplished. Its no different than what an NCOER or an OER should be. I agree with the Captain that it is about the bottom line and in most cases it will always be ( but not always, there are many B-corps out there that are emphasizing social responsibility and the "third bottom line" ). Therefore your experience does matter to the commercial sector as long you can prove that you will positively impact the bottom line which ever that maybe.

So how do you make the translation that "you are the man to take them to the next level?" Here lies the military to commercial translation problem. This is where you are at a disadvantage as a transitioning service member because most likely you are competing with others who are experienced in the specific industry you are applying into. They know how to articulate their experience in a specific and measurable way that resonates with the "hiring manager" (by the way, while company recruiters are becoming more versed in translating military skills, the hiring managers are still not). When we are transitioning out we are left to ourselves to research the industry and the company we are looking to enter. When I interview folks I want to know they have researched my company and the industry, that they know it very well based on publicly available information. The same goes for the industry writ large. If you spend time researching the industry and the careers you are looking for then you will become more informed on how to word your resume towards that industry. You need to know what matters in that industry, what are the market trends impacting the industry, and how they will affect the position you are seeking. When I interviewed candidates that asked me questions about the company or the industry that could be easily obtained publicly available, or if i asked them questions and they didn't know the answer but the the information could be found on our website and other public sources, I questioned their commitment to give me more than the minimum ( I am not saying this is your case, but it happened often and not just with military folks). You should know the major players in the industry, who are the company competitors and customers. Your military experience can be a differentiator if you are able to talk to it based on how it will positively impact the company in the specific industry. This takes work and research and based on that research translating our resumes / cover letters to resonate with the company and the industry. We can't expect "hiring managers" to immediately think that military experience is sufficient, remember less than 1% of the population has served in the military. The computers have much less ability to translate per one of the previous postings.

To your specific case I would say that given contracting experience and EW skills you should be able to leverage that for procurement positions in the telecom / tech sectors. Procurement managers are always in demand to ensure that companies can have good and cost effective relationships with suppliers. By good relationship I mean ensuring that they obtain the quality materials or services at the most favorable cost. Unlike the government though cost is important, but not always the lowest bidder, as the hiring company wants its suppliers to be equally mindful of quality of the end customer. A quick search on GI jobs for "contracting" yields 23,000 openings globally ( how many are applicable i do not know) Checkit out:

http://careers.gijobs.com/jobs/?moc=contracting#1

If you take a look at many of these openings contracting translates to "procurement" "strategic sourcing" or "buyers". The openings are across different industries with different needs. I am a supply chain professional so I really do not understand the 10 years of accounting experience for a a job that is related to contracting in the commercial sector. However, there are skills that you might not have that employers are looking for in procurement specialists such as Advanced Excel, understanding financial statements, and understanding SAP or Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning systems. To be competitive in with these jobs I would recommend that you take advantage of free MIT courses through EDx or Coursera in supply chain, advanced excel, and data and analytics (certificates for a given course cost about 100.00) . Also consider becoming a Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) through APICS the association of operations managers. The CSCP costs about 3500 to include material, 5 day course and testing ( GI Bill pays for testing, but not for training and materials). This certification which is one of the most valuable (supply chain managers avg 100k and are in high demand) across industries is not even mentioned or facilitated by the military unless you are a logistician/supply/ contracting specialists working for one of the Materiel Commands. If you look at the "Apple care posting" in the job search above you will see that Apple is also looking for a dynamic team leader. Your leadership experience, coupled with the skill sets I mentioned above can be a significant differentiator if you build the right skill sets on top of your existing military experience. Like several have mentioned, this takes work and effort. We must sell ourselves and do our due diligence to understand what the customer (employer) wants.

One last word on masters degree - Do your due diligence! The marketplace is changing fast and often many masters degrees are too costly, with little practical relevant skills, and much invested time. Certifications can be sufficient provided they are in high demand fields such as Supply Chain, Data Science, Data Bases, Cyber Security or Forensics. Also take a look at new educational alternatives like http://www.joinkoru.com or the General Assembly. I hope this was informative.

My recommendation is to focus on how you are communicating your experience. A lot of Soldiers like to use fancy military terms and acronyms to describe their experience, and in an interview a civilian's eyes will just glaze over. You need to focus on using more common civilian terms.
For example, in my last deployment I was the Joint Reception, Staging, Onward movement and Intergration (JRSOI) NCO for RC-South Afghanistan. In my civilian resume, however, I put:
"Regional Training Manager for all US Forces in southern Afghanistan." I used numbers like "scheduled and reported more than 20,000 people; transported more than 60,000 people; oversaw daily activities of 10 personnel to ensure contractual obligations were met; produced daily and weekly staff reports of operations."

Any opportunity to show you managed money or people is great. The next focus point is your interview skills. Good head-hunters will get you the interview (plenty of them on LinkedIn), but it's up to you to be able to market yourself in a way that shows management that even without a degree you are still a solid candidate who can learn quickly and perform under stress.

Last, but not least, use your military experience as a supplement to your skills, not as the definition. Military experience, especially in a deployment, is a great starting point for gaining quality soft skills employers are looking for. Never stop improving, and don't let others feed you excuses why you're not landing good opportunities. Your military experience is good but it doesn't solve a company's problems. However, you may be able to convince them that a degree won't either and that your unique vantage point of experience can offer some fresh insight to their operation.

Good luck and all the best!

SGT: Your goal in the job market is to match your experience to a job listing, not match a job you a job your would like that an employer views your military experience as unrelated.

Suggest you apply to Project Management job opportunities with your local telecom company, electric or gas company provider, or a construction contractor.

Your military background as a contracting NCO and experience with electronic warfare equipment and how it is applied to a gaming situation provide you with the oversight to think "regionally" athe civilian level of BN and BDE and beyond what is happening in the workplace around you. Interfacing with team members of different expertise and time zones is your workplace qualifications to sell. Being an accountant can provide you with the expertise of knowing how to identify income and expense, direct costs, indirect expenses, and be able to sort these transactions into AP, AR, or GL. This knowledge will enable you to think as a Project Manager with a comptroller's knowledge of expense items and cash flow.

Good luck with tis assignment.

Geoff,

If contracting is still a field of interest, consider check out contracting command again. I know at Ft. Detrick, there was a great demand. They hired at around GS7, but the growth opportunities were great.

IMHO I think a simple approach will change your efforts, network and network early, effective, and as much as reasonably possible. It's your connections that can and most likely get the wheels rolling. The great divide seems like a miscommunication gap between the military and civilians. Consider this, less than half a percent of 1% of residents in the US have ever served. It's understandable why they have a harder time relating. As military personnel we even have a distinct vernacular and culture, even amongst the branches. People want to bring in people similar to themselves. Consider the cadence, style, and approach you have when communicating. Its paramount that we adapt to the club we want to join, not vice versa.

I read CPT Jared's post, it resonated, although hard hitting, while I agree with a lot of what he says...I believe there's more to consider. While ROIs and attitudes of responsibility are important, in reality there isn't a huge distinction between civilians and military (each have their own share of honest and dishonest people). I try to follow the mantra of LIKE, KNOW, TRUST when communicating. It's like our crawl, walk, run philosophy in the military, i.e., once they get to like you, they get to know you, and when they know you, they will trust you.

While your degrees are significant accomplishments, consider this, a lot of people have them. They don't necessary translate into automatic points, but like in the military, they help you stand out.

Good luck,

Harold