Is there a website where you look up your military awards to see how they translate to the civilian world? Where can I find it?

When it comes to writing your resume, when it comes to awards there is no direct translation nor do awards really have any impact on your civilian resume. However, the suggestion I have for you and anyone else making the transition is rather than listing your awards, pull out the DA638, read through the bulletins and pull out one or two bullets that make business sense and apply for the position you are applying. For example, as an Operations SGT I received an ARCOM and one of the bullets mentioned something about reducing time and costs. I put that on my resume to show my understanding of such things. So look through your awards, pull a couple of bullets outs and work the wording so that it makes sense. Be ready to speak to it during your interview and if the job is not military related, be sure to stay away from the military speak. Keep it in terms of business and relatable to the position.

Have seen the military skills translators. Take the actual award bullets and convert them to the STAR format situation, task, action, result as a bullet on your resume. Commended for (STAR event)

Civilians understand awards language, it is the duties that do not. Words like heroism, honor, discipline, action, superb etc. all translate. It is the level that need be conveyed by some metric, Division-one in 20000, Army-among 1.4 mil etc. you can do this. Thank you for your service.

Hire Heroes USA will take awards/OER-NCOERS/schools into a resume for you. They will assign you a transition specialist!

I've heard and seen sites to translate skills and training but never awards. If you finally find it, let me know....as I am very curious about this

Awards do not mean much at all on a resume. Focus instead on the activities and accomplishments. Write your resume to show the results of what you did, and how you solved problems. Of course it should be applicable to the position you are seeking employment in. Resumes should be specifically tailored to demonstrate competency in the field you are applying for.

Read lots of resumes in my time as a private sector and government sector manager. I recognized military awards because of my background. What I was really looking for was responsibilities and accomplishments. Spell out briefly what your job responsibilities were and your accomplishments in that job. If you received an award such as an Army Commendation Medal, you can say something like "Received corporate-level recognition for exceptional performance."

Javier I can honestly say I never heard of such a site. I just made sure I was familiar enough with the write up of my individual awards to discuss them during an interview if it came up.

Kind of like awards themselves, it doesn't really matter what you get, but what you got it for that counts. Without getting into that hornets nest, I would say - avoid listing awards on your resume. If you want to highlight your actions then include bullets about what you did in your job description. A civilian reading your resume won't understand what an ARCOM is, but if you say, "received award for maintaining 100% timeliness of all tasks over a 2 year period then that would catch their attention.

On a separate point, as a personal pet peeve of mine - when it asks about awards please stop putting your Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Ribbon, GWTSM, Good Conduct Medals, etc. A civilian will be confused and a veteran is going to, at best, ignore them if they don't laugh at the fact that you included them.

The award is unrecognizable to civilians. What is important on a resume is what you have done. And you need to put it in civilian language. That is sometimes the hardest part. "A superb mechanized infantry squad leader" means nothing. Try "Responsible for the training, welfare, and daily tasks of 10 personnel". Or "Directly responsible for the operations, maintenance, and accountability of over $5 Million dollars worth of equipment". Those mean something.