Posted on Dec 15, 2015
From Military Service to the Civilian Workforce: 3 Keys to De-militarizing Your Resume
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There are thousands of articles and blogs about writing a civilian resume in the transition process. Many of these blogs and articles tell you what you need for a successful resume, but fail to tell you how to incorporate those elements into your resume. Here are a few tips for creating an effective military to civilian resume for a successful job search.
1. De-militarizing your resume
The United States military could likely be classified as having a language of its own with the number of abbreviations it uses in daily conversation. With a culture that reinforces these abbreviations, it is often difficult to translate them to something a civilian recruiter would understand. The Department of Defense has a tool to help you translate these abbreviations and acronyms to their civilian meaning called the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms.
2. What’s in it for them if they hire you?
Whereas resumes used to be prefaced with a one-sentence objective describing why you were looking for a job, it’s now an employer’s market, and they want to know why they should take 30 seconds to read your resume. This question can be answered in a profile summary or value statement. The profile summary should answer the following three questions:
• What unique experience and/or perspective do you bring to the company?
• What skills do you have that the company wants?
• How can you solve one of their problems?
Example of a Profile Summary:
Dedicated professional with eight years of outstanding performance in the U.S. Army. Earned two promotions and excelled as a leader. Accountable and ambitious, able to remain focused and productive in challenging situations. Offering top-quality customer service and security operations.
3. Tell the story behind your accomplishments
Often, those either in the military or who work closely with military personnel will know exactly why you got an award by seeing the award’s name. Civilian recruiters and hiring managers, however, are much more interested in what you accomplished to receive the award. Your resume should include specific measurements and/or outcomes appropriate for your audience.
By focusing on the above resume tips, you are setting up your job search for success in the civilian marketplace.
Authored by: Shanna Fowler Lambing
Helpful Hints by Grantham University. If you’re interested in more helpful hints for your transition, http://rly.pt/grantham-u-hints is a great place to get started!
1. De-militarizing your resume
The United States military could likely be classified as having a language of its own with the number of abbreviations it uses in daily conversation. With a culture that reinforces these abbreviations, it is often difficult to translate them to something a civilian recruiter would understand. The Department of Defense has a tool to help you translate these abbreviations and acronyms to their civilian meaning called the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms.
2. What’s in it for them if they hire you?
Whereas resumes used to be prefaced with a one-sentence objective describing why you were looking for a job, it’s now an employer’s market, and they want to know why they should take 30 seconds to read your resume. This question can be answered in a profile summary or value statement. The profile summary should answer the following three questions:
• What unique experience and/or perspective do you bring to the company?
• What skills do you have that the company wants?
• How can you solve one of their problems?
Example of a Profile Summary:
Dedicated professional with eight years of outstanding performance in the U.S. Army. Earned two promotions and excelled as a leader. Accountable and ambitious, able to remain focused and productive in challenging situations. Offering top-quality customer service and security operations.
3. Tell the story behind your accomplishments
Often, those either in the military or who work closely with military personnel will know exactly why you got an award by seeing the award’s name. Civilian recruiters and hiring managers, however, are much more interested in what you accomplished to receive the award. Your resume should include specific measurements and/or outcomes appropriate for your audience.
By focusing on the above resume tips, you are setting up your job search for success in the civilian marketplace.
Authored by: Shanna Fowler Lambing
Helpful Hints by Grantham University. If you’re interested in more helpful hints for your transition, http://rly.pt/grantham-u-hints is a great place to get started!
Command Post
Resume
Transition
Employment
Civilian Career
Edited 9 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 12
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As a hiring manager for an international travel card organization, I reviewed numerous resumes daily. Best = no more than two single pages. Address the hiring requirements up front and on point. A resume is a snapshot - NOT a life story. One will get into the details during an actual interview. Be flexible; different career organizations may use varying types of printed and/or on-line resumes that don't follow a standard format, so there's no "one size fits all" with this. Brief, concise, and to the point always got my first attention. I set those aside for a more thorough and detailed examination. And yes, by all means please 'demilitarize' your verbiage. I understand we are all proud of our military achievements and awards, but the common civilian in business won't recognize their value as readily as any individual with previous military experience will. Usually, the last area on a resume asks for information concerning recognition or awards. I did not make it a practice to list all the items awarded to me during my service, simply stating rather, "Numerous military awards and accolades." The interviewer would then inquire as to what those were and I was given full opportunity to explain. And one final point. A lot of businesses out there use on-line job application forms. They receive thousands of such applications daily. What makes you any different? What can you do to stand out? Very simple and locked in the stone of long experience. Hand carry your printed resume to the company you applied for on-line and ask to see the hiring manager or staff. There will NEVER be any better method of marketing yourself than a face-to-face introduction. Tell that person you've stopped by to meet them personally and drop off your resume. Trust me on this one - you will plant a seed and leave an unforgettable impression that any on-line application can't match.
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CPT Steve Curley
Great advice!!!! As a retired COO I add one more item. Spend as much time on a well written single page cover letter. Many times I never got to a resume because individuals applying for senior positions had written an ineffective cover letter. Remember the cover letter is your means of presenting yourself and your resume to the hiring manager.
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the article is okay. My advice: 1. Do not use an objective statement unless you have a focused resume. Otherwise they are too limiting. 2. Remove acronyms. 3. Do not attempt to de-militarize your resume to the point that they get confused on who you are and what you have done. I've seen many resumes where they made grand assumptions about the civilian equivalent of their military jobs and they are usually wrong.
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CPT W Brown
Great advice CAPT Tom. #1 and #2 are absolutely spot on. #3 is to put military experiences in terms that industry can understand. I think mine back in the day explained the scope - # of people, equipment, $, leadership, and performance of the unit - as a mechanized infantry Co CO. As to my last duty assignment, all I wrote was 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Even back in the mid-1970s, SF needed no translation to any potential employer I faced.
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COL Vincent Stoneking
CAPT Tom Bersson I can't applaud point number 3 too loudly. I fairly regularly get contacted by peers that I know who are trying to figure out what a veteran actually did in the military. These fall into two buckets. Bucket #1: they've used our "secret language" in writing their resume, and I can translate it pretty easily. Bucket #2: they've followed the "demilitarize" mantra to the point that I have NO IDEA what they actually did. Sometimes for bucket #2, I have to go to LinkedIn and reconstruct their career to figure out what they meant when they said "Executive Vice President for Operations." Sometimes, even with MY vacancies, I'll just give up on bucket #2. It's FAR better to be in bucket #3 (your resume is readily comprehensible and non-inflated and can be read by a civilian easily).
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