26 U.S. VETERANS MAGAZINE WWW.USVETERANSMAGAZINE.COM

CAREER & EMPLOYMENT

R

esumes provide a historical snapshot of your experience, knowledge and skills. Recruiters should be able to review your resume and understand the work you have done, the length of your experience and your capabilities within a matter of minutes. Resumes should encapsulate your experience as briefly as possible. Quantifying your experience can make them easier for recruiters to understand. What's in a resume? All good

From Military to the Workforce:

Building Your Resume

resumes include some standard information: Contact information Work experience List of technical skills Education Job-related training Languages Affiliations Professional publications Honors and awards Veterans' preference Level of clearance held

Contact Information

The first section of a cover letter should include your contact information, such as your name, address, preferred phone number and personal email address.

Work Experience

Your most recent experience should be listed first, and the rest of your experience should be listed in reverse chronological order. Experience typically includes the company or agency you worked for, the position you held, the dates you worked there and highlights of your responsibilities. Unless you have not been working for very long, you have no reason to detail the jobs you held early in your career. Focus on your most recent and relevant positions. Highlight all of your accomplishments or results of your work that will be relevant to the position, such as those that: Required extra effort You completed independently Demonstrated expertise Received recognition These should emphasize results you produced, dollars generated or saved, percentage improvements in performance, the extent to which you exceeded goals in the past or organizational turnarounds you created.

List of Technical Skills

Technical skills can vary widely from methodologies to software or hardware. Technical skills do not often require explanation and can be listed by name; however, you must qualify your experience with each so that recruiters know your level of understanding of these skills. For example, a recruiter that is interested in process improvement will know about Six Sigma (a business management and process improvement methodology), so you will not have to explain it, but if you listed that, you should state what level belt you are and how long you have been practicing. The same rule applies to word processing and programming tools or hardware, such as servers.

Education

Your education information should only include pertinent facts such as: Name of the institution where you earned your highest degree City and state of the institution Date you graduated or received the degree Specific degree earned Minors or double majors If you attended college or a technical school but did not receive a degree, you should state how long you attended and your field of study. However, you must be clear that you did not receive a degree. If you did not attend college or a vocational school, you would include information about your high school education or GED. List your most recent degree first. If you are still enrolled in an institution, list it. Do not forget to include the anticipated date of graduation and the degree expected.

Job-Related Training

You have most likely received a significant amount of job- related training through the military. Provide details on the training and courses that you took throughout your career. List only the training that has enhanced your experience