JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A chance for military veterans to chart a new course -- that was the purpose of the fourth annual military job fair at The Players Championship Sawgrass Saturday.
Hundreds of active duty soldiers, reserve soldiers, retired military veterans and military spouses were out at TPC Sawgrass. Vets were able to speak with dozens of companies from around the area.
"I'm in the military and I am considering changing careers, and you know, I'm looking for jobs that (are) military-friendly," job seeker Ian Murray said.
That's why Murray decided to check out military job fair at TPC Sawgrass, which partnered up with the Jacksonville Military Veterans Coalition. Murray said he's glad he did.
"Very cool, a lot of positive feedback, a lot of interest, a lot of companies that are motivated to hire military reserve, us, veterans and stuff like that, so it was definitely a cool event," Murray said.
Murray was one of many who were out talking to companies at the booths, hoping to make a career move, or at least learn about one and put the skills learned in the military to use in the civilian world -- a lesson Enrique Ortega learned through feedback on his resume.
"I think, from my point of view, from being in the military, a lot of the wording was military. You got it transferred over to civilian side," Ortega said.
Organizers said the career fair was successful, with nearly 40 companies and nearly 400 people checking those companies out.
Matt Tuohy helped organize the event and said the least the community could do is provide veterans a path to a successful next chapter in their careers.
"Coming back from active service, regardless of where he or she served, (they have) learned a lot of what I referred to as success skills that we want them to be able to articulate to potential employers," Tuohy said.
And as job seekers left, they said they were more confident than ever.