Don't Get Intimidated by the Job Search Process
May 6, 2008
"The first interview, I was pretty scared, but I had dealt with senior officers while in the military and this was no different ..."
I retired in December 2004 with no clue as to what I was going to do. I highly recommend going through TAP [Transition Assistance Program] there is a lot of good information to be had even if you use it or not. I already knew where I was going to retire so finding a place to live was my first concern, family and friends helped here which made this part of my transition real easy.
The first thing that I did once I got settled in to our new home was to look at the area and see what jobs were available. At first I was going to sit down and write my own resume but after a couple of failed attempts I decided to have a company do one for me, it cost me about $250. It was probably the best thing that I did.
I finally decided to start putting my resume online and also went to a job fair at the local Americal Legion, plus I went to local businesses and dropped it off in person. During this time I went through some depression and really missed the military way of life.
I was so used to doing things a certain way for 22 years. Then, I heard of an opening at a local company, so I went in a dropped off a resume and talked to the receptionist and she said that they would contact me for an interview soon. The following week I was called for an interview, I had a total of 3 interviews before I was hired.
The first interview, I was pretty scared, but I had dealt with senior officers while in the military and this was no different, once I had that in mind the interviews went really well. Remember: Do not talk too much you may talk yourself out of a job. This is where I believe my resume worked well for me as most of the questions came directly from what was in the content.
I was hired on the third interview for a much higher position then I had applied for and at a much higher pay by twice what I had asked for. Going back through it all my resume was probably the number one thing that got me hired. One of the hardest things is the people out in th e Civilian job sector are not Military, and it gets hard dealing with them sometimes.
(Submitted by Mr. Simon Kettering, Jr.)
