It isn’t hard to find articles listing the reasons why employers hire veterans. Great skilled workers and tax benefits for the company hiring are two reasons commonly noted. However, in some cases, the same reason one company hires veterans can be the exact reason why another company doesn’t. Confused? Read on and it will become crystal-clear.

Skills Translation

In a recently published report, 80% of the 69 businesses interviewed reported skills translation as a major challenge when hiring veterans.

How a former military member lists skills on their resume can mean the difference between a job offer or not. If your resume is filled with military-specific lingo, and the person screening your resume doesn’t know what all the acronyms and weird job titles mean, they won’t be able to ascertain just how qualified you are for a job. And in most cases, they won’t spend the additional time it would take to find out. With a mile-high stack of resumes on their desk waiting to get reviewed, they just pass over yours and go onto the next one.

In other companies with more experienced at hiring former military personnel, or that work directly for the military like a defense contractor, they may know how to interpret your skills and qualifications from the same acronyms and job titles in your resume.

If in doubt, it is best to make sure your resume is “civilian friendly”. Eliminate (or explain) all acronyms and job titles that may not be familiar to a hiring manager. For example, instead of saying you were a Combat Engineer, say you were a Heavy Equipment Operator. Or instead of a Platoon Sergeant, say you supervised a section of 40 personnel for five years.

One tool to help translate military skills to the civilian job market is the Military Crosswalk Search Tool from O*NET Online. Just select your military branch from the drop-down menu, enter your job title and click on Go. The tool returns a list of civilian jobs matching the variables. Drill down into a specific job to see the skills, abilities, work activities, education required, salary, etc. for that position.

When ready to write your civilian or federal jobs resume, go to The Military Skills Translator at Vets.gov. Just select from the drop-down menus or enter the information asked. Then import to their Resume Builder.

If you prefer to hire a company to write your resume, be sure to select one that has experience writing military-to-civilian resumes. A Google search will bring up several to choose from. While not cheap, it can be your ace-in-the-hole to finding the job you want.

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Kness retired in November 2007 as a Senior Noncommissioned Officer after serving 36 years of service with the Minnesota Army National Guard of which 32 of those years were in a full-time status along with being a traditional guardsman. Kness takes pride in being able to still help veterans, military members, and families as they struggle through veteran and dependent education issues.