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Can someone provide some advice on how to best market 20 years of US Navy Civil Engineer Corps officer experience to the private engineering and construction sectors?

Veteran

Hendrik Schoeman Honolulu, HI

Since all my experience has been in the government sector I know things are done a little different in the private sector. My challenge at the moment is translating my military experience to individuals who may not have a military background.

4 January 2019 4 replies Military to Civilian Transition

Answers

Advisor

George Wilhelmsen Rochelle, IL

Hi Hendrik,

As a hiring manager, and someone who recently hired a civil structural engineer for my organization, what I'm looking for is experience that lines up with what a civil structural engineer does.

For example, if I were in your shoes, I'd list 5 to 10 of the most recent and relevant civil structural projects you worked on. Make sure you can disucss what you did as part of the project - we're interested in what you did, not the team when we're in the interview process.

There are a ton of resume examples on line. There is no one "right" resume. Find one you like, add in your education, personal information and experience, and see how it looks.

If you'd like, you can send it to me and I can offer some suggestions on how you might make it stronger.

Best wishes, and thank you for your service!
George Wilhelmsen

5 January 2019 Helpful answer

Advisor

Galon Miller Minneapolis, MN

Hello Hendrick, “Creating Leaders” by leveraging your Military training and experience is the stated mission of a $3.5B Construction Industry holding company that you should check out.
https://www.apigroupinc.com

Advisor

Jerry Welsh Middleville, MI

Two great answers. In looking at your LinkedIn profile, emphasize up towards the top the licensed engineer part. I would spend some time looking at openings on Indeed or if there is a civil engineering job board there also. Print and read through a number of the postings-see what key factors companies are looking for, similar to what George mentioned, be sure to give examples of value with quantifiable results #$%. The LinkedIn profile will catch you an invitation to submit your resume. In fact I would pull the resume off LI and after you are requested to submit one for a position, tailor it to match that position. Keep in mind, the average tenure in the market for 30-40 year old employees is 5-7 years, so while you are looking for your second job, you are competing with folks who may be on their 5th job/company. Take a look at this article on profiles and review some of my posts on my LinkedIn page-as it is good advice from many transition experts. Thank you for your service and sacrifices and God Bless. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-profile-your-chance-discovered-transitioning-jerry-welsh/

Advisor

Steven Mathews Spring, TX

In addition to the points above, it is important to show how your accomplishments benefited your organization. I have a proven process (free) that shows you how to implement this distinguishing characteristic. slmathews99@gmail.com

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