Take your training in to the civilian workforce

If it’s time for you to update your resume to take it outside the ranks of the government and begin applying for a civilian position there are a few key points you will want to keep in mind. For some hiring managers it will be a challenge to look past the uniformity of military and see the individual skills you can contribute to the company. If you prepare your resume properly you can showcase how your experience will be an asset if given the opportunity.

Junk the jargon. Non-military employers are quickly confused by acronyms or abbreviations. Project codes and job titles might as well be a foreign language so try to focus more on the skills that resulted from completing your assignments. The goal is to make your resume as clear and concise as possible. You can find tools online that allow you to enter your Military occupational code and receive comparable titles common in the civilian sector. These will give you keywords to expand on when searching job databases.

Talk up your training. Odds are you took some sort of management or IT courses while in the service. Explain the skills you have learned and highlight how they are relevant to the job for which you are applying. Take advantage of the extensive documentation your time with the Military has provided you. Past evaluations and performance reviews are a good way to calculate concrete facts about your career. Use statistics like percents of budgets you cut, the number of people you managed, or how well you met your project deadlines. Be sure to keep skills separate from achievements for better organization and understanding.

Be editorial. Some things you’ve done might be really fascinating but don’t pertain to the task at hand. Save the story about the time you pulled your parachute to soon for the Christmas party. Unless you plan on jumping out of airplanes for this new company, skydiving isn’t a skill that needs to be on your resume. Also, avoid putting anyone ill at ease with too much detail about weapons or combat unless it’s a requirement for your potential positon. A career coach from Lido Beach, N.Y., Michael Coritsidis says, "Everyone has an opinion about the war. Keep emotion out of the equation, and stay neutral."

Your experience has given you a unique advantage over the competition, and, if you can communicate that effectively, you’re practically a shoe in. "The armed forces also instills the highly regarded qualities of being all that you can be as well as being a team player.” Coritsidis says, “What company wouldn't want to hire a person who can communicate how their military skills and qualifications can save time, save money or make money for their business?"

For more information on Armed Services jobs, check out:

http://www.armedservicesjobs.com/

By Heather Fairchild - Heather is a multimedia developer, business owner and work-from-home mom.