How to Update Your Resume to Increase its Appeal
Resume writing can be overwhelming, especially when you have military jobs to explain to potential non-military employers. You'll want to utilize career services for a resume review because you know this document's importance. While it's essential to translate your military jargon into terms civilian employers can understand, it may still be challenging to accomplish. Updating your resume with civilian terms can increase its appeal.
Your resume may not need a complete overhaul. You will need to put some effort into making it appealing to potential employers. If you're looking for a federal or contractor job in the same field your military job was in, you may not have to do a lot of translating. They probably use the same acronyms for systems and are used to seeing military terms in their documents.
However, suppose you are changing career paths or looking at a company unfamiliar with the military. In that case, you will find it very helpful to make your position, job description and accomplishments easier to understand by using words in their job announcement. You can't completely erase your military experience – nor should you want to – but you can phrase it in a way that easily transfers to your desired career.
Remember, when writing your resume, you're looking for short, direct sentences to describe your achievements, not a list of your responsibilities in the role. Avoid using acronyms, even the ones you think are common knowledge. Describe your rank or leadership role in terms of how many people you supervised and how much money you were responsible for instead of the pay grade or military rank.
Here are some examples of terms to translate
Combat Hazardous conditions
Company Department or section
Military occupation specialty Career specialty
Squad or platoon Team
Reconnaissance Data collection and analysis
Note: Even if the company you're submitting a resume to is military friendly or familiar, it doesn't mean they will understand everything from every branch. Each branch uses different acronyms to say the same thing, so things could get confusing quickly.
Free Resources to help you with translating skills:
It's often challenging for veterans and service members to write their experiences in civilian terms; it may feel like you're oversimplifying them. Your military service will get you in the door because the attributes of veterans and the military reputation precede you. You can effectively communicate your experience that will land you the job.
Take advantage of GGU's Career Programs resources to take the next step in your civilian career.