A) Bitching about having to do physical labor, won't endear you to anyone.

B) Are you applying to jobs, for which you are suited, or for which you'd "like" to be suited?

C) TMK, everyone is hiring, unless they offer very highly paid, work from home, minimal stress and consequence work - and I'm not sure what that is.

D) Do you have a plan for your own life? I'm trying to hire middle management right now, and one of the largest failures I see on the part of applicants is showing how working for me, furthers their career goals.

quote:

Got an offer to work construction in the field

Why aren't you there yet? Assuming the people aren't complete dicks, why not take it and build on it? Become indispensable to them and get raises. After you learn the ins and outs of the business, you could work into a supervisory position. As a military officer - which is not a small achievement in itself - you already have experience riding herd on young and boisterous men. It could conceivably lead one day to your own business. Construction does have boom and bust times, so be sure to save your boom money for the occasional busts.

quote:

I'm about a month away from selling my car …

For Christ's sake, don't do that. A car to drive to whatever work you get is a necessity of modern life.

It has already been pointed out, in this as well as past threads (yes, I read them), but I'll say it again. Don't take negative waves with you to an interview.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:

It has already been pointed out, in this as well as past threads (yes, I read them), but I'll say it again. Don't take negative waves with you to an interview.

Very important advice. Desperation and any other negative feelings stink up the air that is readily sniffed by job interviewers and first dates. Ask me how I know.

quote:

Yet I can't even get an interview in a professional level job.

Unless you are seeking positions you are clearly not qualified for education and experience seem unlikely as the problem. By deduction, something else is. You need to determine what the problem/issue is that may be holding you back and focus and work on resolving that. Have you talked to any recruiters? They may be able to help you with this.

Can you get a friend or acquaintance who has done hiring in the past to do a mock interview with you? If you can't even get an interview, that won't help. But if you have and things haven't worked out, maybe getting some feedback would help. A lady at the church I attended wasn't getting hired after a layoff. She had the qualifications. Since I've done hiring, I was asked to do a mock interview and critique it. I had several suggestions for her. She was unintentionally throwing off a defeated vibe during the interview. This has been mentioned before. She had an OK but in my view weak answer to question about what value she would bring to the agency I worked for. I had suggestions for her about eye contact, posture and some of the responses she gave to questions.

Who knows if it was me, but she was hired two weeks later and she did tell me she was convinced I did help her. I think most people can accurately determine their own strengths and weaknesses, but sometimes there is something about yourself that you don't see. I'm sure that's true about me.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:


Yet I can't even get an interview in a professional level job.

Having read many hundreds of resumes ( and cover letters ) ... I am wondering if this is your stumbling block. Many resumes poorly written and formatted ( as well as not written specifically for the job applied for ) were disregarded no matter the qualification. Have someone review and edit your resume ( and cover letter ) as this document is what will, or will not, get you the interview.

Also take a look at any social media platform that you belong to as employers take a look at these too. Either close or lock them down as well as scrub those platforms clean of anything controversial no matter how small.

Wish you best sir.

Edmond, keep looking and sending resumes to the field you are trying to get into.
At 45 years old and having beat my body to death working construction (mainly concrete) I had the opportunity to go to college. Staying home and watching the kids, it took me 5 years to get an Associates and Bachelor degrees.
I soon found a job in municipal government doing Environmental permitting and Project Engineer work.
I stayed at this job for 12 years until it was time to move on and left that job at 62. Guess what, no one wants to hire you at that age. In the field I was in it was easier to hire someone out of college and pay them a lot less. I tried to get into the State Environmental Agency and could not get hired. My neighbor that was high in the Agency told me because of my age I wasn't getting hired (he wasn't supposed to tell me that was the reason).
So what did the degrees do for me:
My pay only increased slightly than my teamsters rate did. But, I was not getting beat up anymore and could choose to work in the office or go out on jobs that I was in charge of. I got to come home at night clean and not worn out at the end of the day.
In the end, I ended up taking social security at 63, collecting a small pension and now working as a substitute teacher. I make less money but have enough for my needs, bills payed 100% every month.

Bottom line, don't give up on yourself and do what you need to do to make money.

Take the masters off your resume.

Try that for a bit.

Edmond, you have four pages of guys offering advice and offering assistance. Let's hear from you.

Edmond...You don't say explicitly that HR is what you're looking for, but if so you should join up with a local chapter of SHRM. Their meetings are a roomful of people looking to hire people, and they often take care of their own for HR opportunities. That's what worked for me when I moved to a new area. If I can help you locate a chapter, feel welcome to email me.

Also, in the last decade many states have passed laws that permit private employers to adopt a voluntary Veteran's Preference policy. Talk to the workforce agency in your state about who these employers are and narrow your search.

Have looked at getting a State job.
Anything to get your foot in the door.
State employees get first shot at all state jobs as they’re internally posted first.
(In my state).

What a week it has been!

The day after I posted this, I worked my network and applied to various jobs like crazy. Spent the entire next day e-mailing, calling, and texting various people in my network. Applied at multiple jobs and contacted recruiters and/or insiders for those jobs.

Long story short is I have a job interview this week and an informational interview this week. Both are definitely lines of work I am interested in.

As for me, I have earned what I have. I'm an immigrant, I couldn't speak English until I was 6 years old. V-Tail could tell you I don't speak with an accent, either. I wasn't "given" a GI Bill, I earned it. I've left my blood and sweat in foreign countries. I've lost more vet friends at home than I did overseas. I wasn't "given" housing or an education, I earned every penny of it. Someone on welfare who votes for a living is given stuff, I worked for my stuff.

My father has said numerous times: there's no such thing as poor people in America, there's lazy people. Over generalization? Maybe but most of us would understand the message.

Had a career coach who claimed to be able to network with me all sorts of people and don't apply to any jobs at a particular company until I spoke with her. She would e-mail and tell me that we will set up a phone call tomorrow, she wouldn't call so I would call her and she wouldn't answer. Months of that happened. People who were so called friends saying they'd refer me, they let me down.

What did I do with those toxic people? I cut them out of my life. I don't need them around but I sure as hell will remember how they said they'd help when I needed help and failed me. Why? Because I will always remember that as a lesson to not let my friends down when they are in their time of need.

Like I said to a good friend of mine: friends are plenty when times are good but when times are tough is when your real friends stand up.

Many of you e-mailed me, and I thank you for that. It shows the character of so many great people on this forum.

Good luck with your interviews!

@Edmond, did you read anything people posted?

Good luck in your interviews.

Are you willing to take a low-level job somewhere just to get your foot in the door somewhere?

As we had emailed before, Lockheed Martin is looking for people in Alabama and Florida and they love to hire military especially if you have a clearance.

You may have to swallow your pride a bit and take a job that may seem "beneath you" in order to get established somewhere.

Two suggestions I read that really stand out to me are defense (military clearance) type jobs and state jobs. For long term and growth potential, I think those are uno your alley.

I'd also like to know what you think of some of these suggestions. A lot of caring members here.

Edmond.

I'll counter your dad's razor with my own.

"Almost everyone will pay another to do what they themselves cannot or will not do."

I earned a ton of money as the sole provider for myself and family for nearly 50 years.


And as much as it repulsed me, I have done everything from bathroom plumbing to executive, and even though I did not like the lower rungs of the ladder, a ladder with only a top rung is a tripping hazard.

I am going to wager your biggest issue to your getting out of the deep rut your spinning wheels have created is your unrealistic target your fixated on.

You must push aside foolish pride (ego) and focus on the pride of doing whatever it takes for yourself to move yourself.

"Binge" job hunting might give you a temporary rush because you have put in a great amount of effort, but "activity" does not equate to "accomplishment".

Look, no one, not one swinging dick, on this planet owes you anything, and you are the ultimate decision maker of your destiny.

Yes, you will need to interact with others, and "who you know and what you know" are two sides of the same coin. You have to "know" both sides to understand how each is relevant to your success.

Being a vet, you have got to understand everything I said, you have to know it. The hard part is to stop lying to yourself about with your "truth" is, and accept the real truth.

And all that I have said really comes down to looking at you and finding out what about you is resulting in every door you knock on to either be unanswered or closed in your face, and then deciding if you will change that, or accept the same thing at the next door.

All the best in your journey.

-sm

Thank you Sigmonkey.


I was about to say, he’ll be back soon.
Pride is a bear.


“Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar etts you.” ~Cowboy

Sigmonkey, that response was a helluva post and I thank you for taking the time to share that wisdom on this public forum. I hope Edmond considers your advice and the advice of others in this thread. Even if the advice is wrong in his case (which it’s probably not) it’s still great advice.

I met Edmond a few years back. He seemed like a nice guy to me, and the negativity that comes through in his posts was not evident in his in-person demeanor.

On a personal note, for many years I was angry, negative, and felt like the world owed me something. It polluted every relationship I had until I realized I was the problem, I was the common denominator in all my failures. It wasnt until I accepted that hard truth that I was able to finally look at the flawed person in the mirror and start working on ways to overcome those flaws.