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Phillip Slaughter left the army after 18 years and discovered a task similar to the one he had in uniform: the wheel of a truck. Instead of towing food and bullets through war zones, he carried packages for FedEx.
That’s not what I was looking to do. The pictures bothered his post-traumatic stress disorder. It will take you 3 years and several jobs before landing in your ideal position as a sourcing recruiter for a generation company.
“I think this is the first assignment I’ve worked on 10 months straight to quit smoking,” said Slaughter, 41, who lives in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Slaughter is a veteran of the U. S. Army. A U. S. citizen who discovered a task he loves at a time when the country is experiencing one of the lowest monthly unemployment rates on record. years of painting unsatisfying tasks, while forging a new identity and a goal beyond serving his country.
“Even though (veteran unemployment) is low, I’m interested in seeing a survey of how many other people are satisfied with the position they’re in,” said Slaughter, who also runs his own consulting firm for other veterinarians.
Veterans make up about 7 percent of the civilian population, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Its unemployment rate could help gauge the country’s efforts to help the former army workforce, experts say. You can also reflect on the military and how it works. Prepare the body of workers for departure. High veteran unemployment is not smart for recruitment.
For this Veterans Day, a handful of veterans talked about their reports looking for paintings at a time when the unemployment rate for veterans is so low. For some, it was easy, but others struggled.
Pierson Gest, a former Army infantryman, landed his first postmilitary assignment in August as a hydroelectric designer in California.
Gest joined the Great Recession, knowing she would end up going to school with the GI Bill. Starting school in 2017 was tricky at first, as he developed exam habits. But he took the initiative and graduated as an engineer in June.
“I was lucky enough to negotiate a six-figure salary,” said Gest, 37, who lives outside San Francisco. “And I definitely used and leveraged my experience in the military to negotiate that salary in addition to my college degree. “
All over Florida, Thomas Holmes is looking for his dream job.
Holmes, 46, left the Air Force in 2012 after 17 years maintaining parachute systems for various types of aircraft, from F-15 fighter jets to U-2 spy planes.
He said the only full-time job he had, in the billing and claims branch of a warehouse, was toxic. He resigned after about 18 months.
Holmes used the GI Bill to earn three degrees, plus a master’s degree in sports management. He discovered part-time jobs in the industry, but emerging fuel costs and the need for more normal hours led him to work at a nearby UPS store.
“I’ve implemented for a lot of jobs — county jobs, in-state jobs, all kinds of things,” said Holmes, who lives outside Tampa. for his service. ‘”
Jayla Hair’s transition from military to civilian paralegal has not been easy, despite having a bachelor’s degree in the area and skills that seem transferable.
Hair, 30, said he performed about 300 tasks in eight months. After enlisting the help of a Navy program and friends, Hair checked out his resume and assignment interviews popped up after all. But prospective employers cited their lack of fun with state legislation and civil courts.
Hair has accepted transient jobs in the legal area and recently landed a full-time position as a paralegal for a Fortune 500 firm in the Chicago area.
“Having my experience in the military wasn’t enough,” said Hair, who plans to pursue a law degree in the future. “If it wasn’t for me having those temporary jobs to build my civilian resume, I don’t know where I would be now. “
Hair got his job at a time when veteran unemployment was falling greatly. The annual unemployment rate for veterans dropped from 8. 7 percent in 2010 to 3. 1 percent in 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last year, after a spike boosted during the coronavirus pandemic, the annual rate was 4. 4%. But the seasonally adjusted monthly percentage in March was 2. 4, hailed by President Joe Biden as tied with the lowest rate on record. August also reached this mark.
The tight hard work market and demand for personnel after the coronavirus pandemic is likely one of the points of low unemployment rates for veterans, Jeffrey B said. Wenger, a senior policy researcher at the Rand Corp. But so have the U. S. military’s significant efforts. The U. S. Department of Health in recent years, Canadian Veterans Affairs and veterans service organizations have been able to provide assistance to outgoing military members.
Training, like resume writing, is now mandatory, and U. S. corporations have introduced projects to rent thousands of veterinarians.
Many of those corporations grew out of the Great Recession and the abundance of hard-pressed military workers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, which “brought the veterans employment crisis to a boiling point,” Wenger said.
“And over the last 10 to 15 years, other people have invested more and more resources and become more and more committed to solving this problem,” Wenger said.
Among them is Transition Overwatch, a company that manages professional learning systems across the country. CEO Sean Ofeldt said the company focuses on what service members should do as civilians, what they do or the skills they learned in the military.
“A lot of other people in the military don’t want to keep doing what they were doing,” said Ofeldt, a former Navy SEAL. want for the first 12 months. “
But the formula for supporting veterans will have to surround more than just a job. He also wants to focus on social challenges, said Karl Hamner, an education professor at the University of Alabama.
Veterans would possibly feel alienated after losing their tribe of army colleagues. Hamner said the new knowledge indicates the loss could be particularly acute for women, as they formed strong bonds with others while navigating in a male-dominated army.
In a forthcoming national survey of 4700 female veterans by Hamner and colleagues, 70% said it was difficult to adjust to civilian life; 71% said they needed more time to perceive what they were looking to do.
“They had to dedicate themselves to a career that was valued and highly valued,” Hamner said. “And now they’re back trying to figure out what it means to be a civilian woman and deal with all the popular discriminatory things. “
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