DH is officially retired next month. He has been looking for career opportunities in Hospitality/Food Service industry.

He answered an ad for EHS a recruitment agency specializing in this field. When the recruiter contacted him by phone, he was particularly rude making comments such as "No one wants to hire former military. They have no idea how it works in the civilian world" and so on.

It really left a bad taste in DH's mouth, and didn't do much for his confidence level either. (I am learning there are some serious issues for transitioning Coasties to overcome, and this didn't help)

DH was so pissed at this recruiter that he suggested I put the word out, and wanted to warn any other retiring FS, not to waste their time with this company.

If anyone has any other recruitement sites for the Food Service/Hospitality industry, that are MILITARY FRIENDLY, we sure would appreciate it!!

I'm sure that recruiter has a boss, so if you're really miffed about this, maybe a phone call to the supervisor might be in order. Better yet, what's the company name? I'm sure when they find out bad press is coming, they'll be softening their stance a little.

First, it is important to understand the difference between a recruiting firm and an employment agency. Recruiters are paid by the company that does the hiring, the candidate pays an employment agency. As a result some recruiters can be abrasive and somewhat cold hearted because their client pays the fee, not you. If you are not an exact fit for the assignement you are being considered for they care little about your goals. All this being said, there are some great recruiting firms out there.

For 13 years I worked in the executive search and professional staffing industry. The firm is called Kforce.com. I don't know if they work in the hospitality industry, I have been gone from there since 2000.

The best way for someone to find a good recruiting firm that specializes in your skill set is to call several companies you would like to go to work for, and ask their Human Resources department who their preferred recruiting firms are. They might also ask for your resume. This method worked for me personally and a great number of my contacts over the years. There is a firm called the Lucas Group, headquartered in Atlanta, that does good work with Military personnel, but I think they work primarily with officers.

If this topic is important enough, someone start a new string, we all can add out thoughts and suggestions.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming after that commercial!

The advise given above is good. Here's a couple of good places for your DH to begin:

Military.com Military & Veteran Career Center

Monster.com - Monster Boards Home Page

In addition, do a bit of research to see if the county you will be retring to has an official Veterans Services Officer. They will usually bend over backwards to help a vet, especially military retirees both in the job search processes and in applying for various veterans benefits such as educatonal and disability.

Good luck to your DH and you.

Mark Wood

Thanks for the suggestions.

As ArcticTravler suspected, Kforce does not handle Food Service/Hospitality industry.

Our local VA office is a poor excuse for a resource. We've been in several times, and the guy just likes to hand out pamphlets. DH brought some ppwk in to be submitted for his retirement, and the VA guy had no clue what it was about.

We ended up driving the ppwk to Tampa. That office was much more on the ball, but it is a 90 mile drive...

Keep your ideas coming!!!

quote:

Our local VA office is a poor excuse for a resource. We've been in several times, and the guy just likes to hand out pamphlets. DH brought some ppwk in to be submitted for his retirement, and the VA guy had no clue what it was about.

Here's a tip for you Koostau. NEVER NEVER try to deal directly with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Your DH should use an intermediary such as the mentioned county Veterans Service Officer or one of the service organizations such as the American Legion or Disabled American Veterans.

Dealing directly with the VA will bring nothing but grief, delays and perhaps, a lot of reject letters due largely to the incompetance and indifference of many of their employees, some who have never served a day in the armed forces. But if you have someone who knows all the ropes to work for you in dealing with the VA, you and your DH will have far greater luck.

Again, good luck.

mw

Thanks, mw! didn't realize the Veteran's Service Officer was different from the VA. Will Google VSO for our area!

I've been to the AL and DAV chapters close by, but I got the impression it was just a social club and not much "hard business". Will have to look a little deeper than that, I guess.

If you are unable to find your county's Veterans Service Officer, let me know what county and state you are interested in and I can probably find it.

Also, you probably won't find the organizational service officers at your local VFW or DAV club but at one of their regional offices. Here's some links to follow:

Disabled American Veterans - Claim Representation Services

American Legion - Resources

Yikes! our nearest VSO is the ding dong we already met. However, there is another office about 25 miles from us. Will check that out for the future!

Thanks for the links. I'll f/u on that!

Its good that your DH got a feel of some jerks he will encounter before he retires,lot of azz holes out there in the world,be ready to deal with them.

quote:

Originally posted by wpbsailor2009:
I'm sure that recruiter has a boss, so if you're really miffed about this, maybe a phone call to the supervisor might be in order. Better yet, what's the company name? I'm sure when they find out bad press is coming, they'll be softening their stance a little.

Here are a few others if interested:

www.kbicmilitary.com
www.Bradley-Morris.com
www.civilianjobs.com

Good luck

It's unfortunate that there are still people out there that still have the old Norfolk, Va attitude of Sailors and Dogs keep off the lawn. Once settled in somehere they will be glad to have you. I don't think there's anyone out there that can compete with the senior military work ethic.

GFS
Gordon Food Service was always military friendly, especially for sales positions.

The sales people from GFS that came to the ships in Michigan were all former military, most of them retired military.

I know it's not a recruiter but DH could always apply.

Don't forget www.orioninternational.com/ they work with retirees and help get their resume's civillian friendly. helped me find a good job in ohio.I know they have offices most everywhere and try to place you where you want to retire.

Thanks, XshipRider.

DH is looking into Sysco, US foods and GFS. Each of these distric offices is about 90 miles from us, but I am sure their client roster includes customers in our area.

MKC: I'll look into Orion and see if the help with Hospitality positions. couldn't tell from their website.

Thanks again!!

I had a similar experience with a Temp agency soon after I retired. Frankly, I was cheesed off about it.

After sleeping on it, I decided that I was not going to get anywhere with this place if I kept my mouth shut.

I wrote the CEO a letter describing the misconduct of this employee.

The letter I received back was surprising. It seems that this person had several complaints consisting of "No Shows" for appointments made, rude and sarcastic manner and mismanaging assignments. I was told that the Recruiter had been dismissed.

The CEO also gave me his private number and encouraged me to contact him if I had these kind of problems again.

While it was not my intention or desire to have someone lose their job, clearly the CEO had other ideas.

Bottom line. I would advise your husband to write a polite letter describing the events, statements and actions of the employee.

Good luck!

As it turned out, I accepted my present position about 4 days after this process wrapped up.

koosteau,
Jumping back in on this one, been away on duty. I am assuming your interest in hospitality is because you are a FS. If so good start, your training matches what you pursue. This one should be easier than you think. Regardless of where you want to work, the company doing the most hiring is most likely not headquartered there. They will coordinate their hiring through their headquarters. The Business Journal is a good publication in most cities, it has what they call the "Book of Lists". It is lists of companies by specialty. In Dallas several of the large multinational hospitality companies are headquartered there. They have human resource professionals who focus almost solely on filing positions in unit management for their locations all over the world. They also have awesome training programs. Whether you go the restaurant or hotel route, you can get pretty good exposure by simply contacting there headquarters and asking a few questions. Do this:
1. Decide what is more important to you, the job position or where you live. No deal breaker, but given the vast number of jobs and locations you need to focus your search.
2. Make a list of the companies you would like to approach. Do your research, Yahoo Finance, any number of Hospitality organizations, the business page, or just drive around a big city and write down the names of all the major hospitality related companies you see.
3. Hit the Internet, just about every one of these companies have a job site on their own web site. Also hit the "Contact Us" button.
4. Put together a decent resume, and keep it simple and straightforward. If you are a cook, call yourself a cook. You will be interviewed based on what you have done, your integrity gained by being a member of our service, and your focus. Don't be all over the board. And be realistic with you assessment of your skills and what you want to do. List your training, including possibly the PQS stuff you did. Call it what it is, a mentor program.
5. Call, email, or write the companies. Calls or emails to specific people work best.
6. Get the name of the person who coordinates the hiring for the positions you would like to be considered for. Contact that person.
7. Be humble and ready to invest in your career. I did really well with my own civilian career when I finally decided the world did not owe me a living because I had a bunch of degrees and good experience.

As an executive recruiter I worked with many really fine hospitality organizations, finding them finance, accounting and IT professionals. I know you will be successful if you focus your search and execute your plan.