Military professionals have a unique skill set and on transitioning from military to civilian careers, can contribute immense value to prospective commercial employers. However, crafting a resume for this purpose can seem like an overwhelming process. However, with careful study of a few key factors, an effective resume can be achieved.
Match your skills:
Depending upon the size, nature, and structure of their work in the military, such individuals have great potential and a wide range of skills to offer to almost any industry. For instance, they are resourceful; decisive; excellent leaders, managers, and team players; outstanding at strategic planning and policy making; and perform tremendously well under pressure. Where there is so much to display, the last thing that employers wish to know about is your military rank or title. All you need to do is to dedicate some time to understand perfectly what it is that you would like to do and analyze the requirements of your target job. Now, correlate all your skills to private sector roles such as operations / systems / human resource management; financial planning and analysis; and administrative support.
Strategize the design of your resume:
You know where you want to go and you understand the requirements – what is left is strategy. The worst thing that you could do is to look up a resume guide and begin writing your resume according to the traditional style and format. Yours is a special case and since you need to successfully position yourself as a capable and well-qualified candidate, you should intelligently match you skills to the requirements of the job and at the same time plan out an effective design that will market your skills. One of the best ways to do this is to utilize a functional style resume instead of a chronological one. Since a functional resume showcases skills in professional categories, it brings to the forefront the candidate’s skills, experience, and areas of expertise. Immediately below the ‘Summary Of Qualifications’ or the profile section, you could have specific focus areas such as ‘Operations Expertise’ or ‘Management Expertise’ or something along these lines. This ensures that your valuable skills don’t remain hidden.
The bottom line is that you need to project yourself as a ‘perfect fit’ to the needs of the company and you should do everything in your power to ensure it. Employers wish to know how and to what extent you can contribute value to their company, firm or organization. Tie up the numerous assignments you had been involved in, use effective key words and industry specific terminologies, turn your valuable experience into a complete story of your caliber, and you will be ready with a perfect resume for the new challenge.
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