Let’s check some facts. 50% of all working people in the United States make less than $46,000 a year. If a non-Veteran doesn’t have a Bachelor’s Degree, he has very little chance of making that kind of money. Would it surprise you to know that the median salary for military Veterans is substantially more when combined with retirement pay? You shouldn’t.
Not to be too cynical about it, but, while employers like to talk about the patriotic nobility of giving military Veterans a chance in return for the service Vets have rendered our country, the fact is that employers will snap up a Veteran for the simple reason that Veterans are simply the best that employers can get. Almost without exception, when an employer is aware that an applicant for a job is a Veteran, the doors swing wide.
Veterans Are Highly Valued
There are good reasons Veterans are so highly valued to employers. Their work ethic is one. They don’t come to the job market looking to get the most they can for the least they can give. Veterans don’t think like that, and employers know it. Having spent years as part of a team dedicated to accomplishing their mission on a daily basis, as a way of life, Vets are the first choice of employers.
Another reason is the quality of the education and training Veterans have received as part of their service. Education in civilian America has become increasing dis-engaged from the real world needs of employers. Practical experience through education is rare. Academic studies have replaced the kind of hands-on work that turns education, and training, into ability. Except for Vets. Their education and training was absolutely practical. They were trained and educated to do a job; not get a job. And as soon as possible they were assigned, and performed, that job. Separating from the service, Vets bring with them the education, and the experience, employers need.
A sad fact of civilian American life is a loss of personal responsibility. What seems merely typical in the military often appears to be extreme leadership in civilian life. It’s hard for a person in service to realize how desperate the job market is for the qualities instilled by the military. Character is hard to come by in civilian life, and employers know they will find it in Veterans. Employers are willing to pay very well just for the character Vets have developed, even in fields Vets are not trained in, or have experience in. Need an example?
There’s not much in the military that would prepare a person to be a Realtor. Not a lot of call for it. But realty companies like Edina Realty are scouring the country looking for Veterans willing to accept $1500 to become a Realtor. The median pay for Realtors is only $44,000 a year which is on the low end for Vets, but offers like that aren’t made to civilians.
Amazing Choices in Veteran Jobs
At a time when most Americans will accept any job they can find at any pay offered, Vets have choices. A lot of them. Because the demand for Vets is so high, Vets can not only pick and choose the field they’d like to enter based on their training and experience, but they can, in many cases, dictate the conditions under which they work, and the pay scale they’re willing to accept.
Veteran’s Retirement Pay
Veterans retirement is arguably the one of the best retirement programs available. First, there is a pension, with benefits, that begins the day you retire, regardless of how old you are and whatever other full time job income you may have. Meaning, you could retire at 35 or 45 or whatever. What’s more, that pension check grows with a cost of living adjustment each year.
In later articles, we’ll look at some of the jobs open to Vets that raise them far above the average national pay-scale.