How to Write a Military Resume

Leaving the military and entering the civilian workforce can seem like entering unfamiliar territory to many veterans, especially veterans who have spent years away from the civilian job market. For employers, military experience and skills can be of real value, but your resume has to do its job. It must convince potential employers that they will benefit from hiring you.

In that sense, a military resume is like any other, but there are some distinctive factors that call for a bit of extra attention.

Resume Basics

• A resume is just a piece of paper (or a collection of characters in a digital file), but it is all that an employer has to go on. At the start, that piece of paper stands for the person applying for the job. It is first and foremost a marketing tool and it is selling a product. That product is you. Every choice you make should be aimed at making the sale.

• Put yourself in the employer’s shoes and make sure that your resume demonstrates the ways in which hiring you will benefit the employer. The question is not what your employer can do for you, but what you can do for the employer.

• Target the content of your resume to job specifics. It pays to research the company and the position so that your resume emphasizes the right skills and experience.

• Many companies have automated the initial screening process, often searching resumes for keywords that match specific job criteria. Be sure that your resume includes those keywords. Again, research can pay dividends.

Military Specifics

• Assume that the employer knows nothing about the military. This often means translating military job titles into something that a civilian employer can easily understand. If you were an Army Technical Engineer, for example, provide enough detail so that an employer understands just how this relates to civilian construction and planning.

• For the same reason, avoid acronyms and military jargon unless the company’s business relates directly to the military and it uses that language itself.

• If in any doubt, ask someone with no military background to review your resume and point out any items that are unclear. You may not have expected to need a professional to help with your resume but if it results in getting hired sooner, this may be a wise investment in your future.

Tips

Make sure that your resume is easy to read and that it calls employers’ attention to the highlights that apply to the job. Therefore:
• Misspellings and grammatical errors can be deadly.

• A resume template can be useful as a starting point, but it will not make your resume stand out. Make your resume simple but distinctive and personalize it without going overboard.

• Be aware of the format that a company requests and be sure that you are adhering to the company’s instructions.