Liz Campanelli ⋅ East Brunswick , NJ Johnson & Johnson ⋅ 25 years experience

Hi Michal,
Many thanks for your time and service. I agree that you should engage yourself in what you're interested in. Your degree in criminal justice can go a long way to working a small security role in a department store to a larger role within government or corporate sectors. Reach out to the college's job placement department and inquire there about possible roles. Engage yourself in job fairs when possible and always have a "current" resume ready. Include your education with estimated graduate date. Then change that date as soon as you receive your degree. Make a list of what you really want in a job and review it often, change it up and develop what your goals are. Once you keep this list available to you, you can easily sell yourself on what it is you would like to do. These lists stabilize goals and career dreams. If you have a resume you would like me to review, I would be happy to help. Hope this all helps.

Regards,

Liz Campanelli
www.campscreations.com

Jeff Shoemaker ⋅ Lake In The Hills , IL Colorado Technical University ⋅ 20 years experience

Michal,
Do what your interested in and enjoy. Your military experience has provided you with many transferable skills for any profession even CJ such as able to communicate with diverse cultures, problem solving, observation, etc. If you are interested in CJ your veteran status will certainly help with gov. employment, check out usajobs.gov and look at Dept. of Criminal Justice, Dept.of Corrections, TSA, Custom Border Patrol (big hiring initiative for SW and West coast) and for private industry look at companies such as Keypoint, G4S, AlliedBarton all have gov. programs and recruit vets for their contracts

barbara hawes ⋅ Brielle , NJ Aflac ⋅ 28 years experience

Hi Michal,
Short story but to reassure you- when I was a kid, I tagged along with my father to his college reuion. After meeting a number of his cohorts, it's a fair conclusion to say that few worked in a career that had anything to do with their major. Looking through my own college class notes, the same applies.
You have (or will have) a college degree and military experience. Both are wonderful accomplishments requiring such qualities as dedication, tenacity, discipline, and intelligence. Go toward what you love to do, and keep looking for the next step forward in your career. It's a path you create, not a pigeon-hole.

Emanuel Carpenter ⋅ Alpharetta , GA SDR Master Class ⋅ 20 years experience

Experience counts more than your degree. So get real-world experience in whatever it is you want to do, even if you have to volunteer or work at an entry level.

Find free or inexpensive courses online in the field you really want to be in. Lynda.com, Coursera, Udemy, and Udacity are examples.

There are tons of professionals who work in fields that are unrelated to their degrees. Of course there are exceptions like doctors, lawyers, and teachers.

Many employers only care that you have a degree at all. It shows discipline and the ability to be coachable.

Mark Isaacs ⋅ Shelbyville , KY Lexington (KY) Fire Dept ⋅ 18 years experience

It's not terribly important. What's important is your Education, Training and experience as a whole . You've proven to prospective employers that you have physical , mental and the cognitive ability to be further trained, and be a productive component to their system . Any public safety agency would be better , with you as an employee... ( Police, Fire, EMS, SO...etc).. The fields are young and need mature leaders...

Michael Bell ⋅ Houston , TX U.S. Army National Guard, Sergeant ⋅ 10 years served

I guess it just depends on your priority. For me, very important. It took me 5 long years to get my 2 year degree and I've been in the field now for 20. However, I might have to rethink my priorities for I've not found a job since I got out in 2010.

Laurence Schnabel ⋅ Templeton , CA Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP ⋅ 45 years experience

Consider a job as an investigator in a county District atty's office with the goal of then going to law school. A law degree opens up lots of pathways, including being a prosecutor or a criminal defense atty. If you do decide to go to law school, go to an
ABA accredited law school , and one with a very good ranking in U.S. News & World Report. I graduated from UCLA Law School, then learned how to try cases as a deputy District Atty in the Los Angeles County District attys office. Once I had a considerable amount of jury trial experience, I joined a large civil law firm in Los Angeles and ended up represetning companies like Chevron, Abbot Laboratories, The Sherwin-Williams Co. and other large companies . I remained in the Reserves as a JAGC officer and ended up as a CDR. Larry Schnabel, USMCR-R 1963-6, USNR-R 19966-84

Barry Sosnick ⋅ Greenlawn , NY Great Whites Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics ⋅ 5 years experience

I have a liberal arts degree. I worked in political polling, investment banking and now own a dental practice. In many fields, the degree is a rite of passage, but does not lock you into a certain career.

Do not think of skills in terms of tasks, but responsibilities. Your skill wasn't changing parts on a plane, for example. It was someone trusting you to maintain a complex system and valuable asset (both pilot and aircraft) in a timely manner. You worked alongside other people, which demonstrates you are a team player. Think along those lines.

Ideally, you can quantify your accomplishments. For example:

"Before I took over, it took three days to turn around a plane (I have no idea how long it really takes). I cut that by a third, get the plane ready in two days. I accomplished this by streamlining the process and getting everyone to coordinate their activities better than before."

Doing something similar to this makes your accomplishments feel more tangible. It also gets managers thinking, "wow, if this person can do the same thing here, my costs (or revenue) will increase XX%."

I hope this helps! Best of luck!

Darlene Casstevens ⋅ Oxford , NC Liberty University ⋅ 13 years experience

Hi Michal,
It really should not matter what discipline you chose to do your undergraduate degree in. The important thing is that you finished your Bachelors's degree. With your degree plus your military experience, you should be able to get a good job in whatever field you choose.
Darlene

Duke Khadan Sawh ⋅ Keyport , NJ CECOM, Department of Defense ⋅ 25 years experience

Hi Michal,

Complementing the responses above, there are jobs out there in the CJ field but limited to county police departments, crime labs and some state police departments or a federal agency. If your curriculum covers Microscopy Techniques – Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM), Kohler Illumination, Optical Crystallography (conoscopic), Stereomicroscope, Comparison Microscope, Microphotographs. Analysis Experience – Fibers, Crystals, Minerals, Blood (identification, typing, species of origin), Physiological Fluids (identification, species of origin), Explosive compounds, Glass (refractive index, density), Paint chips, then it is possible to get an internship with one of those agencies listed above or alternatively assist in crime lab investigations, accidents etc.

A well formatted resume can be the most important asset in your job search so if you have a resume which you would like looked at, you can send it to me with a list of potential jobs areas that interest you and I will be happy to look over your resume. Good Luck.

Omar Sultan ⋅ Elk Grove , CA Cisco ⋅ 25 years experience

I fid that unless you get into something like accounting, it does not matter all that much. The thing to bear in mind is most (good) hiring managers will hire a candidate who is going to have to stretch to meet the requirements of the job--if the job is not challenging to them, they will get bored and that created a problem for everybody. The trick is to be able to take the underlying skills you picked up both working on F/18s and with your degree and help the hiring manger see who they are applicable for the job you are apply for. For example, if your work on the F/18s needed you to be super-methodical or develop strong analytical skills to do troubleshooting then lead with things like that.

Mark Hannah ⋅ Incline Village , NV Hannah Business Intelligence Solutions, Inc. ⋅ 22 years experience

I agree with Emanuel Carpenter, its not "what" paper you have or the alphabet after your name or pedigree, its "how" you can utilize the skills that you gained in achieving that credential, add your military experience, and demonstrating you can put it into practice with work artifacts or relevant scenarios. Every organization has problems, inform them "what" you would do to "assist" in removing obstacles, if necessary lightly say "how" you would achieve it. Herd mentality is devastating to many facets of life, particularly investing, so its not any form of insurance to go government for employment or pursue a degree that one could have felt pressured to gain for herd false security mentality (some folks can relate). Michal you have the most valuable and proprietary soft and hard skills/experience regardless of degree if you mesh the journey you've endured and articulate to an employer, customer, your prowess, etc.
But the impetus why were here, to answer your question and share the "how"... I will share my little story...honestly I assumed law enforcement or real estate (peak of bubble in '07), anything similar to a cliche "aggressive Marine" would be the ideal transition to. The first thing I did was go back to school, one that was cost effective (GiBill) and opened the "social" network...key to employment these days (world is flat and companies are moving to near-shore Mexico from ChIndia so be mindful)...I started a Veteran Student Organization at SJSU and took interest in following the paths of three enlisted warriors making the "transition" successfully (back in '"07); these two other enlisted buddies both majored CJ. I went Business as I clearly knew I had peerless Managerial and Leadership experience compared to the incompetence I continually see in corporate even today. I concentrated in technology as I'm a proud gamer and geek who loves to create cool ways of doing things "better" which naturally in corporate will cut costs or make revenue with minimal political BS, both ROI for me. The leverage was I had access to Silicon Valley leaders via my professors and have a culture who admires "innovative" ability verse good ol boy pedigree BS as money talks not talking heads. My buddies now? one is a police officer and doing well with many crazy stories to share over coffee, the other stayed awhile in school and earned an MS in CJ, now working on a PhD and is a veteran coordinator at our university (he created the job and thankfully so as we tag team in helping vets transition successfully). For me, I can't complain other than I miss the Corps and the good times, business is too good, working on two secret startups with huge potential, Facebook interview for next contract, writing a book, and a 9to5 today co-designing software which recently sold to a single customer for $10mil for my client...not bad for someone who started out issuing canteens, counting cots, police call, and cleaning weapons. Hence we've achieved our goals and honestly "enjoy" waking up in the morning doing what we "love". In summary, do what you truly love AND are good at, account for economics (supply & demand) and both market and educate yourself always, you naturally will succeed from having the inherent Marine traits, characteristics, and core values you've learned. Here's a confidence booster and statistical fact, Marines are unable to quit, we may take things slow for awhile or get knocked down but we rise harder, faster, and people will either lead, follow, or get out of the way of us so do what you were trained to do, lead. Feel free to connect with me on Linkedin, I've a broad network that can map you to people who can guide you in your next career. - Mark Hannah