My experience is that companies like to hire ex-military because it has a certain prestige involved*. But right now these guys are coming out of the military into one of the worst job markets in history. For those without valuable specialty skills, it is going to be very hard to get any job.

Those trying to get into the middle management positions it is even worse. The market is flooded with those people. Companies laid a lot of them off during the recession, and their job skills are mostly easily transferred to companies in different industries. Plus, those jobs often depend on who you know and your reputation, which puts those coming out of the military behind.

Jay

* For jobs involving military contracting there is also a lot of political and networking factors. One sure sign of these companies is that the managers are given positions such that the hierarchy matches their previous military rank.