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I'm new to this forum and I have made the decision for me and my family to start our Air Force career. I have been through MEPS and taken my ASVAB. I scored a 90 on my ASVAB and now I must choose my career. I believe I qualify for anything, so I would love some input on what to choose.
Disclaimer: I KNOW I can't have all of my wants in a job, and I understand that there is NO perfect fit.
Here are some of the things I'm looking for in a job (again, I know this is just a dream list of items):
1. A job with reasonable hours
2. A job that is more likely to place me inside the US. (I have a family, so it would be easier)
3. A job that does not include mechanically inclined specialties. (I am not good at that stuff IMO)
4. A job with a lower deployment rate. (I know, I know, don't tell me how impossible it is )
5. A job that will transfer to skills in the civilian life.
Here are the jobs I've been looking at so far. These will maybe give you an idea of what I'm into. (or not, who knows)
-Contracting
-Logistics Plans
-Knowledge Operations Management
-Financial Management and Comptrolling
-Personnel
Give me your opinions! I have this list, but I truly am open-minded!!!!!
Anyone who has experience in one of the ones I listed, I'd love to hear your opinion.
Well, I'll take a stab at it before the haters come in and tell you you're dreaming if you expect to never be deployed, especially in today's political climate. (see what I did there?)
First, being deployed and being stationed overseas are two different things. This is an opportunity to introduce your family to other cultures, countries, etc if you can get accompanied orders to... wherever there's an AF base. I don't know how much "family" you have but the military is typically very accommodating.
Sounds like your interests lean towards Civil Engineer, which includes many occupations, most of which translate well to the outside. If you are bent on not deploying, you can ask your recruiter what fields are typically non-deploying. There's one job that manages deployments. Serious pencil pusher job.
There's Engineer Assistant which is pretty awesome becauese you use GeoBase and learn surveying skills, AutoCAD and other drawings skills.
Operations Manager is a skill that translates well into facility management. Decent opportunities outside.
I don't know if you can get Intermediate level maintenance which would do repair on components. If it's electronic then it's not exactly mechanical.
Not sure where the AF stands on Air Traffic Control... difficult field but lucrative.
Finance is there if that's what you care to do. Or logistics.
You could go into Services and get trained for Mortuary Affairs, which is big money on the outside. Dover DE is the place for that.
You can also ask the recruiter if there are any bonuses. If so, decide if those occupations would suit you.
Thanks for the input! I went to school for finance, so maybe that's the route. My recruiter told me to stay away from it because I would be working with "idiots", but of course I take what he says with a grain of salt. I will look into some of these that you mentioned!. I really appreciate it.
Contract management is a GS12 job in the federal government. I was in the Air Force National Guard so our CE Squadron didn't have Contract Specialists like the Navy facilities organization does. That's a great career field on the outside. I'd say anything you do that's finance related is going to translate to Contract Specialist and possibly higher, depending where you end up.
Your recruiter sounds like a bozo but do take all that with a grain of salt, recruiters can all be like that. Depends on his personal experience.
Going to give you a little advice, take it however you want. I will be retiring (AF) in December after 21 years. GO OVERSEAS as much as you can. That is my only regret in my 20+ years. I am a fighter aircraft crew chief and had the opportunity to go to some pretty amazing overseas assignments but at the time I did not want to. Yes, I have visited a lot of them, but it would have been a whole different experience actually being stationed overseas.
Thanks for the replies. Right now I'm leaning toward finance. I'd love to go out of country, but my step-daughter will have a visitation agreement to love with her bio dad part of the year, and she has a lot of family that would love to see her here. So I'm not opposed to it, but it would just make it harder.
I all actually leaving toward contacting, finance, or logistics I believe. What exactly will I be doing in finance? Thanks for all your opinions.
I'm new to this forum and I have made the decision for me and my family to start our Air Force career. I have been through MEPS and taken my ASVAB. I scored a 90 on my ASVAB and now I must choose my career. I believe I qualify for anything, so I would love some input on what to choose.
Disclaimer: I KNOW I can't have all of my wants in a job, and I understand that there is NO perfect fit.
Here are some of the things I'm looking for in a job (again, I know this is just a dream list of items):
1. A job with reasonable hours
2. A job that is more likely to place me inside the US. (I have a family, so it would be easier)
3. A job that does not include mechanically inclined specialties. (I am not good at that stuff IMO)
4. A job with a lower deployment rate. (I know, I know, don't tell me how impossible it is )
5. A job that will transfer to skills in the civilian life.
Here are the jobs I've been looking at so far. These will maybe give you an idea of what I'm into. (or not, who knows)
-Contracting
-Logistics Plans
-Knowledge Operations Management
-Financial Management and Comptrolling
-Personnel
Give me your opinions! I have this list, but I truly am open-minded!!!!!
Anyone who has experience in one of the ones I listed, I'd love to hear your opinion.
Did your recruiter explain that you don't choose your job? You make a wish list of multiple jobs and you get the first that opens up? Unless you are doing Guard/Reserve, then you pick from openings that exist...
Personnel- this job is the one we give to "minimally qualified people" who barely pass the ASVAB because it has some of the lowest entrance scores. When I have people that qualify for under 5 jobs, Personnel is usually the job I can get them.
The other jobs you listed meet your requirements, but be prepared to sit in the DEP for a year or two and wait, because those are not jobs we get openings in and they're not jobs we need people for.
Please consider with your ASVAB scores applying for 9S100 (Technical Applications), 1N331 (linguist), and 3D134 (Computer Programming)
Thanks for the replies. Right now I'm leaning toward finance. I'd love to go out of country, but my step-daughter will have a visitation agreement to love with her bio dad part of the year, and she has a lot of family that would love to see her here. So I'm not opposed to it, but it would just make it harder.
I all actually leaving toward contacting, finance, or logistics I believe. What exactly will I be doing in finance? Thanks for all your opinions.
Finance is a lowly job, one that is full of what appear to be incompetent boobs who want to be in the military but don't want to get dirty. That said, I have dealt with a few who aren't afraid to bend the rules to make things right after someone else's pay gets screwed up. You will be called a "nonner" by wrenches on the line who break their backs 12 hours a day in lousy weather getting crappy old airplanes in the sky, who make the same $$ per month as you. You may need a thick skin.
After 28 years in the USAF as a flight line mechanic and supervisor,(probably one of the last "Crusty Old Sarge's") my advice to you would be Public Affairs. They'll teach you how to use a DSLR camera and send you on shorter "deployments" where you can get a little dirty without being away from home 6 months a year and you'll get to see the pointy end of the Air Force stick which is what it is really all about.
Like others have said, the USAF will decide your job, with a few suggestions from you. Same with your assignment. Be prepared to spend 4 years in Japan, Germany, England or some other place and take advantage of the opportunities.
Contract management is a GS12 job in the federal government.
Not sure what that means. I work in a Contracting shop for the federal government (DoD), and while we do have a lot of GS12's, which is the lowest grade we have, we also have GS13's, GS14's, and GS15's. I wouldn't say our shop is typical for the federal government, but I would also imagine that GS12 is not the typical pay grade for most contracting people.
As for Contracting meeting your 5 wishes or desires, I would say:
1. Depending on how you define "reasonable", then Contracting would fall into that category. You can expect to work "overtime", although as a military troop it isn't overtime. You can expect to work weekends. You would not be working overtime or weekends all the time, and would be more likely to encounter those hours as the Government fiscal year approaches the end. You would rarely, if ever, be working shifts (swing shift, mid shift, etc.), so in that sense the hours are reasonable.
2. I don't know how many contracting jobs there are inside the US, versus outside the US, but I can tell you there are plenty of contracting jobs outside the US. In fact, from my personal experience, I would say there are probably more active duty positions outside the US than inside the US. My observation has been that many of the positions inside the US are civil service positions. YMMV.
3. Definitely no mechanical skills needed for Contracting, so you are good to go there.
4. Lower deployment rate? Lower than what? Contracting certainly has a lower deployment rate than say Security Forces, or a Crew Chief, but you would certainly be subject to deployment. Especially considering, as I mentioned in number 2 above, that many positions outside the US are filled with active duty personnel.
5. Contracting skills transfer very well to the civilian life. Maybe one of the better jobs you can get in that regard.
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