Career Choice & Change: Job Hunting, Internship Seeking & Discovering Your Career Path: Military Career Resources

This guide uncovers resources for exploration of careers and college major choices, career development and change, and resumes and interviewing.

Intro

This page is here to help you decide if a military career is for you, or, if you have retired, find out about benefits, resources, and other assistance for veterans returning to the civilian life.

Navigate your military options

The military can be an amazing opportunity for anyone. For those who join, It boasts job security for those who complete training during or after high school or college. More than that the military offers careers unlike any others in the United States from being a combat system operator, jet engineer, drill sergeant, drone pilot, and military police officer or lawyer. It also can help you travel the world, explore multiple jobs, secure benefits, develop leadership skills, discipline, and give back to your country.

Military Careers and Jobs:

Today's Military
A website produced by the United States Department of Defense as a resource for young adults, parents and educators curious about military service. Provides a general overview of military careers.
The Balance
The Balance helps people achieve financial empowerment and find careers. On its military page it provides snapshots of military careers from deciding to join, qualifications, training, specific jobs, and benefits. Includes information for enlisted and officer paths.
Salary estimator
Developed by Today's Military to display a salary range based on years and rank in military service.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
The principal federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. Provides descriptions and data on area specialties in the military.
Official Military Career Pages
Each branch, both active duty (full time job, deploys more frequently, can be based over seas or in US) and part-time duty (part-time job, deploys less, mostly based in US) has an official page.
- Active:
  Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy
- Part time:
  Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Coast Guard Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Navy Reserve
Defense News
The authoritative, independent, professional news source for the world's defense decision-makers. The latest news and analysis on programs, policy, business and technology.
MyFuture
MyFuture helps young adults plan their next steps in life by bringing together the most recently available information about colleges, careers and military service opportunities from the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, Education and Labor. This page answers the need-to-know questions on joining the military and peeks at life once in the military.
Employment Situation of Veterans
This monthly statistical snapshot is produced by Syracuse University's D'Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families

Military & Government Collection
Offers current news on all branches of the military and government through a collection of periodicals, academic journals, and other content pertinent to the increasing needs of those sites.

Veterans Resources

UCSD VA Office
The UC San Diego Veteran Affairs office offers counseling sessions for peer mentoring and veteran benefits. Also available are different PT sessions including surfing.
San Diego Veteran Resources
The city of San Diego provides a guide for local Veteran assistance centers and their websites for education, health, housing, benefits and more.
General Motors Jobs: Veterans
General Motors is an international corporation owning many automobile companies and partnering with many more companies for over a century. They provide listings and benefits information on there Veterans page.
Transitition Assistance Program
The VA's TAP provides information, resources, and tools to Service members and their loved ones to help prepare for the move from military to civilian life. It's a one-stop place to review the official programs of support for vets, with special sections on transition to civilian employment, home loans, resources for special groups and more.
U.S. Veterans Seeking Law Enforcement Jobs
Law Enforcement faces constant under-staffing and veterans have many of the necessary skills to be successful officers. Here are some locations preferring veterans. Additionally this article explains screening processing and concerns particular to veterans.
Recruit Military
RecruitMilitary helps employers connect with America’s best talent -- its veterans.
they offer our services free of charge to veterans and their spouses to support them during their job search.
RecruitMilitary provides a connection to businesses interested in hiring veterans.

Books & Articles Geared for Veterans

California Veterans Resource Book by CalVet
Publication Date: 2019 (most recent)
Many benefits and services available to veterans have expanded and improved over the past decade. The CalVet Resource Book provides a comprehensive guide for accessing your earned benefits.
Business Networking for Veterans: A Guidebook for a Successful Transition from the Military to the Civilian Workforce, 2nd ed. by Mike Abrams, Ed.
Call Number: O'Reilly e-book
ISBN: 0133742105
Publication Date: 2013
Your military skills and experience will be invaluable to you in civilian life. But your successful transition won't just happen. You need a network of people who can help you decide where you want to go and then help you get there. This book will help you build that network and succeed. From start to finish, it focuses on the unique challenges you face as a transitioning veteran and the unique skills and resources you bring to the table.
Potentially high recruiting jobs for veterans
GI Jobs is a company dedicated to assisting veterans utilize their talents in the civilian world. They work with Farmers Insurance, Verizon, Hilton, Columbia University, Drexel University and more.
Military veteran employment: a guide for the data-driven leader by Nathan D. Ainspan and Kristin N. Saboe
Call Number: Oxford Academic e-book
ISBN: 0190643005
Publication Date: 2021
Companies that can hire and retain military veterans will have a strong competitive advantage over their competitors that lack this capability. This book will help business leaders obtain that advantage.
Understanding and working with the veteran student: a guide for educators by Bret A. Moore
Call Number: O'Reilly e-book
ISBN: 0789750678
Publication Date: 2012
Although a bit dated, this book guides instructors to better understand how to effectively assist veteran students through maximizing their learning experience and preparing them for their future careers.
Down Range: a transitioning veteran's career guide to life's next phase by James D. Murphy; William M. Duke
Call Number: O'Reilly e-book
ISBN: 9781118825716
Publication Date: 2013
This book is not only a guide to transitioning from the military to the civilian world or solely about getting a job. It is a guide to developing a post-military career, not just for the first few days, weeks, or months after active duty, but for the rest of your employed life. This simple and effective planning process has been taught to 1M+ business executives worldwide, and provides an appreciation for what's important to a business, helping you to become a valuable asset throughout your career.

Books

Browse for items on these subjects below in UC Library Search. Useful subjects are:

Veterans - employment

Other related subjects that sometimes include career information, profiles, etc.:

Out of Uniform: your guide to a successful military-to-civilian career transition by Tom Wolfe
Call Number: JSTOR ebook
ISBN: 9781640120198
Publication Date: 2018
Although all service members share common denominators, each individual brings something unique to the job market. Not only does this book cover the basics--search techniques, networking, interview preparation, résumés, negotiation, and a new chapter on social media--it also offers guidance on topics that are often overlooked, specifically the central issues of self-knowledge, interviewing empathy, and the power of questions.
Inclusion in the American Military, 2nd ed. by Morten G. Ender, Ed.
Call Number: UB417 .I54, Geisel 1st Fl. East
ISBN: 9781666928730
Publication Date: 2023
This book gives an overview of the ways in which diversity and inclusion are dispatched in the US military, by providing information about celebrated and contested social characteristics including race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexuality and three new groups comprising the military: the (dis)abled, civilians, and immigrants. Astute subject matter experts contribute insights about the roles that each of these groups occupy in the US armed services, as well as the laws, rules and regulations regarding their participation. This new edition provides eleven Lived Experiences that enliven and humanize each chapter and will assuredly inspire readers.
Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven
Call Number: EBSCOhost ebook
ISBN: 9781478920380
Publication Date: 2017
#1 NYTimes best seller. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. Admiral McRaven
recounts ten principles from his Naval SEAL training that not only helped him overcome challenges not only in his long Naval career, but also throughout his life. This book provides simple wisdom and practical advice, to inspire readers to achieve more, even in life's darkest moments.
Understanding the Military: The Institution, the Culture, and the People
Publication Date: 2010
This paper is designed to answer some of these questions by providing an
overview of the military as an institution, the service members and their families who are the
backbone of the institution, and how current military conflicts have affected service members,
their families, and the future of military service.
Integrating the US Military : Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation by Douglas W. Bristol (Editor); Heather Marie Stur (Editor)
ISBN: 9781421422473
Publication Date: 2017
The military in many ways is more progressive than similar efforts in the civilian world. Today, the military is one of the best ways for people from marginalized groups to succeed based solely on job performance. By examining controversies from racial integration these essays show the military is an important institution in which social change is confirmed and, occasionally, accelerated.

Videos

Ten Coolest Military Jobs
Intense or technical jobs offered by the military which make you say "Oorah." All of which build skills for civilian careers.
A glimpse into life on a military base during deployment
CNN visits an army base in Afghanistan and records the on base lifestyle of Army Infantry.

News Feeds

Below are the current articles from Defense News, which can be used to follow trending topics on all aspects of the military:

Below are the latest articles about military careers from the database Military & Government Collection, which covers academic and news publications covering all branches and a broad range of fields, like Military Technology, Air & Space Power Journal, Sea Power, and many more.