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With the reduced need for uniformed members, the branches have been and continue to force good members out into the civilian workforce. There will be a demand for more jobs and possibly in short supply. This could be seen as an advantage to employers to increase profits by lowering salaries.
I transitioned from 10 years Active Duty in 2009. What I've noticed in the past five years of contracting is such a trend. Budgets are being cut but some companies are not willing to take the profit hits. Instead they place the financial burden on the new employees by reducing salaries. I am seeing this trend especially in contracts in Afghanistan, there are great Analyst working 84 hour weeks deployed, getting paid around what a 40 hr/wk job in the D.C. area would bring. Most of these guys are taking these jobs to float them until they can find a job with better compensation.
Occasionally I am approached by recruiters for programs I used to work on. In the past two years I've seen several program salaries take more than 50% pay cuts, and they competency of the workforce sometimes reflects it. With the mass influx of recently separated service members flooding the market, the job will go to the lowest bidder. Often I have had to fight for my position at higher compensation than employers want to deliver. Sure, employers can find someone willing to do the job for less, but then again that is what they get, something "less".
I've even seen 20 year retirees enter the workforce not knowing what they are worth. One retiree in particular was very well versed in my career field, much more than me. For this program we were hired as equal peers. Yet he didn't do his homework and was making 30% less than me.
For those looking to transition, prepare yourselves. From my TAP class, most veterans working their first civilian job start looking for a new job within the first 4 months. Unless you are lucky, consider the first job a practice run unless it truly is your dream job.
I'm curious, do i have tunnel vision? Am I missing something, can someone see this issue from a different prospective and predict a different outcome?
I transitioned from 10 years Active Duty in 2009. What I've noticed in the past five years of contracting is such a trend. Budgets are being cut but some companies are not willing to take the profit hits. Instead they place the financial burden on the new employees by reducing salaries. I am seeing this trend especially in contracts in Afghanistan, there are great Analyst working 84 hour weeks deployed, getting paid around what a 40 hr/wk job in the D.C. area would bring. Most of these guys are taking these jobs to float them until they can find a job with better compensation.
Occasionally I am approached by recruiters for programs I used to work on. In the past two years I've seen several program salaries take more than 50% pay cuts, and they competency of the workforce sometimes reflects it. With the mass influx of recently separated service members flooding the market, the job will go to the lowest bidder. Often I have had to fight for my position at higher compensation than employers want to deliver. Sure, employers can find someone willing to do the job for less, but then again that is what they get, something "less".
I've even seen 20 year retirees enter the workforce not knowing what they are worth. One retiree in particular was very well versed in my career field, much more than me. For this program we were hired as equal peers. Yet he didn't do his homework and was making 30% less than me.
For those looking to transition, prepare yourselves. From my TAP class, most veterans working their first civilian job start looking for a new job within the first 4 months. Unless you are lucky, consider the first job a practice run unless it truly is your dream job.
I'm curious, do i have tunnel vision? Am I missing something, can someone see this issue from a different prospective and predict a different outcome?
Posted in these groups: 
Transition
Employment
Transition Employment
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 4
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SSgt B Mac, I think there is something to what you are saying. A colleague of mine just left the DoD contracting world because of two reasons:
1) positions were going away very quickly
2) the positions that remained were having their pay cut
I'm seeing it where I work as well. There's at least talk of cuts to contractor personnel. Some companies do their best not to let people go - they find them jobs elsewhere - but if they're losing contracts and contract positions, it only makes sense that they'll have to cut salaries or cut personnel, or possibly both.
1) positions were going away very quickly
2) the positions that remained were having their pay cut
I'm seeing it where I work as well. There's at least talk of cuts to contractor personnel. Some companies do their best not to let people go - they find them jobs elsewhere - but if they're losing contracts and contract positions, it only makes sense that they'll have to cut salaries or cut personnel, or possibly both.
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SGT Steven Montgomery
I work on the business end of getting all you folks your contractor personnel (DLA Contracting Services Office) and I sometimes wonder what the civilians working for the government/DoD do other than manage their contractor personnel and make sure the work gets done!!! It is rampant in my opinion. That may be true for the military as well but we support DoD Civilian offices supporting the military.
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CW5 (Join to see)
So, SGT Steven Montgomery, as you're a civilian working for DoD, I assume you don't actually work? You just manage your contractor personnel? Nice.
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SGT Steven Montgomery
We have ZERO Contractor Personnel - thank you very much and the stress and pressure to support all the offices we support in both DLA and OSD are unbelievable - the sky is falling if they don't have their contractor support!!! Been doing this too long and have seen it too much for anyone to cnvince me otherwise - some offices actually ask for (and get) admin support that I'm sure brings them their coffee, takes their dry cleaning in, etc. and there is no one who is above the law!! Personal services are against the law folks - who doesn't understand?
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CW5 (Join to see)
Oh, come on, SGT Steven Montgomery, there may be an exception or two out there, but I doubt that people are asking contractors to get coffee or dry cleaning. That's stretching it a bit, Sarge.
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The talent market is already overflowing with folks looking for work. The military exodus, while a stiff injection of talent into the civilian workforce, may not have as significant of an impact as one might think in the way of numbers. Remember, a very small percentage of the American population volunteers for service. The biggest difference is, separating service members are typically more skilled. There's no shortage of people looking for jobs of which the supply fluctuates with market conditions as it always has. I'll admit, I'm not strongly versed in the happenings within the world of contracting but they know as well as us that a huge chunk of their talent comes straight from the military, many of who right now are willing to settle for less financially in order to simply secure a position.
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SSgt B Mac
As mentioned maybe I have a little tunnel vision from my perspective. In the Intel Community most of our civilian jobs will be filled by prior military. I only mention contracting to give first hand experience.
From where I sit, I'm seeing salaries cut in half, positions disappearing,44 to 4. The 1LT that sat next to me a couple months ago is now looking for a job. I understand my position is secure while there is still a presence in Afghanistan, contracting is temporary. Is anyone else seeing this trend in their career fields regardless of DOD Civilian, Defense Contractor or other private sectors? Law enforcement, medical, finance?
From where I sit, I'm seeing salaries cut in half, positions disappearing,44 to 4. The 1LT that sat next to me a couple months ago is now looking for a job. I understand my position is secure while there is still a presence in Afghanistan, contracting is temporary. Is anyone else seeing this trend in their career fields regardless of DOD Civilian, Defense Contractor or other private sectors? Law enforcement, medical, finance?
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SSG Gabriel Lord, MHRD
It's awesome having your perspective on this. Mine has been mostly on the state of employment for veterans in the private and non-profit world stateside. It's not surprising that contractors are taking advantage of the situation, it's what they do and they won't exist if they aren't making money like everyone else.
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I think we are coming off of nearly 20 years of continuous technical advances made in military systems. That lead to highly technical military members and supporting contractors. Now as the numbers begin to decrease, the number of highly skilled people in the market is soaring and that is driving salaries downward. We are currently recruiting for blue collar apprentices in the aviation industry and one of the top southern California schools' Dean asked me why we would want to take on apprentices and pay for years of training when we could get skilled journey level candidates right off the street who are willing to work at the lowest entry level wages. This is just one example of how abundance drives pricing.
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