Leaving The Military? CV Advice

ATTENTION!

With today’s crowded employment market, getting noticed has never been more important. Unfortunately that pressure can be even more acute for those transferring from the armed forces to a civilian role. As well as competing with scores of other hopefuls all applying for the same jobs as you, you’ve also got to convince potential employers that you’re better than your civvy street counterparts. Hardly surprising then that the majority of CVs don’t even get a cursory glance.

Gone are the times when CVs merely recounted a biographical list of work history and qualifications. Nowadays your CV has to work a lot harder, demonstrating – in a matter of seconds – how you’re not only perfectly attuned to a company’s needs, but that you’ve got infinitely more to offer than the hundreds of other applicants.

The good news is, having served in the armed forces, you’ve undoubtedly accrued a myriad of skills, training and accomplishments that are highly sought after in the corporate world. All you need to do is demonstrate how your military experience is transferable to a civilian job. Here are a few tips on how.

Demilitarise

You need to make sure everything that appears on your CV makes sense in the civilian world. That means demilitarising job titles, duties, accomplishments, training and acronyms. If in doubt, show your CV to non-military friends and ask them to point out terms they don’t understand. A good way to get ideas on how to translate from military speak into corporate language is to look at job postings in business magazines and websites. Good leading words include: developed, devised, formulated, motivated, inspired, transformed, planned, innovated, led, evaluated, increased, secured, engineered, instructed.

Be clear about what you want

Create a CV that’s too generic and you run the risk of losing impact. So you need to have a clearly defined end goal in mind. Before embarking on your CV, have a good long think about your career goal. Do some research, talk to friends, enlist the help of a career coach; you might even want to consider some work shadowing or job placements to ensure you’re absolutely sure about your chosen career path. And if you can’t decide between two roles you can always create two different CVs.

Think about your potential employer’s needs

Begin by analysing your chosen role and identifying the employer’s bottom line needs. Once these have been established you need to tailor your CV accordingly. It’s not a case of simply listing your achievements and hoping for the best; it should be a strategic, highly targeted approach. A good way to start thinking about employers’ needs is to research your target job. Search for similar roles, scour company websites and read as many vacancy postings as possible. What types of skills and experiences are these employers after? What aspects of your background are most relevant? You then need to demonstrate how you, your skills and your history are perfectly matched to the requirements of the role.

Back up your claims

You need to showcase your past accomplishments in order to prove what you’ve achieved before and what you can expect to achieve in the future. Your military career has afforded you excellent opportunities for skills, training, practical experience and progression. Key assets might include discipline, dedication, leadership, teamwork and transferable skills. Make sure your CV demonstrates not only what these are but also their measurable outcomes.

Get feedback

Developing a CV that works in the civilian world is no mean feat. When you’re happy with it, show it around to friends and family to get their feedback. Keep track of your CV’s response rate. If you’re unsuccessful always ask for feedback, listen carefully to suggestions for improvements and modify as you see fit. If in doubt seek the help of a professional CV writer.

Leaving The Military? CV Advice