Moving From Military to Civilian Work: Why Your Resume Matters

Leaving the service and settling back into civilian life brings a long list of adjustments. One of the first things you'll rework, assuming you're job hunting, is your resume. It's the document that tells a hiring manager you're ready for a role outside the armed forces. More than that, it points to the abilities you carry that have nothing to do with your time in uniform. The goal is straightforward: convince the person reading it that you can function well in a civilian setting and that you've got the skills the work demands.

Everything on that page carries weight, because a resume is the first impression most employers ever get of you. Your military background counts for plenty, but it shouldn't dominate the whole document. Pull accomplishments from across your adult life so the reader sees someone with range, someone bringing real value to a team. A few things to work in:

Go back through your service record and pull out the skills that carry over to the specific civilian jobs you're chasing. Where military terms or jargon slip in, translate them into plain language a non-veteran will actually understand. Skip the combat specifics entirely. Listing your rank and your military job is enough. Gather accomplishments from every stretch of your adult life, military and civilian both, and put numbers to them wherever you can.

Keep each point short. One-sentence descriptions and bullet lists read fastest, and three or four bullets per role is plenty. Hold the whole thing to two pages at most; long resumes often get set aside unread, and the ones that do get read risk burying something important. For formatting, go plain: white paper, black 12-point Times New Roman. It looks professional and it's easy on the eyes. Order your experience from most recent backward.

Some material does more harm than good, so here's what to keep off the page. Speak to what the employer needs rather than what you're after. Steer clear of anything negative. Lean on accomplishment language instead of dry job-description phrasing, and stay concise, sticking to the highlights of each role so the document stays readable.

Drop personal pronouns and write in the third person. Leave your references off; put them on a separate short sheet the employer can request. Keep every claim truthful, because recruiters notice when someone stretches things. Don't list pay or salary from past jobs either. Those conversations belong in person. And again, cut the military jargon wherever you can.

When you sit down to build the civilian version, frame your skills, knowledge and abilities in a way that pulls a positive reaction from whoever's hiring. Any veteran can do this. It's how you signal that your service means a great deal to you while still showing you're fully capable in a civilian role. Employers want that reassurance, particularly when the position looks nothing like the work you did in uniform.

- Rosemary Kitchen

Reference: Enlow, W. S. (2005). Writing Military-to-Civilian Resumes: Make Your Resume Interviewable. Retrieved on February 4, 2015.