Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Private sector resumes demand clear language that even those outside of a candidate’s industry can easily understand.
For example, a Certified Public Accountant who works with non-profit companies and the self-employed would not write:
- Oversaw 501 (c)(3) accounts; provided 1099s to meet government regulations.
A non-accountant would be mystified when reading the above. A better way to present the same data would be:
- Oversaw non-profit – 501 (c)(3) – accounts; provided self-employment tax forms (1099s) to relevant parties to avoid IRS related fines and penalties.
One government site – The Defense Finance and Accounting Service – suggests the following:
Using Appropriate Terminology
Use plain English. Write your resume as though you are submitting it for review by someone who has no technical understanding of the kind of work done in positions you may have previously held. Imagine that you are explaining what you have done and the skills you have used to a friend who has never worked in the same kind of jobs as you.
Describe the knowledge and skills you possess and the duties you have performed using terminology common to the general occupational field. Describe skills and experience in universally accepted terms that could be readily understood in both the public and private sectors.
Minimize the use of acronyms in your resume narrative. If you must use them, explain what they represent, what processes or systems they describe, and how you have used the knowledge, skills, or abilities associated with them.
The following examples demonstrate ways “technical goulash” can be translated into something understandable for both the Resume Builder and staffing specialists:
BAD: Use IATS to process travel vouchers.
BETTER: Use an automated financial system, IATS, to compute and process travel reimbursements for transportation, meals, lodging, and similar entitlements.
BAD: Process vouchers and issue a variety of disbursements using SRD1.
BETTER: Using knowledge of disbursing principles and procedures, examine requests for payments to individual military and civilian employees, private sector vendors, and other public agencies. Perform a quality control review to ensure that these requests are in order, assign appropriate accounting classifications, and prepare checks or electronic transfer payments. Use an automated disbursing system, SRD1, to accomplish these actions.
This straight forward, three sentence paragraph might be sufficient to describe all of the major duties performed by a disbursing clerk or technician position.
BAD: Assist functionals in writing SCRs. Develop interfaces and serve as the POC for all EC initiatives.
BETTER: Work with functional users of automated financial and accounting systems to help identify needed changes and to write system change requests (SCRs). Write computer programs to enable automated systems to interface and to communicate with each other. Serve as the primary contact for automated electronic commerce (EC) systems and improvements.
Descriptions of duties performed, knowledge used, and skills applied in accomplishing those duties should be simple and straightforward, descriptive, and reduced to only essential information. When finished writing a paragraph, it is helpful to stop and ask yourself the following questions:
Would a third party who is not familiar with my occupational background understand the kind of work that I do?
Is there nonessential information (nice to have, but not helpful in meeting mandatory qualification requirements) in what I have written?
Have I omitted any unique, but relevant special experience or skills I possess that might distinguish me from other candidates if my resume reaches the desk of a selecting official?
Have I adequately described the major characteristics of my occupation or background and skills that are most common to my occupation?
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
by Lou Huskey, CPRW, ResumeEdge.com Editor
Transitioning from the military world can be a challenge, but many candidates find great success in job searches when they are able to target specific companies that search for employees with this type expertise. Most individuals coming out of the military have valuable experience in leading teams and making strategic business decisions that greatly affect the projects they have been involved in. Accentuate strong leadership backgrounds to show how you can easily move into management positions. In the corporate world, employers look for people who can work independently without lots of direction, so focusing on being a self-motivated, disciplined individual is important. Be sure to highlight the demanding work schedules that the military typically imposes. Being able to work in fast-paced environments and handle highly stressful situations typically creates an outstanding level of integrity and gives you an above average work ethic that many others don’t offer.
Emphasize communications skills by showcasing knowledge of various languages and the ability to work with individuals with varied cultural backgrounds. Highlight your computer proficiencies and technical strengths, eliminating technical jargon that simply does not apply outside of the military world unless it pertains to the job you are applying for.
Many companies specializing in defense, homeland security, and other government markets seek out experienced employees for job opportunities throughout the world, so indicate that you are able to relocate and travel. When contracts are lost, employees can be required to move as well, so being open to these situations will help a company see that you are the best selection. Defense companies search for applicants with security clearances and many times individuals aren’t even admitted to job fairs geared towards these industries without one.
Closely analyze the job advertisements you find interesting. It is so important to show how your capabilities clearly parallel their job requirements by bringing out the matching skills to indicate your expertise is what an organization is searching for. This can be achieved not only within your professionally prepared resume, but also in a cover letter. These documents should highlight the most important aspects of your career and be crafted in a concise, yet informative manner. A long document that is jam-packed with too much detail simply won’t be read in this tight market.
To conclude, candidates with military backgrounds have so much to offer commercial employers, even those who are not involved in government-related ventures. By researching potential positions and marketing your most important abilities, you will be able to utilize the best of what you have learned while serving in the military and find an exciting, rewarding career opportunity.
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Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
by Jennifer Stiglic, BA, ME, CPRW, ResumeEdge.com Editor
There is a big difference between, “Provide mission critical technical services to the battalion for the tracking of all cargo material in a combat zone” and “Direct IT services to support a 150-person operation, tracking all cargo materials in a demanding work environment.”
Job responsibilities in the military can easily translate to corporate positions; you just need to overcome the language barrier and jargon. The process of translating military jargon into civilian language is essentially the same as translating a resume from Spanish into English…it is a different language. For example, common words in military resumes include command, battalion/soldiers, and mission. These can translate into civilian terminology as supervised, team, and organizational goal. Hiring managers may not understand the significance of your experience when they read resumes with military jargon stating leadership of defensive techniques, combat readiness, weapons storage or combat zone operations.
In order to increase your marketability for a civilian job, break down your experiences and re-word the content to match the language of your target position.
The first step is to break down job duties into individual tasks to identify key strengths. To accomplish this task, read job postings, company job descriptions, and industry resumes located on job boards and industry association websites to match your experiences to civilian jobs. A great resource is the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook located online at: www.bls.gov/OCO. This site provides overviews of job positions with detailed information on the nature of the work, language used, and education needed. The second step is to go through your experience and transition your resume using civilian language found in the job postings and company descriptions. Some responsibilities could relate to equipment maintenance, international relations, budget management, team training and leadership, personnel management, and logistics management.
Accomplishments are critical to the resume whether they are for the military or corporate/civilian positions. Be sure to highlight your accomplishments in the resume and quantify the results based on impact to the organization.
In the end, one easy way to test your resume is to have a non-military person review the resume and let you know the verbiage or wording they do not understand.
