With those credentials, Lee expects a successful, smooth transition. But how important is a college degree to civilian employment?
Lockheed Martin Corp. hires approximately 3,000 veterans each year, said Media Relations Specialist Donna Savarese. "For experienced professional positions, a bachelor's degree is often required and an advanced degree is preferred," she said. "For some of our engineering and information technology positions, we also require specific certifications because our government customer requires them." The company also hires many hourly and skilled workers, Savarese added, where technical certifications are a must, such as in aviation and maintenance work.
"The importance of a college or advanced degree for transitioning military is the same as for all of our potential employees. It depends on the requirements of the positions available at the time," said Savarese.
For the past 20 years, the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) has been in place on most military bases nationwide to help transition military personnel into the civilian workforce. As part of the Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, the TAP was redesigned. Now known as Transition Goals Plans Success, or Transition GPS, the program helps separating service members successfully transition to the civilian workforce, start a business, or pursue training or higher education, according to military.com.
Transition programs focus on participants bettering themselves and making themselves more marketable to civilian employers. In many cases, there's no better way to do so than to have a college degree, said Gordon Nero, a civilian education services specialist with the Army Continuing Education System at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md. "If the Army was a high school, I'm the college counselor," he said of his job.
Before transitioning to become a civilian, Nero spent 24 years in the military, mostly as a career counselor, and today handles the education portion of all transition briefings. "If your goals are higher education, we spend time together working on that," said Nero. "The majority of my customers are college-bound students."
At Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Laurie Webb is a community readiness consultant and transition manager. She is also an Air Force retiree with 22 years of service, "so I understand the other side of the fence," she said.
"Education is a huge piece of transitions, and we push it hard," said Webb. "One of the special tracks is a two-day additional class about going back to school and using their GI Bill benefits."
The Post-9/11 GI Bill offers various education benefit provisions for military members who served on active duty on or after September 11, 2001. Depending on your situation, according to the MyArmyBenefits website, provisions can include tuition and fees, housing, books and supplies, Yellow Ribbon Program payments, rural benefits, and transferability to eligible family, such as your spouse and children.
Education is important, but it doesn't have to be all about a college degree. "You can use your GI Bill benefits to get an advanced license in welding," said Parisa Fetherson, program manager for Personal and Professional Development programs at Marine Corps Base Quantico. Fetherson left the Marine Corps herself after 27 years, mostly as an education specialist, and is still using her GI Bill benefits today to pursue a master's degree in education. "We push that idea to make sure people understand their GI Bill benefits are not only authorized for a college degree program, but also for all kinds of training, licenses, certifications and tests."
Fetherson said she gets an average of about 80 people in her transition readiness seminars, offered twice a month at Quantico, for both officers and enlisted personnel. There are different pathways for participants, which include pursuing a degree, as well as licenses and certifications, skill enhancement and more, she noted.
Besides Transition GPS, Quantico's Career Resource Management Center offers job search training, personal improvement workshops and individual counseling, according to Fetherson. There's a national job bank and information and access to local and regional job fairs. The center also helps family members search for jobs. This fall, the Transition Readiness Workshops and Classes calendar at Quantico includes help with federal resumes, searching for jobs through social media and at least one job fair, said Fetherson.
"There's a big influx of personnel reaching their service limits and getting ready to transition today," said Fetherson. In her remarks to every transitioning class, she said she tells them this about education in the civilian sector: "Education cannot guarantee you a job, but it can prevent you from getting one."
