Reaching the Resume, a Worthwhile Journey

by Jerry Welsh

The transition from military to the private sector will be one of the most rewarding processes and challenging. If you have spent more than 10 years in the military you will find the need to 1) define you new career choice at least 18 months to two years out, 2) research the career so you fully understand the requirements for entry into this career (research job postings), 3) creating a network of veterans and non-veterans who are in a similar or the same career will go a long way to increase your knowledge and visibility on LinkedIn, 4) conducting a significant number of Informational Interviews to learn the language and metrics of this career will be a solid base to assist you in the job search, 5) interacting with network by commenting and asking questions on LinkedIn will give you a comfortable base to "speak" in the private sector language.

Now we are at the resume creation portion of our program. WOW, I thought the resume was first thing I should do? How can you build a resume tailored to positions in the new career, if you have not chosen it or you know very little about it.

There are programs online to measure keyword success between a job posting and your resume. Use them, if you are not running over 60% keyword match go back to the drawing board. People and automated systems look for the same things. The first perusal of your resume will be less than 30 seconds, looking for the key requirements. i.e. years of experience, degree, valid metrics

Even after you create a perfect resume you may not make that first review, so prepare for rejection. Learn from your mistakes, if you get feedback. Keep in mind the US is a litigious place and HR is very skittish about providing feedback that may be used against them in court. If you approach things from gathering information, you are new to the game, you needs some help, your chances of getting information. Prepare for rejection. If you want some assistance, Hire Heroes USA is a great resource, the just hit the 100,000 military hires!!

Here is a short synopsis of what I just laid out from Michael Quinn, a form E-9 who had a rough transition and now spends a lot of time advising companies and service members on the "how to's and what not to's" of the transition.

I was applying for jobs that required 5-8 years of experience doing X,Y,Z

But my resume stated I had 24 years of experience and currently led the operations for 17,000 people in 45 countries

Want to guess how many interviews I received? ??

hashtag

#Relevance is absolutely key to showing how your experience aligns with the requirements of a particular job

And there are a few key things to keep in mind

? 1 - Years of experience

The military counts years of experience as time in the military

The private sector counts years in a particular role or doing a specific skill

All of your years DO NOT COUNT and can actually work against you from an age discrimination standpoint

So make sure to align (or tailor) your resume/profile to the role

If it says 5-8 years of experience, say you have "over 8" or even "more than 10 years experience" doing that and ensure it reflects on your resume

(but don't say it and go back 20 years)

? - Numbers of subordinates

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#Subordinates is a bad word out here...considered degrading by many

We call them "Direct Reports" and take credit differently

Out here you only really count the people you rate, not everyone in the entire organization that falls under you

?? - What you did

You don't get credit for the entire organization out here

When hiring people for a role, we need to see that YOU have the experience to come in and perform in that role Day 1

(not your team)

So taking credit for an entire organization does not relate

(and this is difficult for people in command positions)

But the bottom line is you have to be able to explain what YOU did to achieve those results

As the HHD 1SG, I didn't run the HR Operations of a Battalion … even though the S1 fell under me (they had a 1LT & SFC to do that)

But did I personally lead any HR initiatives?

If so, THAT would be relevant