Evening star., 1945-07-29
Many Enlisted Men
Better Trained Than
Officers for Civil Jobs

better jobs than ofilcers because Of
intensive CT training in specialties
which will make them experts for
civilian posts, Robert Goodwin, ex-
ecutive director of the War Man.
power Commission, said last night.
While officers in engineers, medi-
cal corps, transportation and other
Army work will be able to find
matching jobs in civilian life, 1t will
be more difiicult to place combat
officers who left school or their
first job to 60 into the service and
didn't get training along lines
duplicated in civilian work, he ex-
planned.
On the other hand, he said, job
analysts have found that SO per
cent Of the jobs performed by en-
listed men in the Army are the
same jobs they could be doing In
civilian life.
Many GIs More Skilled.
The Army, he said, has tendency
to feel that some Of its officers are
less skilled-and, therefore, less
qualified for civilian jobs-than its
enlisted men. That's why the Army
now has asked WING to analyze the
Jobs officers perform in the service
to see If there is any similar post
in civilian life.
The Marine Corps apparently
feels the same way. The Marine
Corps rehabilitation division, it was
learned, has issued a statement that
said the young officer group" has
been overlooked in the planning
for veterans.
Comparing young officers and en-
listed men with the same back
ground and service training to the
small-business men and white-collar
workers who lit is often claimed, |
are in the middle of an economic
squeeze" the Marine Corps lists
these examples Of men who are
going to face serious problems with
demobilization"::
/. The men who finished college
between 1889 and 1941 and anti
cipating the war, did not seek
permanent jobs.
2. The men who were commits
stoned through the Navy Viz pro-
gram and do not have college de-
gree.
3. The men who finished college
in the middle 30s have approxi-
mately five years Of job experience
behind them but don't want to 90
back to their old jobs, because they
feel their military experience has
made them capable of better job.
They want fresh start.
4. The men without a college back
ground who have been commissioned
from the ranks. AS an example OF
this group, the Marine Corps cited
a grocery clerk who was drafted
and went through the grades and
now major.
Almost without exception" the
Marine Corps predicted, "retraining
will be necessary, for the job of an
average officer does not train him in
any skill which will be readily salable
N a competitive labor market"
VINO Is on Hunt.
Mr.. Goodwin said VINO is now
conducting Nation wide search for
administrative, supervisory and
technical jobs in variety Of fields
ranging from television to suppress
sion Of noise, radio static and smoke
nuisance"
ave don't even know if these jobs
exist, but these are fields We do not .
have complete coverage on and II
the jobs are there, enlisted men as
well as officers will be sent to NIL
them," Mr.. Goodwin explained.
Oficers, he emphasized, will not
be sent to supervisory jobs just be-
cause they held rank in the armed
forces. 1t will depend on what they
did before they went into the Army,
what they learned in the Army,
what they want to do and how much
additional training they are willing
to take.
I'VE sometimes advise these men
that they don't have either the
training or the experience to do
what they want to do and advise
them to go back to school," Mr..
Goodwin said. Sometimes we have
to tell them they will have to start
pretty close to where they were when
they went into the Army.
"The final test is what the en-
ployer will offer man. Our part
is merely to advise him on the basis
Of his background and Army expert
ence on what he has the best chance
in.
I'VE can't automatically send an
officer to an administrative job II
he hasn't got the skills and qualifica-
tions. II we find an enlisted man
with the necessary qualifications,