Finding purpose after military service: Veteran-geared job fair in Hampton draws 300
Thomas “TJ” Miller’s voice was hoarse from four hours spent talking with around two dozen job recruiters. Miller, who is 120 days away from concluding a 20-year career in the Air Force, was faced with a question he had not been asked by an employer before: “What do you want to do?”
“And I don’t have a hard answer for that,” Miller said.
More than 330 job seekers wandered from hiring booth to hiring booth during Thursday’s Recruit Military job fair at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. Most had one thing in common — they are members of the local military community looking for a new purpose after their service.
Miller, a master sergeant, has served as an air traffic controller, which brought him to Joint Base Langley-Eustis in 2015.
“But I did that for 20 years, do I really want to do it for another 20?” Miller said as he shrugged his shoulders. “With the military, they tell you where you’re gonna go, when you’re gonna go, and how long you’re gonna be there for. So, for the first time since 2003, I get to control where I live and what I do with my life, which is exciting and terrifying at the same time.”
Industries such as education and law enforcement have sought to recruit veterans for years, but the effort has more urgency as the job market has tightened during the pandemic. Among the recruitment booths at Thursday’s event was the Hampton Sheriff’s Office, Elizabeth River Tunnels, Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, Chesapeake Police Department and the City of Virginia Beach. When asked, most said they were accepting applications for “all levels of positions.”
Katarina Peterson, human relations manager for Virginia Beach, said the qualities veterans gain from military service are in high demand.
“They are problem solvers and are good at reacting to and managing change. Those are leadership qualities we want in our employees,” Peterson said.
Robert Mulvihill, the company’s event director, described Recruit Military acts as a connector between employers and veterans, service members transitioning out of the military, and military spouses. Thursday’s event, he said, was one of the largest he had seen in Hampton since 2016.
“Whether you have four years in or 24 years in, you come out of the military with leadership, mentorship and supervisory skills, and those are qualities that translate into a corporate job. We have 16,000 companies who currently work with us, so you never know what opportunities you might find,” Mulvihill said.
Mulvihill said the best thing transitioning service members and veterans can do at a job fair is keep an open mind.
Mulvihill retired from the Navy in 2010 after 20 years as a gunner’s mate. He worked as a government contractor immediately following his military career, but when the job ended two years later, he found himself working as a debt collector and then in a customer service.
“The jobs served the purpose in that moment, you know, by putting food on my table. Ultimately, I knew that was not want I wanted to do. I spent about a year trying to figure out my life... I never would have thought I would have ended up as the event director for Recruit Military, but it is 100% my purpose. I will do this until I can’t,” Mulvihill said.
When the job fair doors opened at 11 a.m., Miller was fourth in line. And as recruiters packed up their booths at 3 p.m., he was one of the last to leave. Of the approximately 25 booths he visited, Miller said he will probably submit applications to 15.
“I am hoping that someone looks at my technical skills and my soft skills, and says ‘We can take this and make this into something’,” Miller said.
But Miller plans to attend more job fairs to evaluate what is best for his next phase of life.
“I could stay here in Hampton Roads or I could hit the reset button and pack up and move anywhere in the world. And that is scary because I don’t necessarily want to start back at ground zero,” Miller said.
While his retirement — slated for May 1 — draws closer, Miller is not rushing the job selection process.
“It is not just a job — it is your life. I invested 20 years of my life with the Air Force, and while I am not willing to give up the control I now have, I am looking to dedicate another 20 years of my life to the right company.... I want that spark with my new career, where you just know, ‘This is it. This is what I am meant to do and where I am meant to be,” Miller said.
Caitlyn Burchett, caitlyn.burchett@virginiamedia.com
