I don’t remember if I ever blogged about what came of that awesome job offer I had in DC, but I think I just lumped it in with my Sucking at Life post. So long story short, I had a job offer, accepted and got a delayed start date… got a second job offer for an ok job that I was less interested in with an immediate start date and turned them down because I was ok waiting for job 1. Then crappy economy, cut billets, no more room for me so job offer rescinded. Sucks.
So now I’m at two years unemployed. The Navy Reserve still hasn’t picked me up (another story behind the Sucking at Life post) and now I’m so mad at the Navy that I’m still not sure I even want to jump through all the hoops to even apply again. (Yeah, that’ll teach them.)
Except that if I can’t get a job — because two years unemployed is a pretty long chunk of time — my best bet for building up the skill set to get a job is either going back to school (noooooooo) or joining the Reserve. The Reserve that doesn’t want me. Unless maybe I go enlisted. (Or go Army?)
Before I start this next part, here’s my disclaimer: I have nothing against being enlisted. Heck, my husband is enlisted (though he hates being enlisted so much that he’s planning to get out of the Navy when his contract is up if he can’t commission before then).
Back in the day, my original plan was to enlist. In the Army! But I ultimately decided to go officer and go Navy, and I got picked up on my first application. Which means that at one point the Navy thought I was good enough to be an officer, and to tell me that I’m not good enough for that anymore? Well that’s a blow to my self esteem. Even though everyone tells me it’s not personal, at this point, it darn well is.
So if none of the job apps I currently have pending pans out, nothing will have changed from my last application to the Reserve (except for one online class that I took) and it doesn’t even seem worth reapplying for. And I still won’t have a job, which leaves me with the option to start reapplying to all the places that didn’t want me before. But that seems pointless because, again, nothing else will have changed.
Which brings me back to enlisting. Because that will change things. I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that because it will mean that I got rejected from two more jobs… but if does, well. I’ll pick a rating with fast advancement (Chris wants me to follow in his shoes and rack up the foreign language pay) and hope I can get commissioned quickly.
Filed under: Jobs, Joining the Military
Ugh…that’s a rough decision to make. But really, Army??
I can’t blame you on wanting to go the Officer-route, but I understand where you’re coming from. I never thought I’d actually see the day where the Navy is affected/effected (I always mix those up!) because of the economy. And that time is now.
Ever thought about the E-2 community?? Maybe flight school??
I know how you feel. I’ve had jobs here and there, but it’s hasn’t been a “career” I love. I try to tell myself not to take it personally, since with the moves and the economy, it’s not really ideal for finding great jobs. In the meantime, I’m doing some volunteering, which has been rewarding and fun.
Good luck with your decisions! We’ll be rooting for you no matter what
Just wait til you get up to DC! There are plenty of alternative opportunities for your skill set, seriously!
I have to agree with Casey. Once you are there and hit a few job fairs and join some networking groups, you will find a great job in no time.
if you’re thinking languages I’d recommend the AF, because at DLI it always seemed like they had the better assignments (officers & enlisted)
In the Reserve, I’d drill from wherever I lived, so assignments wouldn’t be as big a deal. My husband says Navy’s the way to go for languages… but then he’s a Navy linguist, so perhaps just a wee bit biased
If it’s any consolation, the Army ROTC program at my university made very clear to me after our brief relationship that a military career was not in my future.
I’ll hit 9 years (enlisted) in April, all in the same company in the Army National Guard, and all but 10 months of those on active service with full benefits. (And most of it with language pay, even though I don’t actually use my language.)
Erm, actually, isn’t that how we “met?” You were e-mailing me about NG options? Back in the distant past when I actually had a blog of my own…
Sort of! You commented on one of my Russian posts and then we started talking about the National Guard. And now I’m semi considering it again… I’ve gone full circle. I really just need to pick something and stick with it!
I’m sorry things aren’t working out the way you want them to
At least you have a direction that you know you want to work towards – a lot of people, myself included until recently, still don’t know what career they want.
[...] other day, Chris and I were talking about the possibility of my enlisting in the Reserve again. One of our friends had been talking about potential billets for linguists, and I got a [...]