I think work experience only indicates your practical knowledge and "application spectrum." It's your toolbox. The question companies have is whether you're the type of guy that'll build a birdhouse or a mansion.

Find some area you're especially interested in, get passionate about it, and make yourself an expert on it. Stay abreast of other relevant affairs to what you're doing, but have a focus. A company will take more interest if they see you feel personally invested in your work. They may redirect your energies a bit, but the important thing is that they know there's energy there. Burned-out guys aren't productive. In your own terms, find a place where your fun meter maxes out and stay there.

Also, look for and take every opportunity you can. Approach your entry into the job market like Yamamoto viewed the Pacific theater-- you can run wild for at least six months. But after that, back off a little or else risk burning yourself out or becoming a workaholic.

Become more technical. Learn how to use Photoshop, all the tricks and macros in Microsoft Office, or Google hacking. They're little things, but they stand out.

It also never hurts to survey your profession and constantly ask what the next big thing ought to be. What problems are out there? What issues need to be resolved? If there's a challenge in the workplace, don't back down from it. Spend considerable time trying to invent the thing or process that makes it better. Just because you work for the man doesn't mean you can't be the next millionaire. If nothing else, you'll at least have given yourself the right mindset for the private sector. No one wants a drone that constantly requires input. Have initiative.

It's not easy for anyone. The guys who will succeed are the ones who don't get tired of things being tough. You're a Marine, you know what I'm talking about. And that's your advantage as a vet.

Good luck.

While I was at Merrill Lynch for over thirty years we hired former Marines with enthusiasm. Merrill’s CEO was Don Regan (Pres. Reagan’s Sec. of Tsy.) and was a former Iwo Jima Marine and had a tendency to roll out the red carpet for his fellow Jarheads and that tradition was followed by his often former Marine successors.

My first boss was one of Edson’s Raider’s who served on Guadalcanal and was delighted that I actually knew who they were and what they did. Now that Merrill is owned by Bank America I don’t know if all that still applies but it is worth a try particularly for a guy with a BS in Finance.

The rational for what amounted to blatant favoritism to former Marines was that they knew how to get out of bed and work ten to twelve hours, were mission focused, accepted authority and understood the chain of command. At least in my experience they were more mature than the average candidate and I think that those characteristics probably still apply.

Suggest the Staff Sgt. check out P&G (Procter & Gamble). I'm a 33 year "veteran" (early retiree -- '08). They have always had a strong reputation for hiring military veterans; in fact, the current CEO (Bob McDonald) is a West Point grad. They are also one of the large employers who have committed to Michelle Obama's effort to hire more veterans: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/us/politics/obama-unveils-business-partnership-to-boost-military-hiring.html

Of course, times are lean and there are fewer opportunities right now, especially States-side. P&G's growth is coming from Asia, not North America and Europe. Still, worth checking out.

Finish out eight more years and get your retirement and secure TRICARE. With our economy, you'll need that half million dollars in guaranteed lifetime pay. If you're burnt out on the Corps BS, look for a slot away from the Marines, something joint or a base ops slot. Or jump into recruiting, which most Marines hate because of quotas, but then you plan to get out anyway.

Ford Motor Company-I attended a Veteran's Day event at the World HQ last week, and they did a presentation of ESGR's Freedom Award, given to the top 15 employers in the country for their support of Guard/Reserve members. I know quite a few vets and reservists who work there, blue and white collar, and they have all been very complimentary of Ford. That was borne out during a tour of one of the assembly plants, plenty of military vets whooping it up on the line when they saw us in uniform.

That said, I know quite a few vets who got the opposite treatment at Chrysler, I'd stay away from them. The difference in practices is interesting, given their relative success and failure.

I side with the others. If you were at 7-9 years I'd say get out. But you are at 12 and it ain't that much longer. If the job market was good then there might be merit in leaving now. But as the other commenters noted you will give up a golden opportunity to get that 20 yr retirement. I kick myself frequently for not staying, I am happy with my life but still wonder what the alternative might have been like.

Most critical is this, you commented "am excited about a future working for a company where I can truly feel like my efforts are helping the company succeed." There are companies like this, but they are few and far between. The grass is always greener on the other side, I assure you after 10 years in the civilian sector that you likely have a better chance of finding that kind of environment in the USMC than in the civilian market.

I have to take a dig too and say that financial people aren't the most respected right now either, you will be coming in at the bottom rung of a field that is almost universally reviled occupation. On the bright side you can take lots of other peoples money and make it your own! (just kidding)

if there isn't a way you can use your new skills, finance and HR, in the Marine Corps? As the Military begins to take small tentative steps toward getting control of it's spending The skill level of CORs are going to become much more important, they really should become their own MOS. You can acquired job specific experience that will look good on a future civilian resume and help out us taxpayer's as well.

I certainly understand the fun meter base lined; I lived that myself in a past life when I was active duty USMC. You do indeed need to listen to those above who plea for you to remain and complete 20, but that decision is obviously yours alone to make. Maybe your MOS will never put you beyond Gunny at 20, maybe a lateral transfer isn't possible, maybe recruiting is the last thing you would ever do, maybe another cycle to -Stan just won't allow your sanity and your family's sanity to survive. There is certainly a great number of reasons to punch out at 12 as there many to stay.

If you make the decision to release, know that your story is yours alone. Statistics show tough times out here in the 'real world' but that doesn't mean that you will fail. Work the problem as you have worked all the others over past 12 years. Take a look at this USMC Captain's comments:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aloysius-boyle/battlefield-to-boardroom-_b_1079886.html?org=403&org=403&lvl=100&ite=222&lea=2621&ctr=0&par=1

Good luck, work hard and SF.

Look for companies that are initiating LEAN manufacturing processes. Get your Six Sigma certification. Companies that are doing this from the onset almost need a military training atmosphere to initiate this process upon workers who are stuck in their old way of thinking. And a lot of companies are doing it.

My fun meter bottomed out after 7 years in the USMC, and I left to attend graduate school, followed by work in the Federal and private sectors. My lessons learned:
- Civilians are impressed with a USMC background, but cannot understand what it's really like. They will have expectations of your behavior that are based on what they see on TV. Just be you.
- Collaboration and egoless teamwork are essential skills, so when you get an interview, display your knowledge, but smile and ask questions, too.
- Get a LinkedIn account and slowly begin building your network of _trusted_ colleagues. It's essential in today's job market.
- The person who "gets along" will always have more power in corporate decision-making than the person who may actually have the better ideas.
- Like the USMC, never make an enemy if you can help it. Corporate politics rule.
- The transition may be difficult--was for me--but I feel that I'm doing more to help the world now than I could have if I'd stayed in. For me, that was important to my happiness.
Good luck! Semper fi!

I found the statement that a Marine SNCO has been spending the last few years preparing to separate from the Corps fascinating.

Well, I ain’t in the advice business, but I do have a suggestion to offer: don't tell any perspective employer that candid of a statement least it put ideas in someone’s gourd you'll do the same thing as an employee in their company, should your fun meter start to ebb.

Anyway, I don't wish anyone bad joss (luck), so I hope you find what you're looking for . . . life and its fun meter needle having its ups and downs and such.

I hope the foregoing didn't sound offensive, because it isn't meant to. However, if I've offended you, I’ve another suggestion: don't get pissed, reenlist.

Presuming you're Stateside, start networking in the community you're planning to settle in. If you're looking to work in Human Resources, what's the job market for HR there? Did your MOS align to "human resources" in order to get your "experience" check-off? Join LinkedIn and connect to regional industry professionals. Join the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) local chapter in your region - attend the luncheons and dinners, and swap business cards (make a generic one). Plug into the veterans network in your region and get those feelers out. Take your Post-9/11 GI Bill and get a master's degree. Finally, if you happen to be in Hampton Roads, look me up. I would be happy to consult with you and help you get tracking for transition success. Godspeed.

SSgt,

After 4 back-to-back-to-back-to-back Iraq deployments, I was exactly in your shoes. Nearly 10 years in, seeing my friends all get divorced, the ones that were still married were coming home from deployments to see their new born babies for the first time at 6 months old, and then immediately starting workups for the next deployment.

I separated from Active Duty because of all of the above and I had a strong desire to travel for a bit, which I did and I loved. But when I got to the CIV DIV to start work I quickly discovered something. With very few exceptions, most jobs out there will not give you the same satisfaction you have in the Marine Corps. As much as the harassment package gets to you, there is still a sense of being part of something bigger that being a sales manager or whatever just can't compete with.

Additionally, you will come across something commonly referred to as L.O.S.S. (Loss of status syndrome). As a SNCO you wield enormous power. As a civilian you wield none. A lot of people have a hard time with this. Being trusted with millions of dollars of equipment and numerous lives, and suddenly you aren't trusted to change the printer toner. It is a bit of change and many guys have problems with it.

I won't tell you which way to go, however if you get out, have a job you are excited about before you get out. If you are looking to maybe stay, I would look around at opportunities in the Marine Corps that will give you some change. MSG duty, MARFORCYBER, the MCIOC, hell...put in a WO package. Find a way to reinvent your career.

Personally, I am now a mobilized reservist, working in a completely different capacity than my primary MOS, and I love it. They will take me out of my current command kicking and screaming when the time comes. If I could do an active duty transition into my current job, I would in a heartbeat (FYI, unless you are a JAG, they are not allowing anyone to return to AD {DOD cuts}).

Best of luck!

Dude....now is not the time. Seriously. Go Warrant or something in the Marines, or go find an assignment you can tolerate more than your current billet, but DO NOT GET OUT.

I am serious about this. I ETS'ed in 2006, and was VERY lucky to mop up my last year of college and get into the job market pre-Economic Chernobyl. Since that time i have thanked God every day for my job, as I watch my army buddies get out of the army only to either go back in, stay in college indefinitely to "ride it out", or work at Costco.

Point being: stay in the Corps. Position yourself for your retirement with a graduate degree (from a real bricks and mortar campus, not an online program). This economy is brutal, and the vet thing won't soften it a bit. I have found that my military experience (2 OIF/1 OEF tours) is just confusing to most civilians and generally avoid talking about it. It is pretty much like if I told them I had lived in a hippie commune or served as a back-up singer for Journey.....they just look at you funny and say "Oh....wow."

It's not all bad....I have noticed that the more senior of my supervisors are impressed by the vet thing, My peers are the ones that cannot seem to wrap their heads around it.

Sorry - the Dope made me do it!

Don't know your personal situation, but I would be leery about entering this job market. If I were interviewing you I would ask, Why'd you get out shy of 20? You might want to have a good answer for that one.

Understand something else: that Captain was your comrade, if you get out he will be your competition.

The global economy is undergoing both a center-of-gravity shift (eastward) and massive deleveraging. This might well be going on for another eight or ten years. No one really knows. That means low-growth, high unemployment, wage repression, and so on.

Some doubt the US will ever return to the position it held just a few years ago. But even under the most optimistic scenarios, it is likely that we are going to have more frequent recessions. Remove finance (vapor wealth) from GDP and we have been in one for four years now. Remove the Greenspan Put and we'd have been in one pretty much since 2000.

There are going to be opportunities in all this, to be sure -- there are just going to be fewer of them for Americans than at any time in living memory (save the few who can still remember the 30s).

One area you might want to consider investigating is the medical field. This is an area where there might be some really explosive growth. Technology aside, managed care is going to need a lot of managers, especially for the soon-to-be drooling baby boomers. In eight years the oldest of them will be - what? -73?

If you stay in, I hope you have a quiet - even boring - next eight years. If so, perhaps yo can finish your MBA... o

SSgt
Please look into recalibrating your "fun meter". If that fails then please do not throw your 12 years away without looking into the reserves.

Sincerely, a 14 year vet of the Res, and currently on my 8th AD year.

To get practice for the application/interview process before you go for the ones that really count.

Go to
http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/?page=3

and read "Thanks, vets! Now get lost. Or, how I found out that ex-military need not apply"

because there is a lot of good employment info there. It is not as negative as the title would suggest and there are a few guys there who actually have jobs to offer. Some of the same things are being said here, but not as well. Most of us don't like authoring our genius ideas twice. {;*))

You write well and you know that you are talking to friends here, but do not say what you've said here to anybody! You may no longer feel that you are pursuing a rewarding profession, but there are very few employment opportunities that will offer you a fun time. Since you didn't really mean that; never use it again.

One thing we haven't addressed is work relationships. Don't expect to find employment where you will experience upward and downward loyalty again. If you have civilian subordinates, don't expect the responsiveness or commitment (from young people) you have come to expect in the Corps. As an E-6 you are assumed to be responsible and capable. You will have to earn that all over again in any civilian job. Of course, this assumes that you will find a job.

You may not be aware how unusual your Marine Corps experience has been. I have met many Marines who are dead serious when they say that they are married to the Corps. The Marine Corps is relatively small and you run into people whom you know over and over again. You are now a valued member of both a family and a fraternity. In the civilian world, the closest corollary would be found in police and fire departments. Do you like that part of your profession?

The health professions are the only bright spots in our economy. This includes elder care. There is a big financial component to health care. In fact, that's part of our problem. All doctors now have "back offices" to process health insurance claims as do hospitals. But, for some reason those jobs are largely populated by women. In civilian jobs there is a great deal of administration and very little moving people or things from point "A" to point "B". Therefore, there are not that many jobs with tangible results that you can take pride in. Sales might be a field with tangible results, but good luck selling things in this economy. Hello, Walmart?

Regardless, you have had a life of achievement in a tough field so you can do that elsewhere. But don't think that civilian life is better right now. The only major distinction is that you might be able to stay in one geographic area for an extended period and you might not get shot at.

My first thought has already been mentioned in this thread. Don't give up your current job. Even if what you do in the Marines is no fun (huh? you joined the Marines for fun? A challenge I can understand but you want fun?), it's better than looking and not finding a job in this economy. Unless you arrange a landing place before you leave, don't give up the current job. And if you do get a private sector job, it is not going to be fun either. Companies are cutting head count and squeezing the remaining workers harder than ever.

If you have really hit bottom and cannot stomach the thought of a couple more deployments with a PCS or two along the way, don't listen to those who would prolong your misery by advising you to stick it out for the retirement check and Tricare. A recently retired officer told me that after he learned what he would really get after retiring, he regretted staying the last 10 years to earn retirement.

You can hope to get hired by a company that wants to achieve great things and empowers its workers to do that but most of what you'll find are traditional firms with slow-moving hierarchies and red tape. A big difference in the private sector is that your job is not your lifestyle the way it is in the Corps. You can expect to come to work and at quitting time go home to your real life. Be prepared for the possibility your job may not be as professionally fulfilling but consider the other aspects of your life that you can develop because you don't have the military lifestyle to get in the way.

You should consider government at any level. Most governmental entities will favorably consider military service. The retirement systems are evolving away from full packages but if you can manage 8 more years active service or transition to the Reserves (it need not be the Marine Reserves) or National Guard, you can maximize your service to date. Governmental agencies are more tolerant and supportive of employees' military obligations. The HR certification will certainly help.

Based on what I have read on this blog and other sources, private sector employment prospects for vets are dicey. In any event, good luck.

As the former captain in question, I read this and thought "Oh great, now I feel guilty." (jk)

Seriously, the answer to your question is: No, it is not a fantasy to think that you can leave the military and successfully establish yourself in a civilian career right now.

I understand the anxiety that comes with deciding to leave the security and comfort of the service. It's strange to put the words security and comfort in the same sentence as the military during wartime, but it fits. The majority of the comments seem to favor staying in to take advantage of the guaranteed pay and benefits. Without knowing anything about you, I can't say whether that makes sense or not.

In the end, this is your decision and no one knows what the right choice is better than you. I'd submit that you've already shown a good grasp of your challenge by preparing yourself both emotionally and educationally to make the jump. I'd also submit that whether you decide to enter the civilian marketplace now or not, you will eventually face this challenge regardless. The question is: Do you want to face it now or 8-14 years from now?

I have a clear bias because I left early, so take this with a grain of salt: The state of the job market is not as important as your personal marketability for employment. On a macro level, I'll concede that there are limited opportunities. But, you're not a demographic, you're you. And if you're the sort of person who is marketable and desirable for employers, you will succeed whether there is a tough economy or not.

Again, I don't know you - staying in could very well be the best choice. But don't allow the economic newsreel to make your decision for you.

I'd think twice about getting out. That being said, how marketable you are depends on your MOS. If you're a 0431, 3043, or something similarly useful, you should be fine. I would definitely get Lean Six Sigma certified. If you're at Camp Pendleton, MALS-39 does certifications. I think aviation supply for all of the air groups have LSS training programs that are available to all Marines, although there are some remaining time in service requirements. There are also teams of contractors that support west coast, east coast, and japan that do week-long green belt courses. The only requirement is that that you attend for the week and do some projects afterwards to get certified. I've talked to guys who got out with LSS green belts and MBAs and employers cared a lot more about the green belt than the MBA, so it's pretty marketable. Also, it's $5,000 training that you get for free, which is the best price.

It's probably also worth thinking about why your fun meter is on empty. If it's just that you're working for/with somebody who's a prick, keep your head down and wait to PCS/PCA. If you're just generally tired of it, I suggest taking a little time to reevaluate your situation. I've never had a day in the Marines where I didn't laugh. You have Marines, and unless all of them are beating their wives, on BCP, getting DUIs, and suicidal, there are probably a couple of them that are really motivating. Focus on them, because they're the reason we all get out of bed in the morning. And remember, false motivation is better than no motivation.

Find some area you're especially interested in, get passionate about it, and make yourself an expert on it. Stay abreast of other relevant Greg Tims affairs to what you're doing, but have a focus. A company will take more interest if they see you feel personally invested in your work. They may redirect your energies a bit, but the important thing is that they know there's energy there. Burned-out guys aren't productive. In your own terms, find a place where your fun meter maxes out and stay there.