Customer Program Manager

West
US Army, O-3

I left the military in July 2010 but began searching for jobs in May. I served as a Captain, Combat Engineer and found throughout my job search that my military background gave me the leadership, management, budget, supply, logistics and property accountability skills that are appealing to civilian companies.

JP Sniffen was my recruiter, and he provided amazing assistance. He helped me every step of the way and found exactly what I was looking for. When JP and I first connected, he told me he had a conference in Seattle with about seven companies coming in if I was interested.  I went up there and had three interviews, including Cypress, my future employer. 

I then attended the San Diego conference a few weeks later, but shortly after that Cypress called me in for follow-on interviews and offered me the job. I am currently a Product Marketing Engineer Sr. for Cypress Semiconductors' Large Touchscreen group.  Parallels to my military experience include problem solving, project management, people skills, international relations, and a good work ethic.

Initially, I started working with another recruiting firm but they could not find me anything that interested me.  I was working with them for about two to three months, and they kept trying to find me phone interviews and kept telling me to wait until their West Coast hiring conference.  I told them I was interested in an engineering project management position on the West Coast, and the first opportunity that they sent me was for a retail position on the East Coast.  I felt like they didn't listen to me at all. 

On the other hand, my experience with Orion was amazing.  They made the job search process easy and convenient.  JP and his staff were able to answer all my questions and prepare me for every interview I went into. 

I also tried to do the job search on my own using the internet and various networking sites with little success. I was having trouble finding the companies that understood the military skill-set and could relate it to their job positions despite my lack of civilian experience.  JP and Orion were able to put me into multiple private interviews with companies looking specifically for what transitioning military officers had to offer.