Tag Archives: military resume

3 Tips For Adapting Your Military Resume For A Civilian Job

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The transition from an active military life to a quiet, retired life is not easy. If you are like most ex military personnel and your retirement from the military is just around the corner, chances are you are making plans to join the civilian work force. Congratulations. It’s a great move and you will find that there are tremendous job prospects open to you. The first step towards making the most of the opportunities available is to adapt your military resume for a non-military job. Here are a few tips that will help you.

Check Out Our Example: (Click On It to Download in MS Word or Text Format)

Military Resume Example

Tip #1- Define Your Skill Sets & Your Experience in your Military Resume

Writing a generalized military resume will not help highlight your skills or experience. All military personnel do not have the same responsibilities or job functions. Different military positions require radically different skill sets and the work experiences are just as unique. Keeping this in the forefront, it is important to first define the skills and experience you have garnered through your years in the military and look for a job that is commensurate with these traits. It is only when you have targeted a specific career path that you can go about adapting your military resume appropriately. If you are considering two completely different types of jobs, it is a good idea to have two different resumes on hand.

Tip #2 – Address the Employer’s Needs in your Military Resume

When adapting your military resume, keep in mind that the one thing any employer will look for when scanning your resume is how you will benefit the organization. While you may have had a long and highly successful career in the military, all of your experiences may not be relevant to the job at hand. Listing all of your medals and achievements may end up detracting from your more significant accomplishments.  It’s natural that you will want to showcase all of your triumphs but if you do, keep this section short. Don’t let it run into multiple pages. Instead, it is more important to elaborate on those experiences and achievements that address your potential employer’s needs. It should answer the question, “Which of my experiences are most appropriate to the job at hand and will demonstrate to the employer that I am capable of doing the job?” That’s the only information that any employer is likely to be looking for.

Tip #3- Proofread Your Military Resume: Is it Civilian Enough?

Having spent a major portion of your life in the military, it is only natural that you will be more familiar with military lingo. However, not all civilians are familiar with military terminology. When adapting your military resume, it is important that you tone down the military speak so that there is no room for any misinterpretation. Don’t just assume that you’ve got it right. Go out there and test drive your resume by soliciting feedback from your civilian friends and modify your resume accordingly.

Adapting your military resume while keeping these three tips in mind is key to getting called for those all important job interviews.

Five Tips to a Great Military Resume

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When leaving the military, you may wonder how to include all your military experience in just one page of a resume. It can be done, but you will need to choose the most important parts of your career on your military resume. Below, you’ll find some tips to help you do just that in a format that will get you hired.

Check Out Our Example: (Click Onit To Download in Word or Text Format)

Draft a Sample

Take a look at some of the samples online. You will be surprised at how many there are and many will provide a sample of the specific military resume you need. Pay attention to the formatting. Then start drafting a resume in the same format. You can add in as much information as you feel is relevant at first. Once you start typing it up, you will be able to cut out the information that may not fit as well as you initially thought.

Chronological or Functional

When choosing a format for your military resume, consider either a chronological or functional format. A chronological format lists your employment in a chronological order. Even if you were in the military, you can still use this format. Start with your initial enlistment and then progress through the promotions you earned. Include a section on any awards or medals you received.

A functional military resume focuses on your skills and experience. You can list the one employer, but then add in any training, awards, medals, or special deployments. This is a good choice if you are searching for a job in the same type of field as you had in the military.

Watch the Abbreviations

There is probably no one career in the military that doesn’t use a wide range of abbreviations in their everyday conversations. However, the civilian world isn’t always aware of what these abbreviations means. When creating your military resume, make sure you don’t use abbreviations that may be misinterpreted. Take the time to spell out the message you are trying to convey.

Don’t Be Too Humble

While you may feel like underplaying some of the really impressive things you accomplished while in the military, there’s no need to be too humble. Those medals and awards that you earned say a lot about the type of person you are. It’s okay to include them all in your resume, starting with the ones that are most difficult to receive.

Additional Tips

Many companies will give special consideration to veterans. You may be eligible for additional points on a skills test or some companies could even move your resume up higher on the list to interview. Take advantage of this, as it can help you land a job faster than some other might be able to.

A Final Thought

Writing an effective military resume isn’t as difficult as it might seem. There are many samples available online to help you get started. Make sure you proofread your resume carefully and if you feel it’s too long, have someone else look over it. They may be able to see some areas where you can get rid of some information, so it all fits on one page.