How to Match Your MOS to a Civilian Career or Industry

Recently a ClearanceJobs reader asked the question “How do I know what industry my MOS is a match for?” A very valid question, as in most cases military skills are matched to individual civilian jobs and not viewed from a higher-level. The military version of an industry is an occupation, and the good news is that almost any military occupation has a civilian industry equivalent.

Defining industries

But before we get to the mechanics of matching, let’s look at 20 of the more popular civilian industries as defined by My Next Move, a U.S. Department of Labor website for veterans.

Each one of these industries can be further broken down into careers within that industry. For example, under Administrative and Support Services, 69 possible careers are listed.

While the most common approach is to dig down and align specific civilian job categories with Military Occupation Specialties (MOSs), let’s take a more macro approach and align a military occupation group to a specific civilian industry.

Below are two tables; one for enlisted military members, the other for officers. Along the left side of each table are military occupation groups – the military’s version of industries. Notice how many of the occupation groups match up with the civilian industries shown in the table above.

For example, the civilian industry Administrative and Support Services coincides with the enlisted occupation groups Administrative and Support Service. On the officer side it matches well with Executive, Administrative and Managerial, along with Support Services.

The number of personnel listed by branch across each group, and the totals to the right side, can be useful in estimating the potential competition in that occupation to its corresponding civilian industry.

To drill down even further, let’s head over to Careers Similar to MOS at My Next Move. Using the Army MOS of 42A – Human Resource Specialist – we see the civilian careers that most closely match that MOS are:

• Executive Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
• Human Resource Assistants
• Office Clerks, General
• Word Processors and Typists
• First Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Workers
• Labor Relations Specialists
• Human Resources Managers

Because the Army MOS of 42A is in the Administrative occupation area, it easily crosswalks over to the Administrative and Support Services industry on the civilian side. But how about something a little more obscure – like a Navy Submarine Sonar Technician?

According to My Next Move, it crosswalks over to:

• Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers
• Electrical and Electronics Installers
• Electrical and Electronic Repairers
• Explosive Workers
• First Line Supervisor of Mechanics, Installers and Repairers
• Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers and Weighers
• Radar and Sonar Technicians

On the military side, a Navy Submarine Sonar Technician falls under the subheading of Submarine Electronics in the Navy’s career grouping of Engineering and Applied Science, which falls under the larger occupation group of Engineering, Science and Technical. On the civilian side, most of these corresponding civilian careers could fall under either the Manufacturing or Service industry, depending on the career. All of the military branches have their own career listings if you visit their recruitment websites.

With more or less of a direct correlation between military occupations and civilian industries, in most cases it is relatively easy to walk an MOS over to a military occupation group and further crosswalk it over to a corresponding civilian industry. Once a civilian industry is identified, then use the Browse Careers by Industry search engine in My Next Move to match careers within that civilian industry.