James Watson ⋅ San Diego, CA General Atomics ⋅ 30 years experience

Hi Towanga-

I am retired after a 40 year career in industry where I hired over 100 people. Now I am helping veterans like yourself by helping with their resumes. If you would e-mail me your resume (drjamesfwatson@gmail.com) I would be happy to comment on it. I also recommend the book "Tired of Eating Peanut and Butter Sandwiches? - Tips to Get a Job Fast" available on Amazon. It contains practical advice. Good luck in your search!!

Jim Watson

Gerald Mannikarote ⋅ Houston, TX dMann Training Technologies ⋅ 20 years experience

Towanga,
The advisors above gave very good information. I'll just add a couple of new points.

Most companies require you to submit your resume online these days. The online resumes are 'read' by computers. They pick out key words that match the job description and the resumes that have those key words will end up on the short list.

So, in other words, it is important to tailor your resume for each job you apply for by adding the key words from the job description of the job posted.

I hope this helps.

Warm regards,
Jerry

Joey Sifers ⋅ Roanoke, VA Allstate Insurance Company ⋅ 8 years experience

Remember the look of your resume has to agree with your strengths that you want to show the interviewer. If the strength you want to show is your experience be sure that is clearly written and the information is offset to the right. Just like a newspaper. A resume is selling yourself. Don't over sell yourself. If you do and you are hired, you and your employer will not be happy. I know you are looking for a job in NC but, if it is a possible and you could move I know the VA Hospital in Salem, VA is looking for people in the medical field.

Andrew Breen ⋅ Charlotte, NC SELF-EMPLOYED AS A CONSULTANT ⋅ 17 years experience

See if this helps:

Resume Do’s & Don’ts

DO'S
• Remember the purpose - it's a summary marketing document
• Keep it brief - one or two pages is best. Recommend you keep a separate detailed job history, update regularly, and draw resume from that.
• Stress your past accomplishments and the skills you used to get the desired results. Your accomplishment statements should compel the reader to want to talk to you further. Quantify the benefits / results, if quantifiable. (Ex; cost saving of new process was $2M/yr). If not quantifiable, describe benefits (Ex: Improved troop morale and confidence of local citizens through regular soccer games).
• Focus on information that's relevant to the goals you’re pursuing. So, if you're making a career change, stress what skills are transferable to support your new career objectives.
• Neatness counts. A poorly structured, badly typed resume tells the reader much about the applicant — none of it good. Spend the extra money to have your resume typed or word processed, or even printed. It's well worth it.
• Know the limits of what even the best resume can do. It can open a door but you have to put your best foot forward and sell yourself to seal the deal.

DON’TS
• Do not provide personal references on your resume. If they’re seriously considering hiring you, you will most likely be asked to provide reference information. Have them ready.
• Avoid unusual paper size or colors. 8.5 by 11-inch paper — in white, buff or beige, is recommended. Be sure to use a good quality paper.
• Your salary history should never be included.
• Reasons for leaving previous jobs should usually not be included in a resume, unless you had frequent, short projects.
• Don't include references to areas of your life that are not business related, or have nothing to do with your current career goals unless they tie to your objectives.

Charles Bonilla ⋅ Chicago, IL PeopleScout, A TrueBlue Company ⋅ 3 years experience

I agree with Joe but will add a few things:
1. Reverse chronological order (most recent experience)
2. A two-line expository statement that summarizes your responsibilities
3. 3-4 accomplishment-based bullets that summarize what you achieved
4. The further back you go, the fewer bullets you need

IF you go the USA jobs route, there's a whole different ball of wax in terms of how the resume is constructed (you probably already know this, though).

Given your geographic priority, what direction are you prepared to go if you're unable to find a position in your specialty within the geographic parameters you desire?

Joe Paschall ⋅ Madison, AL nLogic, LLC ⋅ 26 years experience

If your desire is to stay in PSYOP and remain in Fayetteville, the resume should be a simple and straight-forward chronological one- just list your billets in reverse order and include a few details on the number of personnel supervised and the type of work. The issue is going to be finding a job opening because you are limited to Govt or Contractor Support positions. Hopefully you already know of open positions there locally.