Resumes for Ex Defense and Military

Welcome everyone my name is Jill Kelly I'm from outplacement Australia and today we're going to be talking about military to civilian resume writing tactics and how. You can go about designing your resume in a way that sells your defense background and skills effectively to potential employers. 

Why it’s so Difficult to Translate Military Skills to Civilian? 

Without a doubt translating a military background in a resume can be tough. Defense careers are very diverse they're specialized. They can be quite complex, and they can be hard to explain. When an employer hears words such as squadron or standing orders or infantry or Co or any of that terminology that defense personnel use on a day-to-day basis, they often can't relate to those terms and it means.

That defense personnel can sometimes seem very removed to them from the commercial marketplace the reality is though. That actually isn't the case defense personnel come with very expert training and skills that can be highly valuable within the civilian world of work. It just needs to be displayed effectively so that they can see the relevance to them so. find out. What it is they want so step. 

How to Translate Your Military Skills to Civilian?

You start first step in designing an effective resume for defense personnel. When they're wanting to move to the civilian marketplace is to do your homework it's really important. You want to appear relevant that you really

Do Research of the Role You Applying on

One is really about doing your research have a look at the roles. That you're thinking you will target. You go out into the civilian workplace and read those job ads Google position descriptions for those particular types of roles talk to anybody that you can find at that field so.

You can really uncover what the employer’s needs are and what ideally they're looking for in an employee in that role and you have a good understanding of what they want then it's all about selling your experience and the relevant skill sets that you bring for them so the second step in the process is really catching their attention and showcasing your skills to them first tip. 

Think About the Resume Objective 

When you're doing that is to forget the old-fashioned objective. That a lot of people used to lead with in their resume instead of telling them about. What you're looking for in your next position and what you're hoping that the company will bring to you what you're actually wanting to do is instead really showcase very quickly at the outset of the document. What it is that you offer them so instead of the old-fashioned objective lead instead with a strong opening profile. That showcases your value proposition so in this instance. This person was targeting obviously in our operations management role. Let’s consider an example:

A compliantly those are the skills obviously and the experience that they bring from defense but they've conveyed. That in a strong opening profile section that is highly relevant for leadership positions within the commercial marketplace but you know what they have. What they are looking for and you've presented your opening profile section and highlight said what you offer to them.

Focus on Your Relevant Skills

The next thing that you need to do is really evidence your skills and achievement and experience in those areas but you are highlighting your employment background really. What you want to do is again put the focus on the relevant so you are talking about your experiences and your past roles.

Don't just list duties okay don't list the day-to-day duties that you would find in your position description. 

Instead think from their perspective and think about what it is that you did in those roles that were valuable to them.

So instead of saying things like weapons operations or tactical training or combat duty or military communications equipment or leading squad maneuvers. Any of those things instead talk about the relevant skills and experiences that you got in those positions that would be relevant to them so. That might be rapid decision-making or training or operations management or your workplace health and safety and risk assessments. All of those are highly relevant skills so you want to put your focus on the skills that are valuable to them need to sell your transferable skills. 

Show off Your Achievements Using Concrete Examples

If need to sell those achievements in civilian terms so look at the roles and that you've had assessed the skills that you had in those and then identify those that are relevant in the civilian marketplace when you've done. That the next thing you need to do is really bring out the big guns and sell your achievements and successe.

Don't just focus on what you did tell the employer how well you did that and the value that brought to the organization.

And I know that can seem like a challenging thing to have to do but you can showcase your achievements the more the employer come to see what you potentially offer them.

Don't just telling them that you delivered training programs and ran weekly group exercises.

Instead just telling them that you delivered training programs and ran weekly group exercises tell them you redesign to key training programs with new content and exercises that improve comprehension of complex concepts and lifted the average pass rates 20%.

You can see that is a much stronger statement and enables them to see not just what you did but you did it and the value that brought to the Australian Defense Force and also the value that you can potentially bring to them. 

Conclusion

You have a nice strong resume that have you know you're a strong opening profile section telling them what you offer. It's a document that showcases:

·        Your relevant training credentials

·        Explains your past positions in terms of the relevant skills that you gained in those positions

·        And also your achievements

The next thing to do is to spend some time polishing it and proofing it and getting it right so don't just send it out there before you've really had time to refine.

Because investing in getting it right now will mean that the result that you get from that document will be that much stronger. So make sure that you're really love that content. You know go back and perfect the presentation.

·        Make sure that it's concise.

·        That it's tight but it hasn't got any spelling errors

·        And that it really conveys all the important information.

You just want to be confident it represents you well.

If you need any more support with resume development or any other career transition assistance feel free to contact us. At outplacement Australia our contact details are on the next star.

Good luck.