MacDill Job Fair

I went to the job fair at MacDill Air Force Base on Thursday, January 24th, 2019. I didn't take any resumes, much to the amusement of some of the representatives. I figured most of the jobs would be local, but there would probably be at least one or two companies that would have nationwide jobs.

The one that was the most promising, and was a surprise to me, was Chase. I spent a lot of time talking to the FBI, and I probably shouldn't have. I did learn that the current waiver for Special Agents basically just subtracts military service from your age, so the FBI counts me as being 26. So if I change my mind, I don't have to rush to apply. But postings are done by needs of the government, which means I could end up anywhere. No gusta. I checked their website for non-agent jobs--nothing in Houston, or even in Texas.

I figured GDIT would have jobs in Houston connected with NASA, but the reps had no idea. They wanted to put me at Fort Bragg. FayetteNam? No thanks. I checked their website. Three jobs, and two of them were social worker jobs. Go figure.

Frank Sotomayor from New Horizons Computer Learning Centers gave me some good advice: if I'm having trouble getting an IT job, take my master's degree off my resume. He said that's an automatic six-figure salary, and some companies don't want to pay. I'm overqualified. I translate that to don't apply to jobs that don't ask Masters required or preferred unless I really really want that job, and then take off the Masters.

Erica Woods from Apex Systems was also helpful. She said I needed to work on my elevator speech. She also suggested that I connect with the local PMI chapter in Houston and announce that I'm looking for a job. That makes me wonder if there's something similar in Houston for ACM, since I've been a member forever. (A quick Google search didn't turn up much)

I also talked with the ClearedJobs.net. That's worth looking into. We did a search and that's where the NASA jobs are. But maybe some other companies too.