Whether you’re retiring from the military or leaving at the end of your contract, the transition to the civilian workforce is overwhelming, beginning with your first step: conducting a successful job search. Here are the five biggest challenges that we routinely help clients address.
Challenge #1: Finding Time
Military life is very different from civilian life. Remember when you first enlisted or were commissioned? It probably felt like you landed on a different planet where everyone dresses alike, has the same haircut, responds in the same way, follows the same regulations and Uniform Code of Military Justice, and has dedicated their life to supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies… A shock to the system that became something you could always trust and count on, which was critical to surviving warfare. Similarly, re-entry to the civilian world can be a rude awakening.
When you’re in the military, you live the military life. It drives everything that you and your family do. Essentially, your time is not your own. Military life takes all of your time, not just work hours. Take your uniform, for example. You are your uniform. It immediately identifies your name, rank, branch, and battalion. It may also tell of your travels and the honors you’ve earned
Just by looking at you, without saying a word, everyone knows a great deal about you, and how to work with you. Your uniform is of vital significance to the functioning of the military. Accordingly, the care and preparation of your uniform requires dedication and commitment.
Some of my military clients end up working and training their replacements until their very last day and don’t have the proper amount of time to search for a job, let alone time to write a resume. That’s understandable because lives depend on your replacement filling your shoes.
Here are my best tips time-saving tips for you:
Time-saving Tip #1: Ask your supervisor to release you early for SkillBridge
The DoD SkillBridge program is an opportunity for active-duty service members to gain valuable civilian work experience with DOI during their last 180 days of service. SkillBridge connects service members with DOI components in real-world job experiences.
Challenge #2: Having Industry-Specific Experience
The best way to secure your target job is to having industry-specific experience in the role you’re applying for. Employers value candidates who can smoothly slide into their open positions. Of course, you can change industries and roles if you position yourself correctly. However, it is more challenging and can take a longer time to successfully land that new role.
Here’s a breakdown of job search difficulty based on industry and title, from easiest to hardest:
1-A similar job title in a similar industry
2-A similar job title in a different industry
3-A different job title in a similar industry
4-A different job title in a different industry
It’s important to convey that you will fit into their organization and be successful in your assignment. But, you may be asking yourself, ok, so what industries are similar to the United States Military?
Well…BIG ones! You have been part of one of the largest, most disciplined, and most successful “organizations” in the world. So, large organizations are going to value your experiences navigating your military career. That said, small and medium sized organizations may also value your military experience, especially veteran-owned businesses.
Time-saving Tip #2: A repeat of Tip #1 Ask your supervisor again, to release you early for SkillBridge. If the answer you got the first time was, “NO,” don’t be afraid to ask again.
SkillBridge because you’ll hopefully gain some industry-specific civilian experience that will look great on your resume! Plus you will start to get acclimated to the civilian workforce and how to “speak civilian”. Perhaps one of the best benefits is that it helps your organization (squadron, battalion, brigade, unit) get used to you not being there.
Challenge #3: Knowing When to Start
This is one the most common question we get asked in our free 20-minute resume consultation. I am going to give you a bit of a long answer, and I would also say, “It depends.” It’s never too early to start because your experience builds up over time. Ideally, you would begin your military career with a strategically chosen MOS, advance your skills, and earn certifications that help you land a great civilian job when you’re ready. If your career path hasn’t been that targeted, an experienced resume writer can emphasize your transferable skills to position you for appropriate jobs within your scope of experience.
Time-saving Tip #3: Ask yourself the following questions…
1) Do you need a resume to apply for a SkillBridge/HOH internship opportunity?
If so, aim for 2 months before you need that resume ready. (Primary Resume and LinkedIn should be able to be completed in about a month on average.)
*If you already applied, have your SkillBridge approved and know what program you are doing, you may want us to add that SkillBridge experience to the top of your resume. If so, wait until SkillBridge details are confirmed so we can include that info on your Primary Resume.
2) Do you know what your job duties/assignments are going to be between now and separation?
If you don’t anticipate any major changes to job, we can get started a year or even two before transition if it would help you to feel more prepared.
If you are going to have a new job assignment, drastically different duties, OR are unsure, I suggest you wait until there will be no more job changes before we get started. We don’t want to write you a great resume and then later have to charge you a small fee to update it with more info!
Challenge #4: Competition
It is a competitive job market so yes, you will have competition in your job search. The good news is that the competition isn’t as fierce as it was a couple of years ago!
Your secret weapon for this challenge is to activate your Free Year of LinkedIn Premium. When you use the LinkedIn Job Search feature you can see how many applicants have applied for the job and how the experience on your profile rates among the applicants. You can also conduct a Google image search for the job title, industry or company and the word “resume” to see the resumes of people who have been in that role or similar ones.
Time Saving Tip #4: Rise above the competition with a stand-out resume
If writing your resume just feels too overwhelming either contact Career Confidence Military Resume Writing Services. With 20 years of experience launching military to civilian career transitions, we are happy to review your resume for free. Or if you don’t have a resume yet, don’t stress! We create resumes from scratch every week. Contact us here if you are starting from scratch.
Challenge #5: Knowing How Your Experience Translates to the Civilian World
This seems to be THE BIGGEST challenge for military service members transitioning into the civilian workforce. Military service is highly specialized and unique. You’ve worked on proprietary technology and executed missions that you can’t talk about so there isn’t a simple solution to translate all of your experience for the civilian world. But we have proven tools like 100+ Military to Civilian Translations that will help you overcome this challenge.
Know that it is unlikely your military title will be a “direct translation” to civilian jobs. You have some freedom in what your job title can be. For example, depending upon the job title in the job description, you can describe your former military job title as Operations Director, Project Manager, Human Resources Specialist, or a Logistics Manager. Job titles are fluid both in military and civilian resumes, because you could be doing the exact same job at two different companies and have two different titles. You want to match your job title on your resume to the position you are applying for, as much as possible. This is important both for applicant tracking system purposes and for the human being who reads your resume. They want to see that you are as close of a fit to the job they are hiring for as possible.
Time Saving Tip #5: Download the Free 100+ Military to Civilian Translations
The #1 concern I hear from military service members and veterans is, “How do I civilianize my military experience.” If you’re struggling to translate military jargon into civilian language, download the free 100+ Military to Civilian Translations and join the 1000+ individuals who are utilizing this list to develop a strong civilianized resume. No resource is perfect, but I hope you get some good suggestions of how your military experience can be translated.
Written by Cassie Hatcher, CEO of Career Confidence LLC, a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW), and Certified Veteran Career Strategist (CVCS) who translates military leadership experience to ensure your resume is on-target for the civilian workforce.
For 8+ years, Career Confidence Resume Services has specialized in translating military experience into accomplishments-focused resumes. Our goal is to help military service members to find their next mission with a resume that captures employers’ attention and highlights their unique military experience.
If you are a military service member, click here to get in contact with us.
If you are a civilian professional, manager, or executive click here to contact us.
We have a couple of great resources including a free quiz designed specifically for Military & Veterans to answer the question, “What Type of Resume Do I Need?” This quiz takes 5 minutes on average to complete.