Military Resume - Translating Your Skills

1Military Resume - Translating Your Skills You may not realize it, but you learned to speak an entirely new language while you served in the military. It's humorously referred to as "acronym soup." Within that military acronym language there are dialects and sub-dialects ...think Army vs. Air Force vs. Navy vs. Marine Corps vs. Air National Guard, etc.Sure there's some overlap between the services, but does any of it overlap into the civilian world?If you tell a civilian you want to head over to the DFAC to get some MRE's before you go on patrol in your Hummer, they'll probably look at you cross-eyed. Huh ...what?!As with any other "foreign" language, you have to translate your military acronym-speak into civilian-speak in order for them to understand.The same goes for your military resume. If it's full of jargon, a civilian reviewing your resume (or even a veteran from a sister service) may not know what you're really talking about. It's vital to your future that you translate your military skills and accomplishments into plain English.Why? Two reasons.Reason #1: Your ability to land a job depends upon translating your military accomplishments. You must showcase your skills in a language that your potential employer (and their staff) will understand.A military transition resume full of jargon and acronyms is a nuisance to a busy employer's time schedule. Most potential employers will not take the time to find out what your military-speak truly means, and will use the inherent confusion to disqualify you ...and discard your resume. If you expect an employer to read your resume, you must make it readable.When you're writing your military resume, take the time to translate your job titles, skills, experience, schooling, training, awards, and decorations into clear terms that your potential employer will understand.Reason #2: To be able to function, and have any hope for success, in your new career you will have to "fit in." And to "fit in" you will have to speak the language.The language of the military served you well in the service; in fact you had to learn it to be able to function within your environment. Now it's time to adopt the language of your new civilian environment so you're able to function well there.Creating your military resume is often the first step in the process of learning your new civilian language. By translating your military skills, you begin to learn a language that your future co-workers will understand. As you progress through your military transition, begin to use your new civilian language in daily communications such as general conversations, correspondence, emails, phone calls, etc.You might be saying to yourself, "Okay ...I understand the need to translate my military achievements in order for a civilian to understand, but where do I start?"There are lots of military skills translators online that will translate your job title into a civilian title. Armed with your new civilian job title, you can then search for resume samples in that industry. Use these as a template for creating your own resume.There are also several online resume wizards that will walk you through the process of creating your resume. You might use one of many good military resume writing books for reference. Or you might opt for hiring a live resume writer. Whichever method you use to build your resume, get started early. The sooner you get started translating your military transition resume, the sooner you can begin WOWing employers with your experience and get called for an interview!