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Title:10 Tips to Developing a Military Transition Resume

Author:Barbara Adams, CPRW, CEIP, MFRW, MMRW, MFCA-T

Date:March 2013

Source:www.militaryresumewriters.com and www.careerproplus.com

For the million-plus military personnel scheduled to retire or separate from the United States Military within the next three to four years, probably the best advice they can follow is to prepare. Statistics show that only 1% of the U.S. population comprises the military, leaving 99% civilian. Therefore, you must prepare to compete when separating from the military against your civilian counterparts.

Thousands of military personnel have the same MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). What differentiates you from others are your specialized experience, accomplishments, training, and individual skills.

Below are five tips you can follow to help set you apart from both your military and civilian counterparts:

  1. Demilitarize all military language into civilianize — e.g.,; the word "soldiers" becomes "personnel"
  2. Omit acronyms
  3. List a brief, overall demilitarized job description for each assignment — e.g., missions are assignments
  4. At least 80% of your resume should highlight your accomplishments; this will put you ahead of your competition
  5. Write your resume using the challenge, context, actions, and results of your experience
  6. Don't just say you're the best — you need to prove it; list both quantitative and qualitative results
  7. Provide a statement from your superior from your performance evaluation, such as:
    "The best Electronics Technician in years to pull off a 2,500-system installation with zero deficiencies... promote immediately"
  8. Use brevity on your resume; less is more
  9. Add your security clearance at the top of your resume; your clearance is priceless to both government contractors and the federal government
  10. Be clear, concise, and accomplishment-focused and be sure to have a few colleagues or friends proofread your resume for errors

A resume doesn't have to be full of boring job descriptions. Thousands can have the same MOS or job description. To be clear, you need to prove your value to an employer and how your experience, skills, education/training, and accomplishments will make an immediate contribution to their organization.

Barbara Adams, President and CEO of CareerPro Global (CPG), the parent company of www.careerproplus.com and www.militaryresumewriters.com, has been a member of the careers community for the past 20 years. Ms. Adams holds four prestigious industry certifications. CareerPro Global is the only ISO 9001-2008 Certified Career Service in the industry, as well as one of the fastest-growing Military, Federal, and Civilian Resume-Writing and Careers-Coaching companies. The team of Certified Professional Federal and Military Resume Writers at CPG assist thousands of clients in applying for and gaining employment each year. We can help you land your military to civilian job.

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