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9 Indispensable Resume Writing Tips for All Veterans

Resumes & Cover Letters

Writing a resume as a veteran going into a civilian career is a relatively different compared to your typical form of resume writing. This is because many of the skill and experiences you’ve collected throughout your career are far different to typical job skills, so getting employers to see how valuable you are can pose a challenge.

However, it’s not impossible, and when written in the right way, a resume can be the best tool a veteran has at securing their next job role. Today, we’re going to explore nine essential tips you need to know in order to make sure your resume is perfect.

Know What You Want
Before you even put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, make sure you know the exact purpose of your resume, so you can aim to succeed in this area. Without a goal or target, your resume will be too broad, and you won’t receive any interviews. Know the job you want before writing.

Write for a Civilian Reader
Never forget that the reader of your resume is quite likely to be a civilian which can cause problems with your resume. For example, military acronyms will need to be spelt out in order for the recruiter to understand what they mean, and service jargon will need to be kept to a minimum to maximize understanding.

Highlight Your Accomplishments
During your time in service, you can be sure that there are things that you’ve accomplished and achieved that you never believed were possible before. These are all things you should be proud of, and there’s no reason you can’t highlight them in your resume to show to your recruiter that you’re proud of yourself.

Don’t Get Carried Away
It might be easy to fall into the trap of getting too involved with your accomplishments and, in some cases, this may decrease your chances of securing an interview.

“For example, listing your kill count, or talking about the time you were blowing up buildings with cannons or long-range missiles may not be suitable for a resume, but you can sure spice up the conversation in the break room with it,” shares David Taylor, a resume writer for UK Writings.

Showcase Your Military Traits
As a veteran, the chances are that you’ll have some experiences from your career which are more than likely going to make you perfect for any job that you’re applying for. You just need to make it match what the company is looking for.

For instance, standard military traits, such as teamwork, leadership, flexibility, positivity and dedication are all traits you’ll want to share with your recruiter as they’re ideal for the workplace.

Writing the Perfect Resume
Although you might be born to be a comprehensive writer, that doesn’t mean you can’t write a perfect resume. Here are some online tools that can help with this process;

  1. State of Writing and My Writing Way: These are two blogs full of writing guides you can follow when writing your resume.
  2. Resume Service: This is a resume-building website that is full of guides and templates you can use.
  3. Boom Essays: This is an online writing agency you can use to help guide you through the resume writing process, as recommended by the HuffingtonPost in Write Essays For Me article.
  4. Via Writing: This is a blog you can use to improve and update your grammar knowledge.
  5. Assignment Help and Assignment Writing Services: These are two services you can use to help you secure and succeed in your interview.
  6. Cite It In and Word Counter: These are two basic formatting tools to help you add citations to your resume while tracking the word count.
  7. Essayroo: This is an online writing agency that can write your resume for you on your behalf, as reviewed by Simple Grad in Essayroo review.
  8. Grammarix: This is a free online blog you can use as a grammar checker during your writing stage.

Mention Your Education
It’s important to remember to include what level of education you had either before and during your time in service. This is a great way for your employee to see what kind of person you are and what kind of experience you have had with the education system.

If you have any licenses, certifications and qualifications at any stage of your life, be sure to make a note of them.

Don’t Forget Resume Basics
There are many basics you’re going to want to remember when writing your resume to maximize your chances. Make sure to include your correct contact information at the top of the page, keep your resume to a single page and don’t forget to include a cover letter.

Find Something You’ll Fit into Too
Going from the military into a civilian career can be quite a huge step, mainly because they can be so different in terms of everyday lifestyle. However, take the time to step outside and look for what jobs are out there.

If presented in the right way, a military veteran is a great person to have on board, and all kinds of companies will be happy to hire you. You’ve just got to find one that you’ll be happy to work for.

If you have comments or feedback about any article, please email your thoughts to info@acp-advisornet.org.

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