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5 Military Resume Examples [& Templates]

Best for senior and mid-level candidates

There’s plenty of room in our elegant resume template to add your professional experience while impressing recruiters with a sleek design.

Resume Builder

Like this template? Customize this resume and make it your own with the help of our Al-powered suggestions, accent colors, and modern fonts.

Military Resume

• Military Resumes by Experience
• Military Resumes by Role
• Write Your Military Resume

 Your multifaceted role in the military could cover anything from groundwork or combat to manufacturing or communications. With unmatched expertise, you anticipate challenges and avert conflicts proactively, making decisions under pressure with ease.

The skills you amass during your service—leadership, adaptability, and teamwork—are invaluable. Now the question is: how do you describe your courage and discipline when writing an effective cover letter or one-page resume ?

Not to worry—we’re here to help. With our military resume examples , you can transform your raw experience into a captivating application that will get you the attention and the interviews you deserve.

or download as PDF

Why this resume works

• Therefore, you should mention in your military resume your contribution to decreased equipment downtimes to underline your input to team support.

Military Veteran  Resume

• To make such an achievement count in your military veteran resume, highlight how much you helped reduce equipment downtime to sustain uninterrupted workflows.

Retired Military Resume

• Speaking of your experience, list your missions and other roles in reverse chronological order, with your most recent positions and more impactful achievements taking precedence. Finish off this outline with side columns highlighting your military coursework, skills, and certifications.

Military Police  Resume

• For instance, “Assisted in slashing response times” could be better put as “Instituted advanced emergency protocols using NEC NeoFace, slashing response times by 44%.”

Military to Civilian Resume

• It underscores your ability to communicate effectively and ensure that all objectives are met within set timelines; attributes that make you an easy pick for joining the civilian workforce.

Related resume examples

• Officer Manager
• Operations Manager
• Office Administrator

Create a Military Resume That Fits Your Dream Job

Your military personnel resume should focus on showcasing skills vital to defense and strategic operations. Precision is paramount, so avoid vague terms like “team player.” If your role is technical, zero in on hard skills instead. 

Some of the things you could discuss include your proficiency in various weaponry, tactical strategies, and specialized equipment operation. You can also consider highlighting soft skills like leadership, communication, and crisis management. 

Ensure your skills resonate with the job’s requirements, whether it’s combat tactics or logistical coordination. Highlight the elevated level of discipline and stress management skills your service in the military has helped you develop, be it for another role within the military or a civilian job.

Looking for guidance?

15 best military skills

• Tactical Strategy
• Weapon Proficiency
• Logistical Coordination
• Military Comms 
• Cybersecurity
• Foreign Languages
• Crisis Management 
• Radio Operations
• Risk Assessment
• Joint Tactical Terminal
• Blue Force Tracker

Your military work experience bullet points

Between orchestrating strategic missions and leading successful teams, your military service showcases exceptional achievements. Rather than rehashing routine tasks, spotlight your impactful contributions. 

Your role directly influences the stability and security of operations, safeguarding national interests, and minimizing potential risks. While the nature of your experiences varies, harness this section to highlight your proudest moments, whether enhancing emergency response efficiency or mitigating adverse consequences. 

Make sure to back up your claims with quantifiable metrics to zero in on the magnitude of your successes. These could be anything from your budget optimization to the number of personnel you’ve trained—it all depends on your specific role and achievements. 

• Demonstrate your leadership and strategic skills with mission success rates.
• Showcase your ability to make quick decisions under pressure with metrics on your average response times.
• Highlight your commitment to operational readiness by presenting the percentage decrease in equipment downtimes after implementing maintenance protocols.
• Show off your adaptability by mentioning the varying shifts you’ve worked, deployments you’ve been sent on, and languages you’ve learned.

See what we mean?

• Created a comprehensive training program for recruits, resulting in a 78% reduction in onboarding time
• Conducted an employee satisfaction survey, resulting in an 88% satisfaction rate with internal communication efforts
• Maintained an 91% incident resolution rate by handling a variety of security issues and ensuring the safety of personnel and facilities
• Implemented a new internal communication system, which resulted in a 28% reduction in information gaps among employees

9 active verbs to start your military work experience bullet points

• Coordinated
• Implemented

3 Tips for Writing a Military Resume Without Much Experience

• Emphasize the significance of every role you’ve undertaken, regardless of your experience level. You can include relevant skills and accomplishments from your military service, training, and related roles. For instance, if you’re transitioning to a civilian logistics position, highlight your experience coordinating complex missions and managing supplies.
• Use your military projects to showcase your skills and flexibility. Mention specific initiatives or tasks you’ve executed during your service that align with the new position or civilian job you’re applying to. For example, discuss leading a team to establish a forward operating base, demonstrating your leadership and strategic planning abilities.
• Utilize internships, relevant coursework, or hobbies to spotlight transferable skills. Highlight leadership, teamwork, adaptability, and technical proficiencies that align with the role. For example, when applying for a communications role, discuss your experience with working in large teams and communicating under stress.

3 Tips for Writing an Experienced Military Resume

• If you have specialized military skills like leadership, logistics, or intelligence analysis, show them off. Next, tailor your accomplishments and metrics to align with the specific role you’re pursuing, highlighting your expertise and achievements in those areas.
• Adding relevant metrics really makes your achievements stand out more. Highlight your mission success rates, operational efficiency improvements, and leadership impact. This is good if you’re transitioning away from the military; for instance, in a logistics role, you can discuss how you optimized supply chain processes, reducing turnaround time by 39%.
• Include relevant military certifications that demonstrate your expertise and training. Whether it’s command certifications, technical training, or specialized courses, these credentials highlight your readiness for the civilian role or a promotion up the military ranks. 

While optional, a tailored career objective or summary can be valuable, especially if you’re switching to a whole new career. Emphasize your military experience and skills that align with the job, such as leadership, logistical coordination, or crisis management.

Make sure to use relevant keywords from the job description . Highlight your military accomplishments, skills, and specialized training that match the job requirements. ATS looks for keyword matches, so use terminology from both your military background and the civilian role you’re applying to.

Emphasize mission success rates, response times, equipment maintenance improvements, and any other quantifiable achievements. These metrics demonstrate your effectiveness in critical situations and your ability to impact operations positively.

Military to Civilian Resume Example for Veterans [Updated 2024]

Transitioning from a military lifestyle to that of a civilian is far from easy.

According to a Pew Research Center study, 95% of veterans seek employment after serving in the military.

26% of veteran respondents, however, found shifting from the military to the civilian lifestyle to be somewhat difficult.

Coincidentally, one of the biggest struggles for veterans is creating a compelling military to civilian resume that’s going to help them get a job that’s well-paid and enjoyable.

To help solve that problem, though, we wrote this guide. Read on to learn everything you need to know to create a compelling veteran resume, including:

• Military to Civilian Resume Example
• How to Write a Military Veteran Resume (8 Simple Steps)
• Free Military to Civilian Resume Template
• Essential (Free) Job-Search Resources for Veterans

In case you’re looking to brush up on the resume basics, watch the video below.

If you’re ready to get started, though, let’s start by reviewing a well-written military to civilian resume example.

Military to Civilian Resume Example (for Veterans)

Compelling, right? Here’s what the above military to civilian resume example does right: 

• Follows a functional resume format. The functional resume format focuses more on your skills and strengths rather than work experience. It helps convey how your military experience is going to help you perform well in the civilian role you’re applying for.
• Lists the contact information the right way. It includes the applicant’s full name, email, location, phone number, and even a LinkedIn URL while skipping out on a photo.
• Captures the hiring manager’s attention with a resume summary. The summary on top of the military to civilian resume example offers a brief snapshot of the candidate’s career, instantly showing the recruiter their value.
• Focuses on transferable skills instead of work experience. Instead of mentioning military buzzwords that civilians wouldn’t understand in the first place, the resume example instead focuses on how the candidate's experiences helped them develop valuable skills.
• Mentions achievements when possible. Achievements help convince the recruiter that they’re not just any candidate - you’re an overachiever who plays to win.
• Uses bullet points to make the resume easier to skim. The recruiter doesn’t have all day - they have hundreds of other resumes to review just for a single role. Making the resume easy to skim makes it more likely to be read.
• Includes educational history (in brief). The military to civilian resume example describes the candidate’s educational background, which includes taking a leadership course and basic training.
• Makes use of the optional sections. The achievements and interests sections help shed light on the candidate’s personality outside of work, as well.

Now, let’s talk about how YOU can make your resume as impressive as the example above.

How to Write a Military Veteran Resume (8 Easy Steps)

In this section, we’re going to walk you through the 8 steps to creating a powerful military veteran resume, starting with:

#1. Pick a Functional Resume Format

These are the 3 most popular resume formats out there:

• Reverse-chronological . This format focuses on your work history over education or skills.
• Functional . It focuses less on your work background and more on your skills and how they make you a qualified candidate.
• Combination . This format is a mix of the other two formats. It puts equal emphasis on skills and experiences. 

As a military veteran, you’re better off with a functional format .

As you can see above, the resume example focuses more on key strengths instead of just listing out work experiences.

This improves your odds of landing a civilian job for one important reason: 

Most recruiters aren’t really familiar with military lingo.

Your experiences in the military might be super compelling, but chances are, most recruiters won’t understand how these experiences make you a good candidate for the role.

By framing your experiences around your skills, on the other hand, your resume becomes more understandable for a civilian.

Once you’ve decided on the format, you also need to sort out your resume style, layout, font, and more. Here’s what this includes:

• Don’t go over one page . Your resume should be concise and to the point. More often than not, if you’re going over one page, you’re probably including information that isn’t relevant for the role.
• Pick the right font and font size . In terms of size, go for 11-12 pt for body text. For the font, pick something like Ubuntu, Times New Roman, etc. That way your resume will look professional AND stand out at the same time. 
• Use the military-to-civilian resume template . Want to skip the hassle of formatting a resume? Hit the link and pick from one of our free templates! Our templates are easy to use AND look much more compelling than the conventional black-and-white ones.

#2. Include Contact Information

Now that we’ve got the formatting hassle out of the way, let’s talk about resume content.

The first thing in your veteran resume is the contact information section.

Here, you need to include:

• Descriptive title. This should include your title in the military, as well as the title you’re applying for. Something like “Security Officer Seeking a Role as Customer Support Specialist.”
• Phone number.
• Professional email address. Think, [name][lastname]@gmail.com
• Location. City and state are good enough, you don’t need to include an address.
• (Optional) LinkedIn URL. If you have an up-to-date LinkedIn profile, you can include a URL in the contact information section.

And finally, make sure NOT to include a photo in your military to civilian resume. In the US, employers prefer that you don’t include a picture to avoid unconscious bias during the hiring process.

Here’s what your resume contact information section should look like at the end:

Security & Customer Service Professional

[email protected]

416-821-9879

Seattle, US

linkedin.com/in/john.doe

#3. Capture the Hiring Manager’s Attention with a Military Veteran Resume Summary

When reading your resume for the first time, the recruiter will spend roughly 7 seconds skimming it to make sure that you’re qualified for the role.

If the resume catches their attention, they’ll give it a more in-depth look.

If it doesn’t, they’ll simply move on to the next one.

This is where a compelling resume summary can come in handy.

A resume summary is a 2-4 sentence “summary” of your past work experience. It helps the recruiter understand your skill-set and whether you’re relevant for the role in a single glance.

Here’s what a convincing military to civilian resume summary looks like:

Dedicated professional with over 9 years of outstanding performance and results in the U.S. Military. Earned three promotions and excelled as a leader. Seeking to apply the skills I gained in the military as a Customer Support Specialist at Company X.

When writing your resume summary, make sure to include the following information:

• Your title in the military and the role you’re applying for.
• Years of experience.
• Top achievements and experiences.

#4. Summarize Your Experiences with a Key Strengths Section

This one’s arguably the most important part of your military to civilian resume.

At the end of the day, the main deciding factor in whether you get invited for an interview or not is if your resume manages to convince the recruiter that you’re capable of doing the job…

And that’s where the key strengths section comes in handy.

To create yours, start by listing out your top strengths as section headers. Then, underneath each header, list your achievements and responsibilities that prove you actually have the relevant skill.

Here’s what this looks like on a resume:

Customer Service

• Promoted within a short period by demonstrating an over-achieving dedication that maximized results for the entire team. 
• Proved internal customer service by relating to all personnel in a professional manner that facilitated the development of a diversified group. 
• Enhanced soldiers’ individual and professional growth, developing them into independent decision-makers.
• Accounted for the safety of equipment valued at over $1.3 million. 
• Secure the personal safety, training, and performance of fifteen U.S. Army soldiers.

Operations and Administration

• Organized schedules for over 45 soldiers. 
• Implemented new routes, resulting in savings in gas time and reduced work time. 
• Prevented over 10 cancellations and negotiated over 20 contract renewals with the local government.

Applying for a Military or Private Security Role? Do This

Now, in case you’re applying for a role that’s somewhat related to your experience in the military (e.g. in private security), then you can simply create a conventional Work Experience section instead of Key Strengths .

If that’s your case, here’s how you should format the section:

• Create a section header called “ Work Experience .”
• Start by listing your most recent role and go backward in time from there.
• For each entry, include your title, company name, dates employed, and 3-5 top achievements.
• For older positions, you can include fewer achievements and responsibilities.

Now, if you want your work experiences to stand out from the rest of the candidates, we recommend you to include achievements over responsibilities.

• Achieved a 99.5% average delivery rate on all assignments, resulting in no losses of materials or assets.
• Conducted deliveries of materials and assets.

The first example shows just how the candidate stands out from other applicants. The 2nd, on the other hand, does not.

#5. Mention Your Education (the Right Way)

On to the next section!

The next step to creating a convincing military to civilian resume is mentioning your educational background .

This is where you mention your higher educational degrees, as well as training (e.g. boot camps) and any personal development courses you’ve taken.

First things first, here’s how you’d go about the formatting part:

• Create a header called “Education”
• Add your latest degree right on top. Then, include older degrees underneath.
• If you have a B.A. or an M.A., you can skip your high school degree altogether.
• You can skip mentioning a GPA. These days, no one cares about your grades.

Here’s how the end result would look like:

B.A. in Communications Boston University 08/2016 - 05/2020

Now, if you don’t have the relevant experience needed for the role you’re applying for, you can use your education section to show off your knowledge or skills.

You can do this by including:

• Any honors you might have earned.
• Exact courses you’ve attended.
• Any other way you’ve excelled during your education.

#6. Include In-Demand Skills (For the Industry You’re Applying for)

Another must-have of a military to civilian resume is the skills section.

This is where you list out all of your hard and soft skills and (optionally) grade them by knowledge level.

The key here, though, is not to simply list out random skills like:

• Critical Thinking
• Microsoft Word

Rather, you want to include the skills relevant to the role . 

E.g. applying for a role in accounting? You should probably mention payroll tax accounting, cost reduction strategies, budgeting and forecasting , and so on.

You wouldn’t want to mention your Adobe Illustrator skills, for example (even if you’re an expert at it).

So, how can you know which skills are essential to your resume, and which ones aren’t?

The best way to understand this is to read the job ad you’re applying for. More often than not, they include an exact list of skills required for the role, and all you have to do is mention them in your resume (as long as you possess the said skills, of course).

#7. Take Advantage of the Optional Resume Sections

If you still have some space on your military veteran resume, you can take advantage of some optional resume sections.

While these sections won’t land you the job on their own, they can definitely help you stand out from other applicants seeking the same role.

Some optional sections you can include are:

• Projects. Any type of personal project you’ve worked on. This can be a local business you started, a side-gig, freelance work, and so on.
• Certifications. Any type of certification you might possess. If you don’t have the experience for the role you’re applying for, certifications can help show the recruiter that what you do have is the right skill-set.
• Volunteering Experience. If you’ve volunteered in the past, you should definitely include it in your resume. Employers love candidates who love to help others (even if there’s no monetary incentive for it).
• Hobbies & Interests. Including hobbies or interests in your resume helps the recruiter see more of your personal side. While your hobbies won’t land you the job, they might help you build rapport with the interviewer.

#8. Make Sure Your Military to Civilian Cover Letter is as Impressive as Your Resume.

At this point, your military veteran resume should be quite compelling…

But you’re not done just yet!

To have both a complete and compelling job application, you need to pair your resume with a cover letter that’s just as good.

Here are our top tips on how to write a quality cover letter :

• Start the cover letter by addressing the hiring manager directly. Sure, you could go with the default “Dear Sir or Madam,” but mentioning the hiring manager’s name shows that you’ve done your research and really care about working at the company.
• In your introduction, mention the most important parts of your background. E.g. years of experience, key achievements, top skills, and why you’re applying for the job in question.
• In the body section of your cover letter, expand on whatever you mentioned in the introduction. This is where you can also explain how the experiences mentioned in your resume make you a good candidate for the role.
• Conclude the cover letter with a call to action . E.g. “Looking forward to hearing more from you!” or “I’d love to discuss how I can help Company X as a Support Specialist over a call or an interview.”

Want to learn more? Check out our step-by-step guide on how to write a cover letter .

Essential Job-Search Resources for Veterans

There are a lot of free job-search resources for veterans on the internet - everything from dedicated job boards to free tools, programs, and more.

Here’s a comprehensive list of some of the very best resources:

Veteran Job-Search Resources

• Job board that helps you find federal organizations that prioritize hiring veterans over other candidates.
• Lots of quality resources to help you transition into civilian life.
• If you’re not sure what kind of career you want to focus on, you can use this website to discover different occupations and learn what they’re about.
• Website for finding veteran job fairs in your area.
• Free career consulting and job search help for veterans.
• American Corporate Partners matches you with a free, year-long mentor to help you build your career.
• For group discussions for veterans on resumes and gaining employment after service. (Veterans only/ screened and weeded out by questions and profile)
• For discussing Skill Bridge opportunities and military transitions. Skill bridge is a military program for giving veterans an opportunity to learn and work at civilian companies for 6 months before leaving the military.
• LinkedIn offers its Premium program to veterans for free for a year. You can use the platform to learn new skills, kick-start your career, as well as find and apply for jobs.
• A website dedicated to helping veterans transition into a civilian lifestyle. You can use it to find jobs, discover career events, attend job fairs, and more.
• Job board for US federal jobs. While it’s not specifically made for veterans, the US government prioritizes hiring veterans over other candidates.
• Job board for veteran-friendly roles and companies.
• Job board for roles in the private security industry.
• Another veteran-only job board.

Key Takeaways

And that’s all you need to know to create a strong military veteran resume!

Before you go, though, let’s do a quick recap of the key learning points we just covered:

• For a military to civilian resume, use a functional resume format to show off your skills instead of work history.
• Use a “Key Strengths” section to explain how your military experience distills into valuable skills for a civilian role.
• Don’t include every skill under the sun on your resume. Instead, pick the ones relevant for the role you’re applying for.
• Take advantage of the optional resume sections to show the recruiter that you’re an individual and not just a resume.
• Finally, make sure that your cover letter is just as impressive as your resume by following the tips we mentioned above.

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• How to Put Military Experience on a Resume
• Federal Resume Guide
• Military Resume Help

Last Updated on 02/12/2024

Military service immerses people in a separate world with its terminology, codes, job titles, and acronyms. When it’s time for you to enter the civilian job world, your resume with military experience might confuse job recruiters. They often have trouble connecting military job descriptions with job requirements.

Table of Contents

• 1 How to Add Military Experience to a Resume
• 2.1 Where Do You Put Military Experience on a Resume?
• 3.1 How to Translate Military Experience to Resume
• 3.2 Highlight Your Security Clearance
• 3.3 Get Feedback
• 4.1 Translate Enlisted Military Titles
• 4.2 Attract Recruiters with Your Military Experience Summary 
• 4.3 Military Resume Summary Example: 
• 4.4 Military Expirience Resume Summary Example: 
• 4.5 Adjust Acronyms and Military Terms
• 4.6 Job Description Keywords
• 4.7 Enforce Your Military Experience on Resume with Cover Letter and Objective

How to Add Military Experience to a Resume

To fix the problem, you’ll strip away the military language and write the resume for a general audience. The effort will be worthwhile because then you can make a resume with military experience that gets you interviews.

Don’t describe yourself this way:

• MOS 12B Combat Engineer charged with establishing secure routes for HMMWV movements.

A better approach for a civilian audience would be:

• Civil Engineering Technician in charge of building roads for use by heavy vehicles.

The second strategy for successfully adding military experience to your resume involves how you present the information. Surely you’ve been asking yourself should I put military service on my resume?

You’ll naturally feel inclined to place the military at the center of your writing. But for better results, frame your work experience descriptions around the job opening. Introduce your skills in the context of the job that you’re applying for and then mention that they came from military service.

Military Experience on Resume Examples

The following Do and Don’t resume sample excerpts illustrate how to put military experience on resume.

Don’t: 

• Marine Corps Captain responsible for commanding 62 Marines during combat operations by assessing tactical data and managing daily operations.
• Guided 62 subordinates through daily operations in the role of U.S. Marine Corps Captain while achieving management’s priorities and goals.
• CW2 Officer oversaw decontamination and disposal of hazardous materials and weapons in overseas theater.
• Determined the safest methods for processing hazardous materials encountered by personnel during field operations in the role of Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Army.
• O-2 U.S. Army Officer managed company during urban environment operations to locate and neutralize insurgents.
• Worked as executive officer managing 1,000-person company for 3 years to complete 59 complex missions that required coordination of information from multiple agencies while serving as First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army.
• Air National Guard pilot completed demanding flight schedules that resulted in 20 missions in Afghanistan over the course of 6 weeks.
• Experienced pilot rated among the top 1% of peers after flying 20 missions to transport 30 tons of equipment and 120 passengers while serving in the Air National Guard.

This is an extended description of how to include military service on a resume, example: 

• S-1 Advisor coordinated 15 joint missions between Iraqi and U.S. military personnel while managing command communications.
• Professional entrusted with personnel management duties including payroll, vacations, and communications who served as the lead coordinator with Iraqi allies while deployed as the battalion commander’s chief personnel officer with U.S. Army consulting group.

Where Do You Put Military Experience on a Resume?

You could describe your service under the heading military experience. This is appropriate if you have other work experience that you want to mention. If all of your work history comes from military service, then you can simply label the section Work History or Work Experience.

Within your Military Experience or Work History section, you can choose the:

Chronological Approach – List your jobs and describe your skills and duties. Explain to them how they will fit the employer’s goals. If you’re wondering how to list military experience on a resume, it’s acceptable to use bullet points under each job.

Skills-Based Approach – Break out the information into subsections that draw attention to your abilities. Leadership Skills or Technical Skills are typical examples. Use the requirements in the job description to help you select your strongest skills for the position.

One more option where to put your military service on resume is to add section headings like Special Training or Awards and Honors.

Doubt how to add your military experience for a job? Check out Military Transition Resume Writing Services .

How to Write Military Experience on Resume

Quantify the results of your work as much as possible. Include percentages, numbers, or other quantifiable results as you explain your accomplishments.

Don’t assume job recruiters will know things like how many people form a platoon or flight crew. Cite any awards or commendations that you received. This shows employers that you excelled in your work. You need to be precise on how to list military service on resume. If you want to mention decorations and awards, explain the details that led superiors to recognize you.

Good Military Service on Resume Example:

Supervised 6 mechanics on a crew that maintained 50 armored vehicles and reduced rate of mechanical failures in the field by 11% over 2 years.

Look over the job description and find keywords that the employer used to describe the duties and requirements. Make it your top priority to communicate your skills that match the keywords. Regardless of your resume format, your text should contain the keywords used by the employer.

How to Translate Military Experience to Resume

Use online resources to find job positions and descriptions that fit your military experience. The MOS Code to Civilian Occupation Translator and Military.com’s Skills Translator take your military job and show you applicable jobs. Study these job postings and find the terms that employers used to describe the skills that they want. You’ll also get good ideas for friendly names for your military job titles. Think of this process as reverse engineering. You find jobs in private sector  for your military experience and then harvest civilian terminology from them for your resume.

Highlight Your Security Clearance

Always mention your security clearance prominently. Security clearance communicates your trustworthiness and ability to pass a background check.

• Don’t lean on military codes like TS/SCI.
• Do state exactly that you had a security clearance that authorized your access to sensitive information.

Get Feedback

Have someone without military experience read your resume. The feedback will help you fix areas that remain difficult to understand. Read more articles on how to write a resume with military service. Study the wording on these and adapt it to your circumstances without copying the text.

Writing your military career to resume takes more effort than transferring text from the VMET to a resume builder. You need to strip military jargon and acronyms from your work military experience.

Terms like SQDN, PCS, and UAV will likely mean nothing. Because writing a resume and translating military jargon for an audience are both challenging tasks, it’s best to break them up.

To begin, set aside worries about military terms and write a master military resume. Use the military terms that you’re familiar with on this first draft.

For the First Draft, focus on:

• Placing your strongest skills and accomplishments at the forefront
• Crafting a concise objective statement about your career goals
• Choosing verbs that convey action, responsibility, and success
• Including keywords that match up with the types of jobs that you want

For the Second Draft: 

If possible, ask a nonmilitary person to read your first resume draft. The person could provide insights into which parts are the hardest to understand.

Look at that first draft yourself. Try to imagine that you have to explain it someone who knows nothing about military operations.

Circle or highlight your military titles, acronyms, equipment names, and duties to adjust the content of the resume.

Most of these will need to be adjusted or rephrased to communicate the military experience to resume effectively.

Translate Enlisted Military Titles

Enlisted service members have rank designations of E1 through E9. To make these labels meaningful for a state job recruiter, select generic terms like a team member or foreman.

Lower ranks E1 through E3 would translate into entry-level positions like technician or operator. The middle tiers of E4 to E6 would match with titles like an assistant manager or section leader. The top tiers of E7 to E9 correspond with roles like department manager or supervisor.

• Warrant Officer
• First Sergeant Manager
• Platoon Sergeant
• Personnel Specialist
• Senior Personnel and Program Manager
• Senior Technician, Technical Advisor, Chief
• Group Supervisor, Senior Advisor, Group
• First Line Supervisor, Training Instructor
• Administrative Clerk

It’s fine to mention your rank, but you should expand on the description to clarify its meaning for others.

Commissioned officers and warrant officers have similar designations with the letters O and W. Include terms that represent the greater responsibilities of these positions like a general manager or district director.

Attract Recruiters with Your Military Experience Summary 

Let’s consider a resume summary for a job by the following military experience on resume example. 

Rick Walker is a retired Quality Control Officer with 18 years of successful military aviation experience. Now he holds a position of a Operations Manager in one of the leading aviation company. 

When it comes to showoff an impressive military history, Rick can choose the first option. But what are his chances of getting a job? Will HRs’ understand encrypted information with acronyms and abbreviations? Let’s get deeper into the subject.

Military Resume Summary Example: 

Quality Control Officer Proven leader with extensive experience for providing National Guard and aviation units with proper implementation of Army aircraft and airworthiness. Responsible for maintaining and repairing both UH-60 and UH-1 aircraft. Lead financial planning, prepared options, and recommendations on aircraft combat systems. Conducted training and mentoring battalion level maintenance management techniques to aviation maintenance officers.

But what if Rick will translate his responsibilities into civilian-friendly terms? 

Military Expirience Resume Summary Example: 

Operations Manager Dedicated supervisor with 18 years of experience in coordinating program activities for maintenance and repair work, useful in quality control checks. Responsible for the safe condition of over $32 million in aircraft and equipment. Reduced aircraft maintenance up to 34% due to implementation of cost-effective programs. Developed and implemented training programs; evaluated instruction and performance outcomes for employees.

As you can see several phrases, abbreviations and words substituted by general terms as aircraft and equipment instead of UH-60 and UH-1 aircraft, employees instead of soldiers. 

Besides resume summary include exact numbers, which make it more competitive and attractive for recruiters. 

Adjust Acronyms and Military Terms

Writing out the full names represented by acronyms could improve comprehension in most cases. Replace words like soldiers or airmen with personnel. In all places, make an effort to put your jargon into simple terms using words familiar to most people.

• Suspense Date
• Conflict, emergency situations, crisis
• Function, tasks, obligations, priorities
• Confidential
• Personnel, individuals, staff

You also need to interpret military jobs to state jobs for resume. It’s helpful to include facts and figures, such as how many people you supervised or how many pieces of equipment that you maintained.

After editing your first draft, your second draft will have shifted the resume from military to civilian terms. This process of altering military resumes for jobs prepares you to tailor the content for specific job applications.

Have a doubt on how to translate military skills? Choose the Best Military Resume Writing Service .

Job Description Keywords

The words used by an employer to describe an open position are vitally important. You need to incorporate these keywords into the top half of your resume.

Among Fortune 500 companies, 98% of them use software to scan resumes before forwarding them to actual recruiters. Analyze the terms in the job description and select those that fit with your skills. Change some of the terms on your resume if necessary to create keyword matches.

Just select your service (for example Air Force) and enter your MOS code (for example 11A4 – Airlift Pilot). Search for equivalent job titles and read a job description to match your experience. 

Pick up a few keywords from the job description, and include into your ex-military resume. 

Enforce Your Military Experience on Resume with Cover Letter and Objective

Your resume should include a brief statement about your job objective after your contact information. As succinctly as possible, explain how you wish to apply your valuable military training to the job. Explain how your military experience on resume will promote the employer’s goals in the military to resume objective.

Your letter offers a place where you can expand upon your objective and how it meets an employer’s purpose. Draw upon the military experience that you liked the most during your military career. Did you feel like you were thriving when collaborating with others? Did you contribute the most when operating heavy machinery?

Use these positive experiences to communicate your enthusiasm for a chance at employment.

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