Transitioning from a military career to a civilian career is not without challenges. Finding civilian employment can be difficult for any veteran-especially those who entered the military right out of high school. While the military has given you training and skills that employers, knowing where to start on your resume can hold you back, especially when translating your military duties to fit a civilian career.
Here are a few tips to help in translating your experience to help launch your civilian career.
Learn how to translate your experience
This is perhaps the most important part of starting your career search. Your experience is valuable, but the civilian reading your resume might not know this based on how you word your resume.
If this is something you struggle with, visit this military code to civilian occupation translator.
Here are a few common translations:
Job Titles
- Commander = Director or Senior Manager
- Executive Officer = Deputy Director
- Field Grade Officer = Executive or Manager
- Company Grade Officer = Operations Manager or Section Manager
- Warrant Officer =Technical Specialist or Department Manager
- Senior NCOs = First-Line Supervisor
- Infantry = Security Force
- First Sergeant = Personnel Manager
- Squad Leader = Team Leader or Team Chief
- Supply Sergeant = Supply Manager or Logistics Manager
- Operations NCO= Operations Supervisor
General Terms
- AI= additionally skilled in
- combat = hazardous conditions
- company = company, department or section
- medal = award
- military personnel office = human resources
- mission = task/function/objective
military occupation specialty/classification = career specialty
squad/platoon = team or section
reconnaissance = data collection and analysis
regulations= policy or guidelines
security clearance= security clearance
service members = employees
subordinates = employees
TAD/TDY = business trip
Describe your experience
Provide a complete rundown of your job/jobs in the military. Here are a few skills to include:
Technical
Technical skills are valuable to employers and can reduce the time they spend training you. A strong grasp on technology allows for many civilian opportunities.
Interpersonal
Executing missions in the military requires communication and working with others to accomplish an assigned task- a skill that translates into any field or career.
Leadership
Leadership experience in the military is highly regarded by employers and can led to a future management role.
Staying in the same field
For those transitioning and wanting to stay in the same field, creating a civilian resume will be much easier. For example, if you are a medic and want to stay in the medical field, your resume will be similar and the duties are understood to be the same.
For additional resources visit the Veteran and Military Transition Center.