Michael Raynard Mayberry graduated from the Worldwide Campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in March 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics and minors in Aviation Safety and Management. Michael then went on to pursue a Master of Aeronautical Science in the specialty fields of Aviation/Aerospace Safety Systems and Aviation/Aerospace Operations, graduating in May 2012.

Michael is a retired U.S. Navy Combat Veteran who served during Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Global War on Terrorism. In August 2007, Michael joined the civilian workforce at Flightstar Aircraft Services (FAS) as an Avionics Specialist. During his time at FAS, he continued his education path by completing his undergraduate and master degrees. He didn’t stop there. His focus was to use his military experience and college education to land a position in Safety, Quality, or Operations. With the help of Career Services resources, he was able to build a government resume that detailed each career field for which he wanted to apply. Within time, the interviews started coming forth. On August 30, 2010, Michael started work with the Federal Government, Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) as an Aircraft Quality Assurance Engineer.

Michael is an active leader in his community of Orange Park, FL. He’s a member of West Jacksonville Church of God in Christ where he’s a volunteer leader of ReSon to Care Male Mentoring Ministry (ages 6-16) and The Men of Distinction (MOD) Ministry.  Michael has been married to Michelle for 23 years, by whom he fathered two lovely daughters, RayNiesha and Deja.

Michael also serves as the Florida Federation/North Area Director of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. where he was awarded Upsilon Lambda Chapter New Brother of the Year Service Award in 2004 and Brother of the Year in 2005. He served as Chapter President in 2006 and 2007. Since then he has held numerous chapter executive positions.

With your background in aviation safety, avionics and quality engineering, what career advice do you have for people seeking employment in these areas?

Stay with what you know!! Most military personnel have multiple skills, and it’s quite okay to have multiple skillsets since it gives you more opportunities to land a job. The fields of Safety and Quality have similar backgrounds, so that made it much easier to build my government resume with keywords for the electronic resume systems. My undergraduate studies at Tennessee State University were Technical Aeronautics within Industrial Engineering. The ERAU Professional Aeronautics degree was definitely a refresher in up-to-date studies and programs to prepare me for the civilian sector. Advancing into a master’s program in Aeronautics and Aerospace gave me the opportunity to apply for mid-level career jobs. To sum it all up, the more education and experience you have, the more of an invaluable candidate you are for employment. If you find yourself facing challenges getting employed in one field, customize your resume for another field of study or experience you may have. Any certification courses (such as A&P, ASQ, Lean Six Sigma) that you completed while in the military or college are definitely a plus when seeking employment.

You successfully navigated the federal government application process. What tips do you have for application success?

The federal government resume should be at least five pages, and that can be very difficult for anyone just getting out of college. Prior military personnel can establish a lengthy resume by utilizing their military assignments. I suggest utilizing performance evaluations written in Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) as a key resource. College students should make every attempt to acquire an internship within the federal government. This will get you in the door and establish a federal record. It can take six months to a year to successfully get into the federal government system. It all starts with the resume. If you know someone who is already within the government system, ask that person or contact Human Resources to get a copy of the Job Skillset of your career path. You can also retrieve skillset information from the job descriptions that is within the job announcements on USAJobs. Take advantage of the resources offered by ERAU Career Services.

Networking has been a successful job search technique for you. How have you used networking to obtain employment? What did you do to market yourself to potential employers?

My technique of networking was to compile a list of people I knew within the companies that had my interest. I continued forwarding my resume to each of them with updates and suggestions that were given to me. Each time I received a name via the Industry/Career Expo, internet, telephone, or through referrals, I would add that person to the email when forwarding my resume. It’s good to enter your name into a company’s database so you will be readily available once an announcement posts. I still attend the ERAU Industry/Career Expo and other job fairs every opportunity I get. This is a good way to meet people within Human Resources or representatives from a targeted company. It’s also important to review and update your resume on a monthly basis.

How have your Embry-Riddle degrees opened doors for you?

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is a well-known, respected university in the aviation industry.  Technical skills are in high demand in today’s economy, and a degree from ERAU is priority because of its technical educational studies. Let’s just say a degree from ERAU is priceless.