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"I kept seeing electronic resumes wanted by companies I was applying to. Not being computer-smart, I had no idea what that meant. I searched the sites and used you guys since you seemed professional and affordable. The electronic resume you prepared for me looks better than my regular resume. I didn’t know you could make regular text so appealing. I owe you my job." |
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Military Transitions
The good news is that a whopping 92 percent of military personnel use a computer on a daily basis-a figures that is much higher than that for the general population. With a background in the armed forces, the typical job seeker has a competitive advantage when it comes to filling technical positions or positions requiring management, teamwork, and personnel skills. The problem arises in letting an employer know what you've done in terms that your typical human relations officer can understand. The first and most important guideline to remember is that you should write for an audience that is completely ignorant of military rank and terminology. .
Develop a Timeline and Use your Resources
Unlike most civilians looking for jobs, you probably have a good idea when you'll need to exchange fatigues for pinstripes. This allows you a flexibility that many of them will not have in planning your career transition. The first step to any search will involve an honest evaluation of your assets. DORS, the resume database available at your local career and alumni programs office, should be the first organization you contact. In many cases, they will be able to recommend a headhunter in the field you're considering, or recommend a company like the Lucas Group to help you evaluate your skill set. Books like What Color is Your Parachute 2002, rightly named one of the best books for job hunters by Publisher's Weekly, have sections on changing careers and often address military transitions. Sites such as Salary.com can give you a good idea of what to expect in terms of your finances. Headhunters, especially those who specialize in finding tech jobs, charge your employer, not you, but you will need to get a general idea of what to expect once you're finding your own housing and buying business clothes. TROA.org is a good source for finding documents about the financial benefits you'll receive from the government after you're a civilian again.
Using Contacts
In addition to what the U.S. government and private companies specializing in veteran placement (Military.com, for instance) can do for you, ask your friends-or, more accurately, your friends who have already found jobs on the "outside." If you've worked with a person closely, it's likely that you'll have similar experiences and skills, and that they will have recommendations for you. Any contact, veteran or longtime civilian, is helpful when you're trying to break into an industry. Your resume has a much better chance of being shortlisted if another employee mentions your name to a human relations officer.
Resumes and your marketable skills
As with most career changers, your resume should be both chronological and functional-focusing on the skills you've learned as well as a chronological listing of the ranks you've held and where. Check out the ResumeEdge resume center for in-depth resume advice.
In writing your resume, you should avoid acronyms and anything that might be perceived as jargon-it's a good idea to have non-military friends read your resume and point out anything that they can't understand. Remember, although you have a good idea what the job responsibilities of a lieutenant colonel are, chances are that a human relations officer will not. When you write your resume, use terms that will be understandable to anyone: "managed", "led," and "supervised" are equivalents to military responsibilities that make sense in any arena.
Tailor your resume for the job
One of the worst mistakes any career changer can make is mass mailing a resume and cover letter. When you're leaving one field for another, an employer needs to know how your skills will work for his company in very specific terms. You might want one general resume that you give to contacts in a field to distribute, or to a headhunter to circulate, but for jobs you find on your own, make an attempt to discover what it is that an employer is looking for and how your experience is a perfect task. If you're having trouble, don't forget about coursework and training and development seminars you might have attended while in the military: write a few sentences about anything that could be conceivably related to the position you want to fill. Be prepared to address the issue fully in an interview.
Do's and Don't's:
Be positive about your reasons for leaving the military-this is not the place to talk about the difficulty of getting promotions or a lackluster income. Let an employer know what you've gained from serving, and, if you are entering business, how you've improved morale or organization in your unit or saved money. Problem solving skills are essential to any job, and relating the fact that you've had to use them many times in the course of your previous career can never harm your chances.
Do write a cover letter that emphasizes the strongest parts of your resume. If keeping to a page has proved difficult, this is a good place to expand upon what a particular position can mean. For obvious reasons, this is important to someone who might not understand what you mean when you tell them that you were a commanding officer. You might relate an accomplishment that you think is crucial to an employer's understanding of your character or ability, but be sure to link it to something in the resume, i.e. "While serving as a (give your rank here), I was responsible for…"
Do not downplay your background-plenty of employers are looking for people with the specific knowledge and rigorous training that you've received in military service. If an interviewer tries to make you feel uncomfortable about your experience, this might reflect a larger attitude in the organization. Consider this carefully before you accept the offer.
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