Men and women returning to civilian life after military service have a wealth of experience, training, and education to offer civilian employers. Members of the military are well trained, disciplined, and in most cases able to work in multiple positions on civilian teams because they have worked as team leaders and members in the military world.
Most military members have also received specific training and have worked in a particular occupation that supports civilian careers. Unfortunately, while most separated service members enter the civilian job market with a wealth of experience, few have little experience searching for and finding civilian jobs. Even those with skills and knowledge that should make them highly desirable to many employers find it particularly difficult to translate what they did in the military into a useful civilian resume.
If you’re in the military and planning to leave, you’ll need a resume that translates the military skills you’ve learned and the assets you’ve developed into language that non-military HR people understand. The reason is that HR staff make most of the decisions about who should be removed from the applicant pool and who should proceed to an interview, and they make those decisions based on the resumes they receive.
HR people are typically not technical experts, so your resume should communicate your skills and accomplishments in terms they understand. A converting resume should show your value, what you have to offer an employer. What sets you apart from others? What will be the company’s return on investment if it hires you? What have you accomplished that will keep you in good standing doing the job you want to be hired for?
A great conversion resume quantified what he did in the military.
It shows the results you got using details like numbers, percentages, and dollars saved. Quantifiable terms are a universal language. If you saved the government money or time, were able to reduce costs or overhead, finished a project ahead of schedule, or solved a particularly thorny problem, your resume should say so.
Consulting a professional resume writer is the smartest move any military man about to start looking for civilian employment can make. Professional resume writers know how to turn your military skills and abilities to appeal to a civilian market. His professional marketing techniques will help you focus your job search by bundling and presenting the skills he acquired in the military in the most appealing format. So if you’re leaving the military soon, contact a professional resume writer well before your discharge papers appear. Once outside, you’ll be so glad you did!