Alan J. Zell ⋅ Portland , OR Attitudes for Selling ⋅ 29 years experience

Michael, Not knowing what you've done in the service other than shooting a gun (not much need in business for that) most likely you've done lots of things for which you've gained skills. Since what businesses buy are skills, the task is to begin to filter out businesses that cannot use these skills. Here is my suggestion of how to do this.

On a sheet of paper, divide it into a LH and RH columns. In the LH column list your skills -- those that could be applied to things non-military.

In the RH columsn, list all those business or types or business you thing(?) may be able to use those skills. Before going any further, begin to do some research to the firms that would fall into each category of types of business. You can use the Yellow pages or go on the web for more specific information so that you would be eliminating some in the RH column.

The next step is to begin to drawing lines from each skill to business types or businesses in the RH column. For others who have done this exercise, they find certain firms or types of businesses have the most lines in front of their listing. Those with the fewest can be eliminated.

From here, beging to do in-depth investigation on each as this will, again, filter out some. But, it will give you the types of businesses or names of businesses that you can look for work.

This format is not a guarentee that it will get you a job but it will lead you in a direction that would be open to taking to you.

Alan

Paul Trejo ⋅ Austin , TX University of Texas at Austin ⋅ 40 years experience

Michael, the labor market in the USA is quite a bit different than it was 30 years ago, the last time you had a chance to examine it.

Many if not most US factories have moved to China (though ownership and Executive direction still occurs in the USA). Retail outlets have a new tendency to specialize, so technical expertise in their line of retail is always valued.

Sales never goes out of style -- though the Internet is an increasingly big player in Sales. Advertising also appears to be slowly migrating to the Internet and other social media.

HR (Human Resources) is still very much a local job and rarely outsourced -- it seems to me that a military man would be a good fit there, especially if one has MP experience, Security experience or any Psychology or Intel background.

Also, whatever company you join, become a stockholder as soon as possible, and never let go; it makes a noticable difference over the years.

An often overlooked newer field, Quality Assurance, is picking up steam in larger companies that can afford it. Technical requirements are less than for software developers, for example, but companies might value their QA departments more than their technical departments, because the QA departments deliver better products -- that's the perception.

Finally, finance and accounting never go out of style. They are very difficult to outsource; one must be intimately familiar with all aspects of internal books, and one must be trusted like a member of the family. So, if you have any finance background, make the most of it.

Also, bear in mind that 25% of the GNP goes through the Tax system, and Tax Accounting is guaranteed security; not merely individual Tax forms (though that's always a ready sideline), but Corporate Taxes are always in need of a sharp eye. If you have any inkling in this direction, get a paralegal degree in your spare time (presuming you aren't already a lawyer) and add as much Legal weight as possible to your Tax Accounting credentials, and you're sure to go far.

Best wishes, sir.
--Paul

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco , CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

Michael,
The next step might be to explore what you WANT to do next and set some goals. Do you have thoughts on what you might like to do next?

Some of the advice in these discussions might be helpful:
https://acp-advisornet.org/questions/topic/self-assessment

FRANCIS TEPEDINO, ESQ. ⋅ San Diego , CA THE CONDOR GROUP ⋅ 30 years experience

First, that you would pose that question bothers me. After all your experience, all your training.

Snap to attention.

Feel good about yourself and your status in life. Look at the range and extent of your training and experience. What did you do? What did you like to do? At what did you excell?

There are a host of opportunities in the civilian work place that need the kind of dedication and training, and "Can-do" attitude which vets like you have. Step back, take a breath, and type up four different resumes emphasizing some portion of your background. Put them in a drawer for two days and then go back and review and rewrite them. Then start your search. Good luck. Stay tough.

Former Naval Officer who relied on Chiefs to get the job done..

Bob Abrams ⋅ Buffalo Grove , IL Hewlett Packard ⋅ 20 years experience

You will likely discover that just about everyone will counsel you in a different direction regarding a career path. The good news is that you are still young enough to take on a new profession. You might want to look into tests and surveys that you can take that will provide indicators for the type of work that you should (or should not) pursue. Most of the advice I received in the past from relatives and friends turned out to be a waste of time. However, I recently spoke with a man that was in the military, and eventually became a very successful real estate agent for the past 46 years. He likes the work and will retire when he decides to stop, and not due to corporate layoffs or downsizing.