Vets' next battle: finding a new job

By Lorraine Mirabella

A bad economy, multiple deployments and a lack of degrees keep service members’ jobless rates high.

While on active duty in Iraq, Matthew Ellersick started job hunting online, planning his transition to civilian life.

Since returning from a six-month deployment in February, the Army National Guard intelligence analyst, who has a master’s degree in marketing, has traveled a circuit of job fairs from Tampa, Fla., to Philadelphia with no luck.

“When I came back, the economy was a lot worse than when I left,” said Ellersick during a recent job fair in Baltimore, a chance to come face-to-face with employers after many companies he contacted had directed him to apply online. “You feel like they’re blowing you off. The only ones who are not picky are the military.”

Young, unemployed veterans who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan face even lower odds of finding jobs in this economy than their civilian counterparts, according to recent government statistics. The jobless rate hit 21 percent last year for the youngest veterans, who are 18 to 24 years old, according to a U.S. Department of Labor report released last month. That’s compared to 16.6 percent of nonveterans in the same age range.

Returning veterans have historically faced challenges. They can be at a disadvantage if they find their military training doesn’t easily translate into civilian skills, or if they had delayed the pursuit of a four-year degree to enter the military, said Joseph Sharpe, director of the economic division for the American Legion in Washington. Grueling deployment schedules also can be an impediment.

These challenges only become more pronounced in a tight job market….

Apart from the tough market, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans might have a higher jobless rate partly because many choose to put off getting a job once they return, said Larry Slagel, a former Marine Corps officer and now a senior vice president of Recruit Military, which runs an online jobs database and career fairs across the nation. He said many younger veterans are able to wait because they have saved money and often get extra combat pay while overseas.

Inexperience in the civilian job market also might be a factor.

“It’s their first job, and sometimes they don’t know how to market themselves,” Slagel said. Some of the applicants he encounters at job expos are nervous about approaching employers, and he tells them, “You were just in Iraq leading a squad and fighting al-Qaida. Now you can go over and talk to that Lowe’s representative, and there’s nothing bad that’s going to happen.”…