I think you have 2 options.
1. Go back to school and get an advanced degree. It is far more respectible to say you are a student than you are unemployed.
2. Take a close look at becoming an Officer* in one branch of the military. Enlisted job skills are more entry level. With a degree and a commision you can later sell yourself as having had managerial positions. As an O-1 you wil have 20-40 people working for you.
*No, I’m not bashing enlisted folks, it’s just given the OP’s degree and age it seems that it may be better fit to look at the Officer side of the house.
Yeah I would assume I would enter in as an officer I just got to find out how to do it and I think you provided me with some of that info thanks.
As a retired E8, I was going to say the same thing. In submarines, being an O-1 expempts you from mess cooking, that's about it. Among JO's, only the O4 Engineer has that many people working for him.