Best Jobs for Military Veterans Transitioning into Civilian Life

Military veterans may be wondering what are some of the best jobs to pursue after completing their service time.  Maybe some of the jobs in this post might appeal to them.

Veterans bring valuable skills and work habits to the civilian job market. According to Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., the training and experience individuals gain while serving in the military can qualify them to enter many good-paying, high-growth civilian jobs.

In his recently released book 150 Best Jobs for the Military-to-Civilian Transition, Shatkin identifies the best-paying, most rapidly expanding jobs that are actually held by recent veterans. He showcases these occupations in eye-opening “best jobs” lists, such as the “best jobs overall with a  high percentage of recent veterans” and “best jobs held by recent vets with a high school diploma or less.” Next, Shatkin provides a wealth of occupational data for each of the occupations featured in his lists.

Here are ten of the occupations featured in Shatkin’s list of the “best jobs overall for the military-to-civilian transition:

1.     Software Developers, Systems Software
Annual Earnings: $96,600 • Percent Growth: 32.4 • Annual Openings: 16,800

2.     Registered Nurses

Annual Earnings: $65,950 • Percent Growth: 26.0 • Annual Openings: 120,740

3.     Network and Computer Systems Administrators
Annual Earnings: $70,970 • Percent Growth: 27.8 • Annual Openings: 15,530

4.     Computer Systems Analysts
Annual Earnings: $78,770 • Percent Growth: 22.1 • Annual Openings: 22,250

5.     Supervisors of Construction and Extraction Workers

Annual Earnings: $59,150 • Percent Growth: 23.5 • Annual Openings: 25,970

6.     Personal Financial Advisors
Annual Earnings: $66,580 • Percent Growth: 32.1 • Annual Openings: 9,020

7.     Database Administrators
Annual Earnings: $75,190 • Percent Growth: 30.6 • Annual Openings: 5,270

8.     Accountants and Auditors
Annual Earnings: $62,850 • Percent Growth: 15.7 • Annual Openings: 45,210

9.     Training and Development Specialists
Annual Earnings: $55,150 • Percent Growth: 28.3 • Annual Openings: 9,830

10.  Electricians
Annual Earnings: $49,320 • Percent Growth: 23.2 • Annual Openings: 28,920

Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., is one of the nation’s leading occupational experts and appears regularly on national news programs and in major print publications to share his expertise about trends in the world of work. He is a senior product developer at JIST Publishing, has 30 years of experience in the career information field, and is an award-winning career information systems developer.

Additional information can be found in 150 Best Jobs for the Military-to-Civilian Transition. The book was published in September of 2012 and is available at major bookstores, Amazon.com and jist.com.