A Key Way to Translate Military Experience into Civilian Language

I help military Veterans transition to meaningful, lucrative careers in project management daily.

The first step in this transition is translating your operational military experience into a 'language' civilians can understand.

For a large majority of you, the Project Management Institute's A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) provides the common dialect to do so. You've spent your career doing projects, we just called it mission accomplishment (fist translation). It's not military speak, nor is it civilian speak, but lives in between the two.

It's analogous to the famous Rosetta stone, which contained early Egyptian hieroglyphs, a later Demotic Egyptian language, and Ancient Greek. Seeing the same message in three languages allowed linguists to develop an understanding of all three languages.

For example, to a Veteran, a Letter of Instruction of the Situation Paragraph of an Operational Order from higher headquarters contains the 'Commander's Intent'. This describes what is to be done and why. In project speak, this is called a project Charter. Civilians understand that this document commissions, or authorizes, the project.

Another example is the project schedule. In the war room it's called a Plan of Actions and Milestones (POAM), and in the board room it's depicted as a Gantt chart. It may have different names and forms, but it's the same tool and does the same thing in managing a project. It depicts the planned activities over time through dates.

As you can see, we're learning a new 'language' here. Here are some practical ways to do that.

• Read through the PMBOK's glossary several times before translating your resume. This helps you become familiar with the terms and breeds familiarity as you begin to recognize tools you've always used to plan, execute, control, and debrief (i.e. close out in civilian speak) missions (synonymous with projects).

• Explore table 3-1 on page 61 of the current fifth edition of the PMBOK (2013), familiarizing yourself with the process found therein. This 'framework' depicts the phases, areas to think about, and processes to manage the project and the team you'll begin speaking in.

• Familiarize yourself with the 'project activities' you've led and directed, as found in the Current PMP Exam Content Outline. This deeper dive should enhance your understanding of what you did from the project management perspective and add to your developing vocabulary.

• Practice capturing your military project management experience in this new language by writing down your missions, then cross walking them to the items listed above. You'll start to see relationships develop. And you'll now have powerful stories ready to discuss in project management language with civilian hiring officials in a manner they understand.

We all have the capacity to learn a new language. The first step in doing so is learning its vocabulary. The PMI provides that in the PMBOK and the documents supporting its key professional credential, the Project Management Professional certification, or PMP. This is also the first step in transitioning from your military career into your project management career.