NAVAL OFFICER TO CIVILIAN LIFE

[Pags]

I believe you're living somewhat in the past with this one.

With today's society there is a lot of lip service paid to TYFYS but that is about it. Many corporations see military officers as too rigid. In the past, there were many well paying jobs that were strictly supervising/managing that did not require a lot of technical expertise. Former military officers excelled in these positions but unfortunately they are becoming fewer every years.

From my former officer friends that weren't pilots or that were pilots not going the civilian flying root, those with good technical skills (supply, IT, nukes, etc.( go good jobs quickly. Those that had a non-technical degree and did the basic SWO or pilot stuff (for nonflying civilian job route) had a much harder time many times accepting a lesser job than they were seeking. The technically skilled said it was the skill that got them the job, not being an officer. Both agreed that taken by itself, being a military officer was at best a tie breaker.

I am not, of course, talking about the defense industry were the prerequisite for the is military service.

Since I never sought a job outside the airlines/flying, I'll admit this is not first hand information based on personal experience. But It's based on the experiences of a good number of people I served with.

Even the defense industry isnt a slam dunk. All depends on the job, company, and experience they're looking for.

 

[Sonog]

What it comes down to is that in transitioning from the military to civilian world, you are a "dual changer". You're changing both your field (most likely) and function. No matter how legit your current job is, that transition is inevitably going to lead to less pay amongst other challenges.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

You could go nuke and get valuable psychology experience by observing your coworkers.

So very true.......

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I believe you're living somewhat in the past with this one.

With today's society there is a lot of lip service paid to TYFYS but that is about it. Many corporations see military officers as too rigid. In the past, there were many well paying jobs that were strictly supervising/managing that did not require a lot of technical expertise. Former military officers excelled in these positions but unfortunately they are becoming fewer every years.

From my former officer friends that weren't pilots or that were pilots not going the civilian flying root, those with good technical skills (supply, IT, nukes, etc.( go good jobs quickly. Those that had a non-technical degree and did the basic SWO or pilot stuff (for nonflying civilian job route) had a much harder time many times accepting a lesser job than they were seeking. The technically skilled said it was the skill that got them the job, not being an officer. Both agreed that taken by itself, being a military officer was at best a tie breaker.

I am not, of course, talking about the defense industry were the prerequisite for the is military service.

Since I never sought a job outside the airlines/flying, I'll admit this is not first hand information based on personal experience. But It's based on the experiences of a good number of people I served with.

There is some truth to this, and knowing other recruiters in a variety of industries there are many other reasons besides being rigid, some managers want employees that just say yes and do what they are told, others don't want people working for them that may be older and have more experience than they do. It just comes down to the HM and what they perceive.

The thing that gets me are the guys that get out of the military get jobs as military relations reps/recruiters/whatever for companies give big talks at career fairs, or post on LinkedIn things like "contact me for questions" but then when you try to ask them a question it is either crickets or they say "go look on our website".

 

[MIDNJAC]

No matter how legit your current job is, that transition is inevitably going to lead to less pay amongst other challenges.

I agree with the rest, but I think this might be a little bit pessimistic. Most of the folks I know who went non-airlines (myself included) made a decent amount more on day 1.....or in some cases, a whole lot more. Granted a lot of those folks also went to fancy MBA programs in between, and I really just got lucky being the right guy at the right time without the Ivy League MBA. I think maybe a more accurate statement would be that a guy or gal who gets out after a few years and doesn't walk away with uniquely transferrable skills (read: more than just being a JO DivO on USS Boat) is probably not as competitive as they might once have been, or would have expected to be today. But there are lots of scenarios and many still lead to a better paycheck.

 

[Pags]

I agree with the rest, but I think this might be a little bit pessimistic. Most of the folks I know who went non-airlines (myself included) made a decent amount more on day 1.....or in some cases, a whole lot more. Granted a lot of those folks also went to fancy MBA programs in between, and I really just got lucky being the right guy at the right time without the Ivy League MBA. I think maybe a more accurate statement would be that a guy or gal who gets out after a few years and doesn't walk away with uniquely transferrable skills (read: more than just being a JO DivO on USS Boat) is probably not as competitive as they might once have been, or would have expected to be today. But there are lots of scenarios and many still lead to a better paycheck.

If you have the right skills you can certainly walk into something make same or more. But if you're a guy with a BS in criminology who's last job was being a watch officer on some staff somewhere and your only special skill is "former JO" then it might be a tougher transition.

 

[HAL Pilot]

Most of the folks I know who went non-airlines (myself included) made a decent amount more on day 1.....or in some cases, a whole lot more.

You went to work for a defense contractor looking for a specific skill (F/A-18 flying). What about the rest of the folks you're alluding too? Did they go to defense contractors too? If not, did they get their job based on a skill set they had or based on being a former officer?

 

[MIDNJAC]

You went to work for a defense contractor looking for a specific skill (F/A-18 flying). What about the rest of the folks you're alluding too? Did they go to defense contractors too? If not, did they get their job based on a skill set they had or based on being a former officer?

You are correct. But that is sort of what I meant with respect to the absolutism I originally quoted. If you look in the right places that play to your expertise, there are good jobs to be had. But you need the expertise first. Same could be said for any 121 job (that expertise being an ATP/competitive hrs/etc). The vast majority of folks I know who didn't go airlines went to east coast finance firms. I wouldn't say they got the jobs because they were former officers, but they did get into places like HBS/etc precisely because they were basically of one of two walks of life.....former active duty fighter pilots or former SEALs. My friends being the former. And those MBA programs and the networking involved were the reason they got the jobs.

 

[HAL Pilot]

You are correct. But that is sort of what I meant with respect to the absolutism I originally quoted. If you look in the right places that play to your expertise, there are good jobs to be had. But you need the expertise first. Same could be said for any 121 job (that expertise being an ATP). The vast majority of folks I know who didn't go airlines went to east coast finance firms. I wouldn't say they got the jobs because they were former officers, but they did get into places like HBS/etc precisely because they were basically of one of two walks of life.....former active duty fighter pilots or former SEALs. My friends being the former. And those MBA programs and the networking involved were the reason they got the jobs.

Which leads back to my original post in response to this:

Former commissioned officer = mucho extra credit points.

I believe you're living somewhat in the past with this one.....many more words....

 

[MIDNJAC]

Which leads back to my original post in response to this:

Agreed......I think we are saying the same thing in different ways. I just meant that it doesn't have to be a pay cut.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

You went to work for a defense contractor looking for a specific skill (F/A-18 flying). What about the rest of the folks you're alluding too? Did they go to defense contractors too? If not, did they get their job based on a skill set they had or based on being a former officer?

funny story, many years ago Boeing had or still has a military to civilian skill converter, I put in supervisory nuke, recruiter and CCC NEC, ESWS and EAWS and what came out was .............. F/A-18 test pilot so either their military to civilian skill converter was broken or Boeing is saying I was an underachiever and their computer believed I had much more potential LOL

 

[AllAmerican75]

funny story, many years ago Boeing had or still has a military to civilian skill converter, I put in supervisory nuke, recruiter and CCC NEC, ESWS and EAWS and what came out was .............. F/A-18 test pilot so either their military to civilian skill converter was broken or Boeing is saying I was an underachiever and their computer believed I had much more potential LOL

Here you go: https://jobs.boeing.com/military-skills-translator

Most of the big defense contractors have something similar.

As a current college student I want to go through OCS and get out in 4 or 5 years. Is there a large market for good paying civilian jobs if I do SWO? I want to get into psychology or business later on in my life , what communities or jobs would be good to do in the navy?

Here's the thing about the SWO community: Like infantrymen, it does not translate well to the civilian world. Even if you wanted to get into the merchant mariner world, you'd be hard pressed to rack up the necessary certifications and underway time to get qualified for your mate's license. You will need to do a lot of extra work to get that license because the Navy and SWO community trains for very different skillsets than being a full-time mariner. That said, Military Sealift Command does take a lot of SWOs after they hop off active duty and you still get reserve credit and pay.

If you want to go into business, barring any special skillsets or education you already have, you will likely have a fair amount of managerial experience that you can sell to a potential employer and qualify for entry-level management training programs and maybe even entry-level management positions. These aren't guaranteed but if you work with the various headhunter agencies, they can likely get you in. I've heard these programs can be a real mixed bag, often sticking you in shitty jobs to "build life experience" and weed out the people who aren't fully committed to the company. Be advised that the headhunters get paid for filling the empty job openings so they may not be completely honest about how great of a "fit" you are for the job and vice versa.

If you want to go into psychology and serve your country, I would highly recommend you start preparing to enter a PhD program and look into joining the Navy as a Medical Service Corps officer to be a Navy shrink on either active or reserve duty.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Here you go: https://jobs.boeing.com/military-skills-translator

Most of the big defense contractors have something similar.



Here's the thing about the SWO community: Like infantrymen, it does not translate well to the civilian world. Even if you wanted to get into the merchant mariner world, you'd be hard pressed to rack up the necessary certifications and underway time to get qualified for your mate's license. You will need to do a lot of extra work to get that license because the Navy and SWO community trains for very different skillsets than being a full-time mariner. That said, Military Sealift Command does take a lot of SWOs after they hop off active duty and you still get reserve credit and pay.

If you want to go into business, barring any special skillsets or education you already have, you will likely have a fair amount of managerial experience that you can sell to a potential employer and qualify for entry-level management training programs and maybe even entry-level management positions. These aren't guaranteed but if you work with the various headhunter agencies, they can likely get you in. I've heard these programs can be a real mixed bag, often sticking you in shitty jobs to "build life experience" and weed out the people who aren't fully committed to the company. Be advised that the headhunters get paid for filling the empty job openings so they may not be completely honest about how great of a "fit" you are for the job and vice versa.

If you want to go into psychology and serve your country, I would highly recommend you start preparing to enter a PhD program and look into joining the Navy as a Medical Service Corps officer to be a Navy shrink on either active or reserve duty.

That looks like their new version, they probably redid it after having a bunch of nukes applying to be test pilots!

If anything it gave us all at the NRD a good laugh.

 

[zippy]

As a current college student I want to go through OCS and get out in 4 or 5 years. Is there a large market for good paying civilian jobs if I do SWO? I want to get into psychology or business later on in my life , what communities or jobs would be good to do in the navy?

You’ll be set up fine to go to grad school when you get out after your first tour or two. Advanced degrees are pretty much a requirement to get into psychology and business world. The military background will help you get into a better grad school where the competition for admissions is tough.


Most of my friends from liberal arts backgrounds had to go back to school to break ihe 6 figure earnings unless they got into a government job.

My friends with hard science/engineering backgrounds were able to get out and get into industry with their undergraduate degree and military experience pretty easily.

 

[taxi1]

You’ll be set up fine to go to grad school when you get out after your first tour or two. Advanced degrees are pretty much a requirement to get into psychology and business world. The military background will help you get into a better grad school where the competition for admissions is tough.

If you aren't going to use your GI Bill for your kids, then grad school is a great way to put it to work. If you can get an assistantship and then do reserves while grabbing the GI Bill benefits, you won't starve. You can use the campus recruiting to help get hired.