Happy New Year to Service Members, Veterans and Military Spouses! CivilianJOBS.com’s
The Essential Military-to-Civilian Transition Resource January - February 2017
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Power Up Your Job Hunt in the Energy Industry by Heidi Lynn Russell Contributing Editor
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o matter what your military occupational specialty is, consider powering up your job search in the energy industry, which offers solid job growth and career upward mobility options. Energy companies are all too happy to open the door to veterans, recruiters say. Although a chunk of those openings are linemen, foremen and other utility worker roles, don’t discount energy companies if you’re also in logistics, engineering, intelligence, scheduling – even finance. The industry needs qualified people to fill all of those roles. Additionally, some companies like Xcel Energy are offering apprenticeships so veterans can learn certain careers with on-the-job paid training, even if they didn’t do anything remotely similar during their military service. “People will say to me, ‘I was a cook in the military. What could you possibly have for me?’ And I usually say, ‘Hey, you had to order supplies and make sure food was sanitary. We look for people in jobs
dealing with safety and OSHA.’ Folks overlook that they may have options with us,” says Lacey Golonka, Xcel Energy’s Inclusion & Engagement Consultant. Here’s how to find the right opportunity for you in energy, with tips from Golonka and other recruiters from Bechtel Corp. and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Consider Apprenticeships for Top Vacancies Apprenticeships will usher you into a brand new career with paid, on-the-job training for some of the top vacancies in energy. One of those jobs is line workers, says Michelle Rostom, Director of Member Workforce Effectiveness for the National Rural Electric Coopera- Michelle Rostom tive Association. Line workers install and repair cables, wires, and other critical transmission and distribution equipment. Other common titles are “line installer” or “line technician.” Average salary is $63,470. Consider
this option if your MOS is 12P Prime Power. Apprenticeship programs are offered through the Department of Labor or state colleges or universities. Xcel Energy also offers the fouryear Electrical Line Apprentice Program, in which apprentices work with experienced linemen and crews in both classroom and hands-on training environments, Golonka says. The job involves constructing and climbing poles and learning to work on energized conductors and equipment. You don’t need previous experience but would have to pass a pre-employment aptitude test offered by the Edison Electric Institute. Another four-year apprenticeship is for “Plant Specialist B,” which operates, inspects, monitors and
performs minor maintenance on power plant equipment (boilers, turbines, auxiliary equipment and other systems). Applicants also must take the EEI Power Plant Maintenance and Plant Operator selection exams. More than 1,400 employees at Xcel Energy are veterans, and jobs are open in eight states – North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, Minnesota, western Wisconsin, Colorado, the panhandle of Texas and New Mexico. Don’t Discount Your Military Experience There are a variety of military occupations and skill sets that transfer seamlessly into the energy industry, and information technology is one that tops the list,
Rostom says. One in-demand area is data analysis, a growing skill set in this space. The rural electric companies use Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems (SCADA) that control the grid. “The data we collect centers around the flow of electricity through the wires. We’re looking for efficiency,” Rostom says. A SCADA programmer makes about $70,000. Army MOSs that can prepare you for this job include: 25B Information Technology Specialist, 35T Military Intelligence Systems Maintainer/ Integrator or 25A Signal Officer. To work with SCADA systems, check into the Certified SCADA continues page 4
The Hottest Jobs for 2017 by Heidi Lynn Russell Contributing Editor
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he hottest job opportunities for 2017 have emerged for two reasons. The first is a dearth of Information Technology professionals as companies race to fill new roles created by the sonic speed of technological advancements. The second is a mass exodus of Baby Boomers, leaving a swath of vacancies in logistics, distribution and management throughout all industries nationwide. “There are a lot of retirements.
People are going out the door, and employers are scrambling,” says Russ Hovendick, author of the Amazon number-one seller Deployment to Employment: A Guide for Military Veterans Transi- Russ Hovendick tioning to Civilian Employment. “It’s across all sectors, affecting everybody. It’s really difficult. Employers are figuring out what they’re going to do.” If your background is in IT, you should have virtually no problem finding postings, says Steven
Ostrowski, Director of Corporate Communications for CompTIA (https://www.comptia.org), a nonprofit trade organization for IT professionals and companies. At the end of the third quarter of 2016, there were about 600,000 IT jobs open in the U.S. That has dropped from 936,000 open positions in 2015, but it’s still significant when you consider the size of Steven Ostrowski the industry, Ostrowski says. “It impacts companies, banks, universities, schools, hospitals -
Image courtesy CompTIA
not just tech companies,” he says. “The openings make it difficult for them to get the full value of what they’re spending on technology.” As a result, employers are anxious to hire veterans, he adds. “Veterans have one talent that is increasingly becoming more important in the IT space, and
that is the ability to work as part of a team. IT departments are not playing solo anymore, because most technology stuff touches different business units and departments,” Ostrowski says. “But don’t limit yourself. Look beyond continues page 6
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Transition Talk: What is a management trainee? .............. page 3
Feature: JDog’s commitment to military
Spouse Series: The new boss
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Career Coach’s Corner: ”Thou shalt not”, part two ............................page 12
Job Fairs: A full slate of winter events ................page 14