What's the employment outlook for telecom?
Let's pause to remember, this day. Okay? This is a very good read about September 11th. (internal link)
Q. What's the employment outlook for telecom? I have a military background with radar. (This answer compiled from several sources.)
A.Telecom has been pretty down for a while, but it's starting to recover. You might look into going into the cellular biz as a cell tech. Maintenance work of cellular transmittting equipment. The pay seems to be decent, and benefits are good. The downside is that there is nightwork from time to time, and if you really like getting into trouble shooting circuits, forget it. It's board swapping. They seem to like ex-military radar guys. Many telecoms (wireline and wireless) use a lot of microwave, so your radar background would stand you in good stead.
There are various jobs posted by Verizon Wireless right now:
https://careers.verizonwireless.com/erphrprd/home/
careerhome1.html(external link)
Select the "Network" box and an area if you want to be picky, and see what they have.
There are also positions in the NOC, or Network Operations Center. These are folks that watch screens for alarms on various pieces of the network. The pay won't be as good as a cell tech, but it is more of an entry level job. It could be a foot in the door kind of thing, if they think you aren't qualified for cell tech. But I suspect you are.
Cingular just bought AT&T Wireless, so I don't know what will happen with AT&T from one market to the next. In a few places there may be some layoffs, but I expect that will happen mostly in management and sales/marketing. Until the paperwork is complete, they're probably not hiring anyway.
Sprint PCS is a lousy company - they can never make up their minds and have had frequent layoffs.
Nextel is a possibility, though their future is a bit uncertain.
SureWest Wireless out of Roseville, California is excellent. On the wireline side Roseville Telephone are the same good people.
Alltel is a regional company scattered around the south. HQ in Little Rock. I hear they are good to work for.
Stay away from small companies - you won't get training. And speaking of which, don't ever quit learning. Grab as much training as you can. I've seen what happens to people who rest on their laurels. Dead end jobs. Technology moves fast, especially in telecom. Stay up to date or get left behind. WHATEVER YOU DO, LEARN ABOUT NETWORKING. TCP/IP IS THE FUTURE (internal link) OF ALL COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS. At least for the next 5-10 years, anyway.
I wish you well - I know what unemployment is like!