Veterans preference for jobs (San Antonio, Anton: cost of, military, retired)

[jons_wifey]

Not sure how to word this exactly, but for San Antonio what's it like to have veterans preference for jobs; more so specifically in the I.T field?

Do veterans application get straight to the top of the list over those with a degree/some years of experience/certs?

[flashfearless]

You see it all over town, even non-government jobs. Puts us civies at a disadvantage all over.

[TXStrat]

The only areas with a formalized Veterans preference would be government jobs. You can normally find information on how Veterans preference for Federal jobs works on USA Jobs.

For other fields, there are some definite advantages for hiring Veterans, even if there is no formalized preference system in place. For the IT jobs mentioned, one of the largest advantages to hiring Vets would be security clearances. Many Vets separate from the military with current security clearances, and/or the associated background investigations. For contracting companies providing contracting support to the military or other government agencies requiring security clearances, this saves massive amounts of money. The time/effort/cost of getting a clearance for an employee that has never had one is considerable when compared to someone already in possession of a clearance.

There are other perceived benefits many employers find attractive. Most former military members are disciplined, work well as part of a team, do well in decentralized organizational structures, have lower incidents of drug use, are less prone to absenteeism, etc.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by flashfearless

You see it all over town, even non-government jobs. Puts us civies at a disadvantage all over.

Part of what I disliked about San Antonio. I'm glad i don't have to deal with that anymore.

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by flashfearless

You see it all over town, even non-government jobs. Puts us civies at a disadvantage all over.

Yep.....I don't know about IT jobs in particular....but I am in total agreement with you here based on what I have experienced and seen in other places I worked at in the past.

Although in my current line of work when I started 10 years ago, there were people responsible for hiring that thought the same but fortunately not anymore after we realized there is no added benefit for us to hire ex military over "civies" so now I feel all job applicants get a fair shot.

[Remington Steel]

Originally Posted by flashfearless

You see it all over town, even non-government jobs. Puts us civies at a disadvantage all over.

Hmmm...not really. I am a retired veteran and jobs in my military career field are manned 60% by "civies". Federal Service jobs that is. I have been trying to get "in the system" for years and my experience, education (multiple degrees and certs), and background bears no weight to the federal hiring process. Just like they say, it is not what you know but WHO you know! It makes me sick to my stomach when I visit certain federal service offices and see the competency (or lack thereof) of the workers there.

[huckster]

The ending sentence of this post speaks very loudly.

Originally Posted by Remington Steel

Hmmm...not really. I am a retired veteran and jobs in my military career field are manned 60% by "civies". Federal Service jobs that is. I have been trying to get "in the system" for years and my experience, education (multiple degrees and certs), and background bears no weight to the federal hiring process. Just like they say, it is not what you know but WHO you know! It makes me sick to my stomach when I visit certain federal service offices and see the competency (or lack thereof) of the workers there.

[DerpyDerp]

As someone who has been applying for several jobs in recent days, I've found the whole veterans preference thing a little frustrating. I can totally understand preference/priority being given to disabled veterans and the recently discharged, but as a veteran who spent 4 years on active duty in peacetime in the late 1980s, it's a little frustrating to be competing against "wartime" veterans who never deployed or even left the States. Every person who served on active duty since August 2nd, 1990, is considered a "protected" wartime veteran, even though many of them never deployed.

I filled out an application the other day and these were my choices:

[ ] I am not a veteran.
[ ] I am a recently (3 years or less) discharged veteran.
[ ] I am a disabled veteran.
[ ] I am a wartime veteran.
[ ] I choose not to self-identify.

I had to choose one and the only one which wasn't an outright lie was the last one, so that's what I chose. It felt like a politically correct bit of nonsense and I wondered if it would hurt my chances of getting the job.