Applying for Civilian Jobs Common Resume Mistakes former Military Personnel Make
Transitioning to civilian life after years of military service can be a challenge. Your resume shouldn't be the hardest part. Just remember to write your resume so that the civilian world can understand and appreciate the experience, skills, and discipline you will bring to the civilian company. These tips will help.
A new world, a new language
Avoid military terminology in your resume. Especially avoid acronyms, abbreviations, and mid-sentence capitalization. The civilian world doesn't speak that language.
The exception is the military contract, but don't overdo it. A few military contractors may appreciate a limited amount of military jargon. However, the first person to look at your resume may not have a military background.
Decide what job you want
A good civilian resume states clearly what kind of job you want after you leave the military. Resumes that lack direction never get to the interview stage.
Focus on the job you want
Your military experience includes many skills, responsibilities, and honors that may not be directly relevant to your desired civilian job. If you don't want your transferable skills to be buried in other detail, you will need to trim down your assets considerably.
Always focus on results. Don't tell why, tell what you accomplished. Whenever possible, the skills you list should be tied to a concrete accomplishment related to your desired future employment. Be as specific as you can, including dollar values, percentage improvements, and the number of people you supervised. In many cases, you should have those from your documented evaluations.
A good way to do all this is to make a pre-resume, using as many pages as it takes, in which you list and categorize every skill you learned and every honor you earned, and match them with your responsibilities and achievements. This way, when you are making a targeted resume, you can easily pick out the skills and matching achievements which will be relevant to your future civilian employer.
Training counts
If you have been in the military for any length of time, you have completed several courses and programs in fields such as management or IT. Many of those skills transfer well into the civilian world.
List and categorize all your education and training in your pre-resume, then eliminate any basic courses where they have been superseded by an advanced course. You won't ever have to refer to those basic courses again. When making your targeted resume, pick out only the education and training which will be relevant to your future civilian employer.
Avoid unnecessary detail
When explaining your skills, training, and accomplishments, avoid unnecessary detail. A civilian employer won't understand or care about the distinctions between specific types of equipment. If you are using more than a single line to describe a skill or accomplishment, you are going into too much detail.
Discipline counts
All employers like a strong work ethic. This is one place where your military background really shines. Let it show.
Use your own words
Resist the temptation to copy a DOT template or work evaluation word for word. The last thing you want is for your resume to sound like everyone else's. You want to stand out, not blend in.
A good thesaurus can work wonders. However, if writing really isn't your thing, your transition assistance program counselor can assist you to find the right words.
Grammar and spelling
When you are done, check your resume for correct grammar and spelling. Set it aside for a day, then check it again. After all, you want to stand out for all the right reasons.
