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Col. Jack Jacobs: Troops are better qualified job seekers

Veterans need to recognize they are a strong commodity in the job marketplace, Col. Jack Jacobs said Tuesday during an Afternoon MoJoe roundtable discussion.

Veterans need to recognize they are a strong commodity in the job marketplace, and employers should understand they are hiring a responsible and authoritative person when they hire a veteran, Col. Jack Jacobs said Tuesday during an Afternoon MoJoe roundtable discussion.

"Frequently these troops are better qualified to run the organizations that they would ultimately get hired to be in than the people who are hiring them," said Jacobs, who is also an msnbc military analyst.

It takes the military eight weeks to prepare troops, but only three days to transition veterans back into civilian life. The period is too short and unacceptable for veterans to readjust to life as a civilian, he said.

But veterans also need to promote themselves and realize they demonstrate necessary skills. They realize they are a small  group of people when they go into the service, and they are an even smaller group of people among Americans when they get out, he said.

"After Vietnam, there was a community of veterans in this country," Mike Barnicle, msnbc contributor, said during the discussion. "But today we have—it seems to me—a country where too many people, especially prospective employers, don't realize that you have someone...who has incredible leadership qualifications that mean more than: 'Hey, can you fix the vending machine?' "

Related: U.S. Marine vet: Employing veterans is not charity

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