People who seek to transition from the military to the civilian workforce always look out for assistance since there are too many things they need to know before developing a resume and cover letter. If you are leaving the service then, most likely you will face the daunting task of creating an effective resume and cover letter. And without a doubt, if you had a long career in the army, you probably have plenty of accomplishments to show off on your main marketing document. But the thing is that if you attempt to design your resume as it seems fitting to you then you will likely be ignored by most civilian employers. The thing is that private sector companies have different thinking so you may need to adjust a few things before submitting your application package to a job opening. The easier way is to order professional resume writing services - reputable companies know how to present military experience so that hiring managers in a civilian sector would be willing to invite a former military to a job interview.
How to Write a Military Transition Resume on Your Own?
It is okay if you don't want to pay for your resume to be written by the third party, especially if you have the needed skill yourself. However, you should be careful not to follow your initial impulse to list all of your military experience in a way you would do for your former supervisor. As we have previously mentioned, private sector employers have different expectations from a resume. As you start writing your main marketing document, you should have this thought in mind - a resume shouldn't just list the things I did in the past but it should directly or indirectly answer the employers' question "What can this applicant do for the company". In order to address this question, you have to study the requirements of the position first and tailor your resume accordingly.
Make sure your resume doesn't look like a report with the things you did; choose only relevant experience and skills to include onto the document. Unlike military supervisors you used to have, civilian authorities will care exclusively about relevant experiences you had in the past. Information that in no way helps to address the job requirements is to be left out. After you know what your resume should look like, you can finally get to writing. Maybe the most difficult task you should handle is to demilitarize all of your titles, accomplishments, and awards. The thing is that you have to assume that employers don't have any military background (which is probably true for 90% of hiring managers) and, therefore, will not understand military terminology on your resume.
Translating the skills and qualifications into the words everybody can understand poses the toughest challenge for former military people. There are a few online military skill translators that can help you handle the task. But we still recommend showing your resume to your non-military friends to see whether they see anything that they don't understand. We also advise not to include any details if you were in active combat. At Prime-Resume we believe that military experience can be a great advantage if presented well enough. For some reason, most former military people try to downplay their former army experience which we think is a wrong thing to do. It is an asset, not a downside and should be marketed appropriately. The truth of the matter is that many employers understand the value of taking a veteran on board. Leadership, positive work ethic, dedication, teamwork - all of these attributes are honed in the military and are highly valued in a private sector environment. So if you fear that hiring managers won't recognize the significance of your army experience, you have to make sure that your resume communicates that significance along with the value you can bring to the company.
