Despite two wars, people still leave the service.
There is not much call in the civilian world for an armorer or squad leader, but there might be for an inventory control or supply chain specialist or a team leader with a project manager certification.
Chad Graham writes about this in the Arizona Republic (May 5, 2009).
Military people have been taught personal discipline and to listen to and follow instructions, but have trouble translating this into civilian terms. They tend to have higher unemployment rates than their civilian counterparts.
Palladian International, a Virginia career coaching firm, specializes in military people.
Often, ex-military write a resume that only another military person would understand.
Such resumes are too long and don’t mention the past employer. It’s better to keep resumes to 350 words, according to this firm. (I found that low myself.)
Better to show specific examples of challenges and results.
Show that you finish tasks and achieve noteworthy results.
Don’t be modest. You need to talk about results. Money saved, money earned, thing invented, programs expanded, that sort of thing.
How long did each project take? What was the budget? How many people did you supervise? Did you get a promotion? Try to minimize the jargon. If you don’t know what the civilian equivalent of your military task was—ask around.
You know all this.
But often people tend to get shy. Not a good time for that.
