November is special time to honor and remember our veterans. When it comes to their post-military career choices, the first challenge many veterans face is creating a resume that demonstrates the way their military skills transfer to the civilian job market.
The military helps shape and form some of the best leaders, and those leaving the military tend to make top candidates.
Keep in mind how important it is to speak civilian language when interviewing. In a recent Forbes article, Caroline Ceniza-Levine spoke about about her experience interviewing job candidates with military experience and how critical it is military veterans be able to sell their unique military experience to the job market. Whether you are talking with a potential employer in person or conveying your skills on a resume, being able to connect to the person to build rapport is a crucial step in moving forward to receiving a good job offer.
Without over-complicating the resume-writing process, you can begin by breaking it down into sections to help you formulate your thoughts and capture your most important skills. Writing your resume is a great career exercise and does several things for you, including building an awareness of your skills and abilities. It also helps you clearly define what you want the employer to know about you.
The best way to start is to become familiar with different types of resumes. Looking at several examples will help simplify the process and encourage creativity.
The thought of writing a resume can be overwhelming and keep you from presenting your experience in the most effective way. In the book, Expert Resumes for Military to Civilian Transitions, Wendy Enelow and Louise Kursmark offer four practical solutions to get you started:
Write your resume from the bottom up by starting with the easy information first. List your education, technology skills, professional affiliations and recognitions, for starters.
Write short job descriptions for older positions, the ones you held years ago. Be brief and focus on the highlights. Showcase promotions or achievements without too many details.
Write job descriptions for your most recent positions. Focus on major projects and significant achievements. Keep in mind to that these need to relate to your current job objectives. This is where selling your value to the reader becomes crucial — tell them about your successes and results.
Write your career summary last. This defines your objective and gives the reader a snapshot of your career highlights. It helps distinguish you from others and makes you memorable.
Shane Christopher has a good suggestion to help you translate your military experience to the civilian workplace. He recommends using “the Aunt Jane conversation.” Imagine you’re talking to your aunt at a family gathering. She wouldn’t understand the acronyms and military terminology, so you’d describe your descriptions of your military experience in terms Aunt Jane would understand.
Your resume does not have to be a stumbling block in your next career move. Keep your information clear, and always write to your audience. Employers are looking for leaders every day and having a strong resume will give you a great start.
How have you successfully transitioned your military experience to the civilian job market?
