I would advise them to look at a Government civilian position which provided training and had advancement possibilities. If they only had typing skills, then apply for a job requiring word processing skills. Once you have been hired, you are in a position to apply for other positions in all parts of the country. The benefits are unbelievable, both while working and after retirement.

Never got upset with the contractors I dealt with. One of my employees grabbed my phone when I started to dial and snatched it out of my hand. Told him to return to his desk and I would talk to him when I had finished.

I went to work at the Shipyard shortly after graduating from Berwick Academy, which has always been a Prep School. in 1951. I worked as a GS 3 for 7 years before jobs were posted for advancement. Transferred go GS-4 Procurement Clerk and then to GS7 as a buyer in the Purchase Division , a GS9 Contract Specialist, a GS 11 Contracting Officer, and retired as a GS 13 Contracting Officer in 1987. All but one year was in the Supply Dept, Purchase Division . Shortly after receiving the GS 4 Procurement Clerk, we had a reduction in force and I was on the bottom of the list. I went to the Wood Working Shop as a GS 3 Clerk typist where I learned to use the IMB key punch machines for tracking Navy projects. After a year, applied for and received a GS4 Procurement Clerk in the same office at the Shipyard that I previously worked in. Enjoyed the military as well as the civilian supervisors. Military were either LT or LCDR, and civilian GS 12 and above. The office eventually employed a civilian lawyer the last few years before retirement and I enjoyed working with him.