Kathryn Haynes ⋅ Grass Valley, CA Aon ⋅ 23 years experience

Hi Tim,

After 23 years of recruiting, I've reviewed countless resumes, many have been quite good, but many have spun my eyeballs to the back of my head within mere seconds. Overall the average time a recruiter spends scanning a resume is 15 seconds. So when it comes to resumes, one size does not fit all and you must be able to capture the recruiter's attention immediately. Your resume must be "searchable" so using key words that connect your expertise to the role requirements is critical. My advice is to create a resume that can be easily customized in a way that maps to the role you are applying for. You also want to make your resume "Performance Based", meaning you want to show what you have done and what the result was, in addition to the key capabilities you used.

I have created a resume template as an example for you, but if I send it to you here, the format is lost. If you'd like to email me (kathryn.haynes@aon.com), I'll reply and send it that way.

Kathryn

Steven Mathews ⋅ Spring, TX The Boeing Company ⋅ 40 years experience

I have helped over 100 people in the past 3 years obtain new positions by helping them create a Top 1% Resume. The "secret" is to show your value to the company, and specifically to the hiring manager. I am willing to help you for free, no strings.
I am a retired USAFR officer. I know how to take your operational military experience and translate those accomplishments into commercial value statements.
Email me at slmathews99@gmail.com should you wish to proceed.

Lovisa Davison ⋅ Lake Saint Louis, MO Mastercard ⋅ 16 years experience

Hi Tim! Thank you for your service! You may have already got the job you wanted, but I wanted to add a few insights from someone who has been reviewing a lot of resumes lately.
1. It's not dumbing it down, it's showing that you can summarize and prioritize
2. If your resume is boring the person reviewing it will just throw it in the "nah" pile. They probably have 100 more waiting. So make it short(ish) and sweet and holding the person's interest. This includes having an easily read font and making the most important things easy to read. Bullet pointing your Core Skills high up on the resume really puts them at the forefront.
3. Make your LinkedIn profile reflect the image you want to project. Have a copy of your latest resume, join professional groups in your field, post a few articles you find interesting.
4. Don't have military jargon in the resume if you are applying for civil jobs. Us civilians are really dummies when it comes to military "speak". :) You have NO idea how many resumes I've seen that left me completely clue-less. Translate it to something that makes sense more generally. How many resources did you manage? Did you make process changes? What positive impact did they have? Are you thriving in stressful dynamic situations?
5. You had some offers to review your resume and I think that may be the fastest route to getting it streamlined.

Good Luck!

James Spencer ⋅ Dowell, IL Spencer and Partners LLC ⋅ 23 years experience

You are a perfect candidate for a Combination resume. A combination resume would allow you to stress the skills you have that are most appropriate for each job as you apply for it on the first page of your resume. By doing that the reader sees what you know that is applicable to the job they are offering first. Those skills catch his/her attention.

The list of employers is on the second page in reverse order with dates of employment. if you have 20 years of military service show it as (name of service branch, date --- to ----date). Only list job specific skills from your civilian employment. However, if military training is more applicable to the job list that training and civilian employment as one listing as above. https://www.careeronestop.org/ResumesInterviews/ResumeAdvice/SamplesTemplates/CombinationResumeTemplate.aspx. This web site gives a great template for this resume format.

Jim Schreier ⋅ Milwaukee, WI 212 Leadership/Career Coaching ⋅ 50 years experience

Good advice from others. One of my most significant mentors was known for saying "50% of all career advice is wrong. The problem is we don't know which 50%." Well in some cases we do not and it anyone who tells you to "dumb down" you resume. I've written some articles on this site that speak to the issue of clearly focusing on accomplishments. I've also addressed the fact mentioned by others that you don't need to include everything. There is a tendency for many veterans to include every duty, every position, every award, every skill. That's not good.

John Green ⋅ Cary, NC Information Technology ⋅ 40 years experience

I like Michaela Phillip's perspective in the sense that the resume's purpose is to get you an interview, not get you a job; and to that end, does not need to be exhaustive in detail.

You can look at mine at lancelotlinc dot com. I structure mine in top-down approach where the most important points are at the top and more of the minute detail comes later.

My dad once told me, you get three seconds of attention span to buy the next seven seconds. Therefore, the first phrase (not sentence) needs to sell the reader on his desire to continue reading.

IT resumes are well-known for using keywords that get hits on search engines. If yours is not focused on Information Technology, take care to use well known civilian phrases rather than load up on technical or military terms.

The resume needs to be forward looking not rearward looking. What I mean by this is : you need to use descriptions and phrases in your resume that detail your past experience in light of what you want to accomplish in the future.

Most sentences in your resume will start with an action verb and end in a phrase that describes a quantifiable result. Organize your thinking in phrases (sentence fragments) not entire / whole sentences.

Michaela Phillips ⋅ Groveland, MA A.W. Chesterton ⋅ 4 years experience

Hi Tim,

Mike and Martha are spot on, so you're getting great advice already! Think of your resume as a summary of the things that you are able to bring to a company, not a database of all that you have done. Whoever told you to "dumb it down" may have meant moreso to help whoever is reading your resume connect the value that your past experience brings to the needs that company has. Sometimes individuals look at your resume and they search for experience that matches exactly to what the job is that you're applying for.

10 years of Military training and 20 years of Civilian training definitely have incredible amounts of application to hundreds of jobs out there, so consider having different versions of your resume. There isn't one perfect resume that will fit each job opening, so highlight different parts of your experience that speak well to different jobs and apply using the most applicable version. To put it simply, you wouldn't apply for a sales job with the same resume you would apply with for a finance job.

I am also available should you need anything. Best of luck with your search, and thank you for your service!

Michaela

Mike Cottell ⋅ Glen Head, NY Michael T Cottell Consulting ⋅ 42 years experience

Hi Tim, I agree with Martha 100% and would like to build on the point " shaping your story". In a successful job search, a solid resume is one very important part of a multi prong strategy that includes:
1) Social Media--Recruiters and Organizations use it-especially LinkedIn -be on LinkedIn
2) Cover Letter-will accompany your resume to an organization and highlight why " you" have the right skills and experience for that particular job.
3) Networking -never underestimate the power of telling everyone you know-past and present that you are in the market and ask for leads and contacts.
4) Reach Out -don't rely only on posted jobs--target companies that interest you and address a cover letter with your resume to a senior leader in that organization of why you want to join that business. You'd be surprised--it can work.
5) Practice Interview: get a trusted friend and practice your pitch. There's the obvious " tell us about yourself" question as well as " why are you the best candidate for us" and many more . Trust me --you want to practice-we all need to do it.
The advisor community can help you with any of these things and I can be available offline as well to support you.
Thank you for your service Tim and GOOD LUCK!
Best Regards, Mike