Tips for Preparing a Military Transition Resume
(Part Two)
Follow the guidelines on this page (page 2 of 3) to help ensure your military transition resume is considered by top employers.
Training and Certifications:
Only include applicable training and certifications. Damage control training or weapons and tactics training are not of interest to civilian hiring authorities. If you do not have any applicable training, eliminate the training section. If you have only one school that is relevant, it can be included under the education section (i.e. Officer Basic Course, Nuclear Prototype, etc).
You may have to expound on the title of the training. "Completed 13 week Navy/Marine Corps Electronics ‘A’ School" is self explanatory, but "Completed Signal Officer Advanced Course" is not. To make Signal Officer Advanced Course "add value " to your resume, you will have to explain the curriculum.
If you have several such schools that build on each other, or that are closely related, (i.e. NCO Academy and Staff NCO Academy, or Surface Warfare Officer and Engineering Watch Officer School), you can combine them or list the most advanced course only to save space.
| TRAINING | ||
| 5/00 - 8/00 |
Graduate, Staff NCO Academy | Camp Pendleton, CA |
- Eight weeks of training in leadership, performance counseling / documentation, time management, employee development; Honor graduate - 99% average
- Graduate, 13 week, Navy/Marine Corps Electronics 'A' School
- Graduate, 4 week, Navy/Marine Corps Ordnance School
- Graduate, 2 week, Navy/Marine Corps Micro Miniature Repair School
- Graduate, 3 week, Navy/Marine Corps Radio Repair School
-
Microsoft Certified System Engineer, April 2001; Cisco Certified Network Associate, May 2002
EXPERIENCE
List your experience in reverse chronological order (start with the job you had most recently). The first line of each job/duty station should contain the timeframe you were at that job, the job title, the unit you were attached to, and the location of the unit.
Directly under the job title line, describe the responsibilities of that job using no more than 3 lines of text (paragraph format).
Do not add excess detail that is not relevant. "Responsible for the upkeep and repair of the following radio equipment: URT-23, R-2368, URA-38, KG-84C, WSC-3, SA-2112, NST, KW-146" is not as effective or concise as "Responsible for the upkeep and repair of $15 million worth of RF equipment".
Put your responsibilities in terms that your civilian counterparts will understand (number of people, and value of equipment/supplies).
"Commanded Infantry company" is not as effective as, "Led 240 people. Responsible for the maintenance and safe operation of $20 million worth of weapons and transportation equipment."
Under your responsibilities, put up to three bulleted accomplishments. Your accomplishments should fit on one line and be tangible/quantifiable.
Pick accomplishments that relate well to Corporate America (i.e. saved money, did more with less), or that show a distinguished level of performance. The accomplishments that you are most proud of or that you spent the most time on, may not be the best to include on your resume.
The first word of each phrase/bullet in your responsibility and accomplishment sections should be an action verb (e.g., led, directed, maintained, saved, improved, etc.).
EXPERIENCE1996 - 2000 Ground Radio Repair Specialist, Anderson AFB, Guam
- Repaired and maintained HF and UHF radio equipment. Performed modifications ensuring operational specifications were met.
- Ensured zero equipment downtime during each of five high profile exercises
- Earned Air Force Achievement Medal for superior performance
- Performed various administrative functions
For technician and IT resumes only, you may want to include a skills overview that lists all applicable skills that are not covered in the training or experience sections of your resume. For technician and IT technician resumes, this section should be at the top of the resume. For IT Project Management resumes, your IT skills section should be after your education and experience sections.
This section must include the key "buzz words" that employers are looking for. If you have questions as to what these should be ask you candidate recruiter.
Any of the following that apply to you should be included: Printed Circuit Board, soldering, component level, microprocessors, AC/DC power, high/low voltage, micro miniature repair, steam, diesel, gas turbine, boiler, test equipment (list specific equipment), RF/HF/UHF, SatCom, microwave, Cisco, router, hub, server, TCP/IP, switch (list specific equipment), firewalls, ATM, cabling, fiber optic, installation, project management, logistics, supervision, maintenance, engineering.
SKILLS
Operating Systems: Sun Solaris (6 yrs), HP-UX (5 yrs), Linux (4 yrs), Novell (5 yrs), Windows NT Server (2 yrs), Cisco IOS 9-12 (5 yrs)
Software: HP Openview (4 yrs), CiscoWorks (1 yr), Microsoft Exchange (2 yrs), Side Winder Firewalls (2 yrs), ISS (2 yrs)
Hardware: Pargain T1/E1 modems, Cabletron switches, Cisco 2500, 4000 and 7000 routers
Media: 10Base2 (BNC, COAX), 10BaseT (UTP)