What Military Experience Should Show Up In Your Resume? ALL OF IT!

Veterans, when it comes to your job hunt, I have one piece of advice. Well, that’s not true, I have quite a bit of advice but we’ll stick to this for now.

Don’t discount ANY of your military experience, no matter if it’s aligned to the career path you’re pursuing or not.

To help you understand why you should resist the urge to ignore your ANY of your experience, here’s a little anecdote:

After retiring with 20 years in the military, ½ of the time as an officer, I was hired to be VP of Operations for a software sales firm. Fast forward a few years and it was time to polish up the resume and move on. Naturally, I needed to focus my resume on the high-speed, executive leadership experience I’d gained in the private and military sectors, right? Yes. And no!

But Wait. I’m a “Leader” Now.

While the vast majority of my resume targeted my leadership experience (after all, that was the type of position I was hunting), I left two lines at the end to highlight what I had done while enlisted, namely electronics maintenance and training. I don’t know why I did it; perhaps I refused to let go of my hard-earned stripes or maybe my resume looked incomplete without that info. Whatever the reason, it paid off.

Jumping ahead to a few weeks into my job search, I received a call from the president of an investment banking firm. He had received my resume through my network and wanted to meet. Confused, I readily agreed and walked into his office at the appointed hour, ready to dazzle him with my accomplishments and leadership acumen. But no! After the initial chit chat, he bluntly told me that the only reason he called me was because of...you guessed it…one of those lines at the bottom of my resume. “You see,” he said, “we just bought a company that buys, refurbishes, and sells high end medical imaging equipment. We’re moving it here and need a VP of Operations. But, we’ve been looking for someone with experience both in repairing electronics and running operations. I think you’d fit the bill.”

After discussing things a bit more, it became clear that had I not included my maintenance experience, he would have just deleted my resume and moved on. He had plenty of prospects with operations leadership experience, but none with an electronics background. I then spent the majority of our appointment convincing him that military leadership didn’t in any way resemble what you see in the movies, but that’s a point for another article. Ultimately, the position wasn’t a fit for me, but that’s beside the point. By not discounting my early military experience, I got noticed, and that got my foot in the door.THAT’S the point.

The Military Shaped You. Use It!

Whether you were a cook, an infantryman, a radio repairman, a personnel specialist, or a cable dog in an “earlier life”, be proud that it’s part of your history and keep it in your resume. If you’re using a resume writer (and I strongly suggest that you do), make sure you stand your ground on this point. After all, it’s only a line or two. A resume writer worth anything can work that in. Don’t dwell on it; don’t take up much space with it; but make sure it’s in there.

You never know what door your “grunt” time might open for you. Remember, you are the sum of all your skills and the military spent a lot of time and money honing each tool in your kit. Translate them, highlight them, and talk about them.ALL of them!