Military Transition:
Resume Concepts
What you don’t do in the military: write resumes, interview for a job (normally), and you never negotiate salary and
compensation. What you will do during your transition is write resumes,
interview for a job and negotiate salary and compensation.
Can you imagine negotiating compensation for your next tour
of duty? “Ma’am I am really interested in your offer but can you arrange for me
to telecommute on Fridays and get me a free membership at the country club?” And that is not the only hurdle you may have to overcome…some
employers have a few ill-perceived notions about you and the military:
- You are rigid
- You don’t understand profit and loss
- You have had unlimited resources
- Leading is easy because you just give orders
These misled
perceptions can create barriers, but a well prepared and focused resume will
dispel all of these notions and set you up for success.
An effective
way to create the building blocks of your resume is to produce a core or mega
resume with 75 to 100 accomplishments. These accomplishments should include
results, i.e., percentages, dollars, time and opportunity capitalized on. If
possible, you will want to include how you achieved the accomplishment through leadership, restructuring, collaboration, etc. Your completed mega resume can be
used as a source to draft each new resume for each specific objective or job
interest.
So, how
important is it to determine an objective, industry or specific job interest? Yogi
Berra said “If you don’t know where you are going, you will end up somewhere
else.” You will need to focus on an
objective or a limited number of objectives. Consider what you want to do which
should be some combination of your skill sets, what you like to do and what
someone will pay you to do. Before
moving on with your resume draft there are two important aspects of job hunting
that go hand in hand with your resume development, Networking and Research.
Network,
network, network…we have all heard the buzz that networking contributes to job
hunting success, but how important is it? According to Gevry Grispin and Mark
Mehler, CareerXRoads, You are 54 times more likely to get hired if an employee
of your target company refers you than if you posted your resume on every large
job board at the same time! Networking also adds resources you can leverage
during your resume draft and interview process. And along with networking you
will want to build your industry knowledge-base through research.
Researching
your objective industry for local, national and international trends and
building an historical prospective will add to your depth and breadth of
knowledge and allow you to capitalize on opportunity. As you build a more
comprehensive picture of your objective landscape you will be better prepared
to put down on paper or relate verbally how you uniquely solve your future employer’s
problems.
With your
completed mega resume you can pick and choose from the list of your
accomplishments that best support your objective. Each job you apply for
should be supported with a unique and focused resume resulting from your
research, job description, and duties.
One common
resume challenge for military members is writing in the proper language, i.e., non-Department of Defense terms. Avoid acronyms and ensure that you translate your
accomplishments and duties into business related terms according to your
objective.
Resumes have one purpose…to get you an interview! According
to the McLean Group, your resume should SHOUT from the mountain tops: I know
what you need, I can do it, I can prove I did it, I can tell you how I did it, and I can do it again. It is not
just about your responsibilities. It may sound impressive to state that you
were responsible for $100,000 in operating capital but the reader does not know
if you squandered it or improved your organization with it. Remember it is more about your
accomplishments; what did you do that resulted in improvements or how did you
save money or time? You restructured, changed processes, empowered teams,
motivated, collaborated, etc.
There are
several resume formats: chronological, functional and combination. Your choice may
depend on your particular objective and target industry. The combination resume
works well most of the time because the first page states your
accomplishments that support your skills sets and objective while the second
page details chronological or professional history, and describes your work history and
experience. It is recommended by several job hunting agencies to keep your
resume down to no more than two pages in length. If you wish to make it any
longer…don’t.
There are
many resources available that offer resume templates and formats. You may even
hire someone to write it for you, but be advised there is valuable learning in
the process of developing your own resume. An objective is needed to give you a
goal or direction, strong networking and research builds a solid industry
knowledge base, and creating a mega resume can assist in drafting multiple
resumes, not to mention giving you an interview resource. Never lose sight of
the purpose of your resume...to get you an interview!
Randy Blackmon is Senior Enrollment Manager for USG eCore and eMajor, and is a retired U.S. Navy Captain.
rblackmo@westga.edu
678-839-4898
rblackmo@westga.edu
678-839-4898
