Military Resume Examples

Career transition resumes can be some of the most difficult to write. The key to an effective military to civilian resume is to demonstrate how your military skills, qualifications, experiences, and competencies will be of value in a civilian career.

Therefore, it is vital to use civilian terms and not military lingo that hiring managers won’t understand. Try to translate achievements into improved performance, efficiency and cost reduction.

Use key transferable skills from your military background that are highly sought after in the corporate world as the building blocks for your new military conversion resume. Some good military resume examples include personnel development and leadership, contract negotiations and budgeting. Organizational skills are an asset in jobs involving logistics, production, distribution and supply chain management. Of course, trust and loyalty make military professionals ideal for jobs involving intelligence and security.

Once you have identified your key transferable skills, it is time to hone in on what you accomplished during your military career. These accomplishments should be ways that you reduced costs, increased productivity, improved quality, and more. Accomplishments are buying motivators for hiring managers. They will capture a prospective employer’s interest and open the door to job interviews and opportunities.

Military Resume Examples Tips and Advice

A common difference between a military professional and a civilian worker is the type of achievements gained thorough experience. In many situations, a professional in the military is seeking to complete an objective. This could be a for a variety of reasons such as improved security, increase data or regulatory compliance. A business professional is often engaging in activities to increase profit.

Therefore, individuals with long military careers find it can be difficult to highlight accomplishments. You still must look at your actions and explain how they resulted in something positive. It is ideal if you can at least show you were successful in achieving a goal or milestone. Even if you were not reducing costs or increasing revenues, the ability to perform is the one thing you can bring to a private sector employer. If you have a wide range of skills, then you may consider an alternative resume format such as a functional or hybrid resume.

Otherwise, military professionals can emphasize their discipline, hard work, honesty and integrity. And in many cases, military professionals get awards that can accentuate their success and serve as proof of achievement in the resume where quantified results may not be possible.