Philip Mullins ⋅ Richmond, TX IBM ⋅ 40 years experience

If you want to stand out, do it different. Write a story about how you envision helping the company you are applying to, and why and how your experience sets you apart. Keep it short, keep it simple and to the point. “ I’m applying to x because I can see myself here, working in collaboration with a team, similar to how I did xy&z. I can imaging helping to achieve x by doing y. We did that successfully when I did z. Come up with as many short relatable things you want to do and think you could do at the place you are applying and how and where you did it before. Pick the top 3 to share, rest keep in you pocket to talk about. And good luck!

Philip

James Vickery ⋅ Ogden, UT Northrop Grumman ⋅ 33 years experience

Aimee,

Thank you for your service and good luck with your transition to veteran status and civilian life. Writing a resume to 'de-mil' the language was challenging and took many iterations on my part, along with several reviews from trusted colleagues, both in the service and industry, to finally get it right. One big hurdle is to write a resume to focus on key words to get through the automated filters to enable you to get to the recruiters.

You have a wealth of experience and you can capitalize on that in your resume. While you cannot show how you made money for the government while in the service (that is illegal and a potential employer will see through statements to that effect) you can still show a return on investment in time, training and resources.

I have a resume template, used successfully with two people (a third is pending) to net job offers if you are interested. This helps refine what we did in the service and translate that into 'civilian speak'. This is still challenging to add descriptors that explain how and what we did (especially if there were any classified elements to our work), but it is very doable.

Part of this effort is designed around building a master resume with great detail, then using that document to tailor a focused resume to each job requisition you are interested in applying for. I am happy to review and share this data with you if you desire; send me a message and we can set up a time to discuss.

John Healy ⋅ Cumming, GA Verizon ⋅ 1 years experience

Aimee,

Here is some general resume advice you have probably heard, but it holds true:

1) Target your resume. It is OK to have a general resume for a shell structure, but when you apply to each job you need to target for those specific jobs. Best way you can do this? Look at the job listing, include key words in the job listing within your targeted resume.

2) Reach out to Hire Heroes USA (HHUSA). They provide a resume service in which you will just have to provide your OER's/NCOER's and give them a little info. They will produce a general resume for you. You can also bump targeted resumes with them and they will give you feedback.

Hope this helps.

Richard Byrne ⋅ Hillsborough, NJ Intel Corporation ⋅ 53 years experience

You might try this "TRANSLATE YOUR MILITARY EXPERIENCE FOR EMPLOYERS, SO THEY CAN TRANSLATE IT INTO SUCCESS."
https://www.resumeengine.org/#/

I've added some job search links, commercial and government, to one of my webpages that targets EE: http://eehot.com/ee.html#jobs

You could follow the instructions there, search the BLS.gov for your particular dream career, then enter keywords into the job search links. When you discover a suitable job listing you might adjust your resume to highlight your skills as called out in the listing's candidate requirements.

Jerry Welsh ⋅ Middleville, MI Master Military Transition Advisor/HPS GPO ⋅ 30 years experience

Aimee,
One of the first things you will find helpful is define and learn about what career you are interested in. A resume, that is not tailored to a specific job posting will do very little good in a market that searches by career.
I would suggest to sign up with Michael Quinn when he does a LinkedIn webinar, this will help your internet presence. LinkedIn has a huge footprint that can really assist when your profile is built correctly and is searchable by one career.
Look into conducting Informational Interviews on learning from people in your selected career field. It is amazing what happens when you start searching for information and get to know people. Also look at joining on line groups in LinkedIn and Facebook professional.
I am including a couple of articles that might help. Also reach out to ACP and obtain a mentor! This will be of great help. Remember that you are part of the 0.5% of Americans who serve their country. You are very well respected, but the chance civilians have been part of the 0.5% simply means they will not understand your language or experiences-without translation. Thank you for your support and sacrifices. God Bless https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/come-prepared-transition-process-gap-between-civilian-jerry-welsh/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-more-right-jerry-welsh/