Resume Building for Military Veterans

• Why Create a Resume?
• Keywords in Resumes
• Before Writing Your Resume
• Resume Tips for Military Veterans
• Resume Builder
• Sample Resume
• Action Verbs for Resumes

1. The employer's hiring manager may search RecruitMilitary's database of job seekers for specific keywords and phrases. RecruitMilitary's software will present job seekers who match those search criteria to the hiring manager with the best matches appearing highest on the match list.



2. You may apply for jobs that are posted at RecruitMilitary.com and send your resume to hiring managers for consideration.



3. Our search consultants may be contracted to conduct a search for potential job candidates that match a specific list of criteria as outlined by a hiring manager. Your resume may be selected based upon a search by one of our consultants and presented to the hiring manager.

Probably the biggest mistake military veterans make when they write their resume is that they try to include everything. They do what sales professionals call 'spraying and praying,' putting everything they can think of in their resume and hoping that something will catch the attention of the employer. They couldn't be more wrong.

Your resume is not your autobiography. The purpose of your resume is to communicate how well you match a potential job opening so that you get called in for an interview. This does not mean you should fabricate information in your resume. (Remember your resume is like a tattoo. It stays in your personnel file for life.) Instead, the best resumes are those that are written by job seekers who know what kind of job they are looking for, who have researched the jobs and the companies that hire people into those jobs, and who have taken the time to ensure that they have included the most important information in their resumes.

When you have done the research called for in the worksheet in this article, you will know the fundamental traits, experience, skills, and education that a hiring manager will be looking for in filling specific positions. The words used to describe the traits; experience, skills, and education are called keywords. Resumes that have the most keyword matches will get the attention of the hiring manager, and will have the greatest chance of landing the job seeker an interview.

The importance of keywords in this age of electronic resumes and resume scanning cannot be overemphasized. A single well-placed word can make the difference between landing a job interview and ending up in the reject bin. Three sections of your RecruitMilitary resume should contain the bulk of your keywords and keyword phrases: Career summary, Work Experience, and Skills.

To find the right keywords to use in your resume, you will need to research the types of jobs you want and the companies for whom you want to work and complete the Job Research Worksheet. You can conduct this research by searching for jobs on the RecruitMilitary Web site. Read the job ads and look for traits, experience, skills and education that match your own. You can research deeper into the companies that have posted the jobs by going to their Web sites. Look for qualifications they may be seeking in a job candidate. These traits may be found in how they define their corporate goals and vision and how they word their job ads.

The typical job seeker will target three to five different types of jobs in which he is interested. This means that the typical job seeker will need three to five resumes, one resume for each job that interests him. Keep in mind that the intent of your resume is to sell yourself into a job interview. The 'one size fits all' approach does not work in job hunting. You will have the best chance to land a job interview if you have a separate resume for each type of job that interests you.

Before Writing Your Resume

Before you begin to compose your resume, you will need to gather all relevant information. Start now by filling out the Job Experience Worksheet. Complete a separate worksheet for each significant job you have held. As you complete the worksheets, circle the words that match the Job Research Worksheet you completed earlier. Later, when you are composing your resume, you will want to be sure to include these important keywords and keyword phrases.

A good source to help you as you fill out your worksheets is a free site maintained by the United States Government at online.onetcenter.org. Click on Crosswalk Search to go to a page where you can enter your MOC/MOS. Crosswalk Search will translate your MOC/MOS into a civilian job title. When you click on the civilian title, you will find an array of keywords that may help you fill out the Job Experience Worksheet.

The next step in preparing to write your resume is to gather information on your education, affiliations, and skills. Use the Education, Affiliations, and Job Skills Worksheet to prepare this information. Although many hiring managers consider a listing of affiliations and skills to be optional, this information can help set you apart from other job seekers – especially those who are not military veterans. But only include those affiliations and skills that hold relevance to the position you are seeking.

Once you have gathered all of this information, you will be ready to create your resume. Begin composing your resume by clicking on Resume Builder. It may be helpful to have at your side all of your completed worksheets, the RecruitMilitary Resume Tips sheet, and a list of action verbs that will be useful in bringing life to your descriptions of your experiences and skills.

RecruitMilitary Resume Tips Sheet

A good resume is essential to marketing your talents and experience - it should make you stand out from the other candidates so a potential employer will want to interview you. Regardless of the resume format you decide to use, you should concentrate on making your resume as honest and positive as possible. The more specific you are in relating your experience to the position you desire, the better.

Here are some tips for military veterans:

• Pay particular attention to the first third of your resume: Title/Heading Information, and Career Summary. Hiring managers typically make a decision in the first 20 seconds whether to continue reading a resume. So take the time to ensure that these sections are well written.
• Be specific. Narrow down your accomplishments and experience to fit the position you desire. Be sure to include keywords that match the employer's needs.
• Decide what type of language to use in your resume. Only resumes directed toward the defense industry may contain military jargon. Resumes directed to civilian jobs must use everyday English.
• Write accomplishment-oriented and action-oriented phrases, rather than complete sentences. This technique will help you to keep the information in your resume concise and to the point, and will show how you can make a difference. Do not write a job description. Focus on things you accomplished to highlight for each position you have held.
• Always be positive, even if a past job experience resulted in negative feelings toward your employer.
• Keep the length of your resume down to one page, if possible, and never more than two pages. If you must go to two pages, keep bulleted items on the same page. Avoid using extra-small type to make it fit. Your font should be no small than ten point.
• Proofread your master copy very carefully, and ask others to proofread it for you.
• Use high-quality bond paper that is white or off-white. Make sure envelopes and cover letters match the look and feel of your resume.
• Information not to include: Personal information such as age or marital status. Past salary and wages are better left off a resume.

• Wrong focus - Remember your resume is your marketing brochure, not your autobiography.



• Poor organization - Take the time to organize all of your information before sitting down to write your resume. The extra organization will save time and headaches in the end.



• Information not presented well - The attractiveness of your resume matters. It makes a statement about the type of work you do.



• Typos and grammatical errors - One typo can cost you the interview.



• Not highlighting accomplishments and only describing positions held. Employers only want to know what you have achieved.



• Information presented in paragraph form with several sentences in each paragraph. We have clients who will not read resumes that are written in paragraph form.

• View Sample Resume