Resume Help?

[BigBear]

Tell us what you did in the .mil and I'm sure we've got enough brains to help you transition that work experience into civvie language.

[James']

What did you do?


Perseverance, truth and loyalty

[sealer]

Cover Letter is a must!. I'm a VP now...this was after I was I "non-traditional student". I didn't graduate from college until I had invested 10+ years (non military).

As many have said, tailor your skill set to the job requirement. Please don't use a boilerplate resume. It will generally get tossed immediately.

Send all your questions/concerns and I'd be more than willing to help.

PS - don't boiler plate as I stated earlier. Makes for a horrible presentation.

Drew

[sealer]

I have a short connection with a construction company in Denver...owned by an Annapolis Grad.

No promises...

Drew

[asmo]

Military . com has a free service where you plug in your MOS and it spits out pretty language suitable for a starting point on your resume.

My wife does military recruiting strategy for Fortune 10 companies. PM me your resume and I am sure she would be happy to look at it - provided you have done some of the basic work.

[Irving]

When applying for my job, I just asked them about a cover letter, they said it wasn't an issue. I was applying for an entry level position where the only requirement was college though. Anything higher than that and I'd say to go through the effort of writing a cover letter, if for nothing else than to help you organize and verbalize your own presentation. You may be perfect for the job, and know that you're perfect for the job, but if you can't present that in an interview, you'll struggle. Tailoring resumes and cover letters is a great way to get you into the proper frame for when they ask you, "Why do you want this job?"

I've splattered resumes out and shown up to interviews not even remembering what was on my resume. Try not to make that mistake.

[asmo]

The one page resume is utter bullshit. Use the minimum number of pages you need to make your sales pitch. Brevity is a great thing but don't feel compelled to keep it to a single page.

I look at hundreds of resumes a year. What I care about is grammar, making your point, and more than anything your ACCOMPLISHMENTS while in your role. Do not give me a job description - tell me how you took your job to the next level, tell me how your actions set you apart from your peers, tell me why you are the one for me. More than anything show me you can be successful when I give you a challenge.

[fly boy]

What did you do?
Perseverance, truth and loyalty

I am a 2w2, and have over 5 years weapons MX experience, over 4 years weapons trainer. The past year I have been an instructor at the weapons school house and have logged over 1400 teaching hours.

Cover Letter is a must!. I'm a VP now...this was after I was I "non-traditional student". I didn't graduate from college until I had invested 10+ years (non military).
As many have said, tailor your skill set to the job requirement. Please don't use a boilerplate resume. It will generally get tossed immediately.
Send all your questions/concerns and I'd be more than willing to help.
PS - don't boiler plate as I stated earlier. Makes for a horrible presentation.
Drew

What is "boiler plate?" just a standard resume? And I know that I will be going back to Cheyenne WY, but thank you on the Construction lead.



so to re-cap, I need a cover plate for sure, and have 3-4 variances of resume's depending on position I am applying for. Thanks again all!!!

I have a rough draft, and once I make sure I have everything gather, I will post up what I have so you all can help adjust as needed.

[asmo]

Okay, now that I am on a real keyboard some further advice:

1) Get a Linked-In account and make it look like gold. Linked-In is NOT Facebook and don't treat it as such. Network with as many people that you *actually* know and have worked with. In today's job market the #1 way to land a job is through networking, and Linked-In is the #1 site that recruiters use. Jealously guard all your relationships on Linked-In and dont just accept every offer to link with random people. Look at every link through the eyes of a prospective employer. Know the Chief Scientist from a program you worked on that is at some SI - yup link up with them, the guy you met a burger joint one time - no ignore his request. There a metric fuck-ton of SI related people at Kirtland and I am sure you have interacted with a bunch of them - get on linked-in and start networking. You will be amazed.

2) Get your resume up on "indeed.com" - the days of Monster and careerbuilder are slowly dying - they are really only used by shitty 3rd party recruiters who comb through thousands of job postings and then try and sell your resume to the prospective employer/2nd party recruiter. Indeed is the new hot-spot for all the quality recruiters (linked-in is still the #1).

3) Figure out what kind of work you *want* to do. As a 2w2xx at NWC you have a lot of skill sets that can be translated to civilian jobs, but what is it you *love* to do. Realize that your passion may not pay the best, but don't just take a job because someone offers it. Tailor your resume to the career field you want. Yes tailor it to each application to make - but they should all be in the same career field.

4) Take advantage of the career transition workshops that are offered. Sometimes they bring in some REALLY big guns to help people with resumes and the like. In several cases I have watched people get hired there purely because they had a decent resume - but more importantly they were engaging with the presenter. They asked great questions and made themselves known. The soft-skills are more important when you are trying to land the job - focus on them. I have watched EVPs of major corps come in to do a skill-set workshop, they usually don't say their official title.

5) Again, and I cannot stress this enough. Tell me what you accomplished - not what your job skills were. Tell me why you are the one I should take a gamble on. Show me that you accomplish your goals and exceed them. Show me that when I give you a challenge that you will rise to the occasion and give me outstanding results. Tell me what RESULTS you provided in your job. I cannot tell you the number of resumes that I toss on the floor because all they do is tell me what their job description is; and I have looked through a metric fuck ton of previous military/first time civilian resumes.

6) Know that many employers, especially the major companies, have specific groups within HR devoted and dedicated to military hiring. Find those people (remember Linked-In) and reach out to them. Tell them straight up that you are transitioning and looking for information. They will bend over backwards to help you.

[mcantar18c]

Asmo, that post was extremely helpful. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.