Career Spotlight

By Kathy Craney

Thank you again to all our veterans for the sacrifices they and their families have made. 

This week I’d like to talk about some of the unique skills a veteran may have and how they might incorporate them in a resume. 

All resumes have things in common.  When deciding what to include in your resume, the first questions should be who is my audience and what do they need to know about me (what is relevant) to help them make the decision to invite me in for an interview?  Keep in mind this is NOT your autobiography, but about what is important to your audience (not you).  To help you look at what to include, make a list of skills and qualifications the audience (IE. A potential employer) needs and wants in an employee.  Look at your list and decide which skills you have and where you use these skills.  Learn to think in terms of what you have accomplished and how you accomplished it.

Start your resume with a “Resume Profile” or “Summary Statements”.  The days of “Objectives” are gone.  The good news (in my opinion) is greater flexibility and they can be used to include skills and accomplishments you weren’t able to include before.  I recommend using bullet points vs. paragraph format.  Bullet points and phrases are much easier to scan and the reader is able to pick up more information about you in a quicker way (an advantage for you as you have about 15 seconds to capture your reader’s attention.)  Use 3 to 5 phrases covering items such as position keywords (career titles, industry skills, general skills, etc.), experience that targets the position for which you are applying, professional skills that transfer to the position, and what you can do for the employer that no one else can provide.  Do not use personal pronouns (I, me, my, etc.) in your resume. 

The next section is about your education, related training, appropriate certifications, and so on.  Again, keep in mind this is about the audience needs, not yours, so while you may be proud of the fact that you are a certified SCUBA instructor, if it has no benefit to the employer, don’t include it.  Also don’t include high school.  In most cases that’s irrelevant also.  Do include the name of your school, the city and state in which the school is located (not the mailing address), the type of degree you are receiving or have received, your major and minor (if you have one), your GPA if over 3.0, the month and year of your graduation (not “from-to”). You may also include any Professional Training, Overseas Training, certifications and licenses that are related to the position.  If you attended a school and transferred out before you received a degree, you don’t need to include that particular school.

Following the “Education” section is usually an “Employment” section.  Hopefully you have some experience related to the job for which you are applying.  (Note:  I recommend an internship or other related experience.  These are becoming a necessity whether required as part of your degree completion or not.  Employers want and often expect you to have experience.  You’re spending a lot of time and money to obtain your education.  Don’t minimize it by not obtaining the required experience.)  List (in reverse chronological order) the company/organization name, city and state (not mailing address), Time worked (month, year), and your job title.  Under this information, again using bullet points and phrases, list related accomplishment/skills the employer can use (remember this is about the employers needs/wants, not your ego).

Finally you may have a section on items such as “Honors and Awards”, “Community Service”, “Organizations”, and so forth.

Check, Check, and Re-Check your resume for improper grammar, spelling, punctuation and so forth.  Just one misspelled word can eliminate you from the running.  Show it to other people for clarity, grammar, spelling, etc.

Of Special Interest to Veterans:

• Don’t use military acronyms, phrases, and so forth.  Most of us who are civilians don’t understand them.  Use the language an employer will understand.
• Be targeted and specific.  Don’t force the employer to interpret what you mean – s/he will probably get it wrong and you’ll both lose.
• List only information an employer needs to make a decision to interview you.  Remember, it’s about what information the employer needs, not about your pride.
• Don’t forget volunteer information especially if it’s relevant.  Many of you in the military have had some very impressive volunteer experiences helping others.  Don’t diminish that.  Experiences such as that can show good communication skills, diversity, problem solving, leadership, etc.  Just because it wasn’t in your “job” description, doesn’t mean it’s not an accomplishment!
• Don’t forget other military advantages.  Things such as, giving and following directions, working as team leaders (management experience) and members (teamwork is a highly valuable skill in the workplace these days), working with diversity, and the ability to work under pressure.
• Other advantages may include your military security clearance, attention to safety, working with expensive equipment, advanced technology and so forth.
• Helpful phrases:
  • Train and evaluate a staff of 20, providing appropriate feedback regarding performance and training requirements
  • Identify corporate objectives
  • Organize needed resources including….
  • Direct operation efforts to achieve desired results
  • Gather and disseminate information for status reports for presentation to management staff
  • Troubleshoot operational functions to insure productivity and optimize quality
  • Solid experience in the development and administration of annual budgets, cost containment, purchasing and inventory control
  • Develop and execute prepared and unprepared speeches for various community organizations
  • Coordinate daily with personnel to insure timely application processing
  • Instate strong networking capabilities to recruit and retain personnel
  • Met or exceeded goals four years consecutively (Any quantification you can include is useful.)
  • Received numerous monthly and quarterly awards
  • Received excellent rating on Inspector General Inspection

In closing, remember to talk about your accomplishments in terms of what they can do for an employer.  How did you increase performance, decrease costs, improve reliability, identify and solve problems, and so forth.  Let the employers know what you’ve done for others and what you will do for them.

Also remember Career & Leadership Development is here for you.  Send or bring us your resumes, talk to us about internships, see us for a mock interview.  Ask us for what you need and we’ll work with you.  Thanks again!