Life for workers in the oil patch can be tough — long hours, hostile working conditions, postings in strange locales. But at least there usually isn’t anyone shooting at them.

While the pundits fuss about a looming personnel crisis in the oil industry, every year the US

Figure 1. This poster represents a soldier’s transition from military to civilian life. (Images courtesy of ACAP)
Army alone cuts loose about 80,000 soldiers with unique skillsets that often match quite well with oil company jobs. Linda Christ is the transition services manager for the Army Career and Alumni Program (ACAP) at Fort Hood, Texas, and it’s her job to help these short-timers prepare for life in the civilian world.

Christ said that the US Congress passed a bill in 1990 instructing branches of the military to inform departing service men and women of the benefits they’d earned by serving on active duty. It also dictates that assistance be provided to those who need help transitioning into a civilian career.

It’s easy to imagine why this might be a daunting challenge for someone in the military, particularly someone who might be retiring after a fulfilling career. So ACAP workers take their jobs very seriously.

“Counseling is a big part of our job,” Christ said. Soldiers are first sent to a 3-day training session that coaches them on all things job seekers need to know – networking, looking for jobs on the Internet, writing resumes, writing thank-you letters, interview protocol, etc. Then they spend time with an assigned counselor.

“At Fort Hood we have 13 counselors, and all of them have masters degrees,” she said. “”We don’t cheat the soldiers — they’re going to get somebody who knows their stuff.”
Counseling includes translating a military job code into a job title that would be recognized in the civilian world. A software program takes that code and compares it to the Dictionary of Occupational Titles put out by the US Department of Labor.

Next is a salary comparison. “We can find out what a mechanic makes in Killeen, Texas, and compare that statewide or nationwide,” Christ said. “Or we can compare it to Boston, Mass.
Figure 2. A servicewoman scans job openings that come to the ACAP center daily. Bulletin boards are set up by job category all around the room.
When the soldier decides to go to Boston because he’ll make more money there, we go to costofliving.com and say, not so fast.

“So they get all the skills they need to make the right assessment, to look beyond just the money and see the benefits based on their family situation. It’s as individualized as you can get when you’ve got 1,000 people getting out every month.”

The right stuff

What employers get, in return, is seemingly the ideal employee. “There’s a wealth of trained, dedicated, drug-free, healthy people with strong initiative, with leadership skills, with a values-based mentality, all ready to go to work,” Christ said. “Most of these people are still young, and they need and want to work.”

She added that they’re particularly well-suited to jobs in the energy industry because they have skills that are directly transferable to operations. Fort Hood has about 45,000 soldiers, many of whom work in one of its two armored divisions.

“Armored divisions have a lot of big, heavy equipment, which means they require fuel handlers, truck drivers, mechanics who can work on diesel engines and generators, calibration specialists, welders, track and tire repair people, forklift operators — you name it; we’ve got it.”

More specialized disciplines like engineering are more likely to be found in the officer corps, many of whom are also choosing to retire rather than reenlist, she said.

Soldiers are authorized to start their job search 1 year before leaving the service, though Christ said they encourage them to start at least 6 months out. “We tell them the best time to look for work is when you’re working,” she said. “You can look until you find just the right job and make the selection that’s right for you. With our program, they’re not flailing around on their own; they’re not to the point where they’ve been unsuccessful and have creditors knocking on their door. They don’t have to be desperate and take any job that comes along.
“The best thing about this is that all of these people want to work,” she added. “When nobody’s shooting at you, life is good.”

How to hire

With such a strong program in place for the soldiers, it’s no surprise that a similar set of tools exists for companies wishing to recruit. The first is the Web site, www.acap.army.mil. Visitors to the site can post jobs or links to their own Web sites. Many of the 54 ACAP centers worldwide also host job fairs; the fair at Fort Hood is Jan. 24. For a mere US $75, recruiters can participate in the fair. Last year’s fair had 3,200 visitors looking for employment opportunities.

Literature left over from these fairs finds its way into the ACAP resource center, where it’s available to any soldier interested in finding a job. Christ said that companies also can schedule recruiting visits at the base. “We set them up with a table here at the center,” she said. “Anybody getting out of the military has to walk past them. They pick up a lot of great candidates that way.”

She stresses that her organization

is not a job placement center or a headhunter. “I don’t represent an individual soldier,” she said. “This is more like training the trainer. We give them the skills, and then they find the jobs themselves.” A 1998 study indicated that the training pays off — soldiers who took advantage of the ACAP services found jobs 6 to 8 weeks sooner than those who didn’t and had starting salaries several thousand dollars higher.

Overall the program seems to be a good link between a life in the military and life as a civilian. “Our soldiers are the kid next door, your sister’s kid, your kid,” Christ said. “These folks have been through a lot, and unlike what happened after Vietnam, our country has embraced these soldiers and their families. It makes my job very gratifying – finally, America gets it.”

For more information, visit www.acap.army.mil or e-mail Christ at Linda.christ@us.army.mil.

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