The Most Important Resume Tip for Military Veterans

Military veterans are currently experiencing higher unemployment rates than the rest of the U.S. population. In the past, military veterans were stereotyped as unqualified job candidates. This may have been true back in World War II where many soldiers did not graduate from high school. But this isn't true anymore.

The U.S. military services have extensive training schools for a wide variety of occupations including technology, engineering, communications, to name a few. If they are so well trained, then why do they have such a high unemployment rate? The usual reasons are that their occupational specialties have little need in the civilian world or hiring managers do not understand the military jargon in their resumes.

As a Navy veteran myself, I'll agree there is some merit to these reasons. But, there are re-training programs for military veterans. The Federal government awards most military veterans "preference points" for obtaining a civil service job. And, there are career transition services that can correct the "jargon" problem. Could there be any other cause? Yes. I think it's how military veterans explain their military service on their resume.

This week I reviewed a veteran's resume. He described his military service in the following way:

Truck Driver/Training/Driver Instructor, United States Army, 1992-2012. 
Served in many locations with a wide variety of diverse group of people within the transportation/logistical field; functioned as a subject matter expert within the military transportation units. Planned, coordinated, and executed several multinational exercises throughout different continents in refueling different types of aircraft, helicopters, tanks, and wheeled vehicles.

That's all?  Forty-nine words for 20 years of service employment. That amounts to 2.5 words per year!

This isn't the first time I have seen a military veteran describe his experience in this ultra-abbreviated fashion. I recall being contacted by a veteran who was having employment problems. I asked to see his resume. When I opened the file, I was flabbergasted: the resume was a half page long for 18 years of service. I told him no one was going to take him seriously with a half page resume. He told me that someone wrote it for him at his state's workforce development office. (Well, they didn't do a very good job.)

I also recall another military veteran who was having problems getting interviews. He had 15 years of service where he was a maintenance manager of a nuclear weapons site. He also had a 3-month internship at a Veterans Affairs Office. He printed out his online resume and sent it to me. There was a longer entry for the 3-month internship than the 15-years of military service. No wonder he was having problems.

So, how can we correct the problem of explaining military service on a resume?

Instead of grouping all one's military service into 1 employment entry, split up the military service into a chronological list of jobs at separate duty stations or commands. Using this approach will enrich the resume and provide a clear picture of what this veteran did over the course of a long period of time. Here is an example of how a military veteran divided each military position into a separate job:

SECURITY SUPERVISOR, U.S. Army Europe, Emergency Management Assessment, Schwetzingen, Germany, Mar 2009 – 9 Nov 2009
Supervised a rapid deployable team of 14 personnel to conduct chemical assessments. Supervised the planning, developing, and implementation of emergency preparedness initiatives. Coordinated the disaster response and crisis management activities. Conducted disaster preparedness training. Prepared emergency plans and procedures.  Conducted daily operations planning for the organization.

ASSISTANT INSPECTOR GENERAL U.S. Army, 1st Armored Division, Wiesbaden, Germany, Jan 2006—Mar 2009
Responsible for providing the Commanding General with continuous assessments of operational and administrative effectiveness of the infrastructure and matters affecting morale and welfare of the 1st Armored division personnel. Determined the adequacy and efficiency of operations and policies

PLATOON SERGEANT, U.S. Army, 529th Military Police Company, Heidelberg, Germany, Oct 2003 – Dec 2005
Responsible for training, development, and the operational readiness of 69 personnel. Responsible for the maintenance and accountability of equipment including 11 tactical vehicles, weapons, and radios, valued in excess of $264,000.

OFFICE SUPERVISOR, US Army Deserter Information Point, Fort Knox, KY, Jun 2000 Oct 2003
Supervised the daily operations of the Army’s National Crime Information Center terminals for the US Army Deserter Information Point. Supervised and trained five Soldiers and six civilians in the entry modification and clearing of federal warrants on Army deserters and parole violators in the FBI’s NCIC system.  Verified warrants and coordinated soldiers return to military control. Custodian of 5,000 Army Deserter files pending return to military control. Received and processed soldiers returned to military control.

PHYSICAL SECURITY INSPECTOR, US Army MP Detachment, Camp ZAMA, Japan, Dec 1996—Nov 1997
Conducted physical security inspections and surveys of mission essential and vulnerable areas (MEVAs) including arms, ammunition and explosives, and material/strategic supplies of US Army installations and activities on mainland Japan.

See the difference? This veteran had 12 years of experience and tells more about his experience than the 20-year veteran I cited early in this article. In addition, we see the career path of this veteran. He is in the security/law enforcement area and has moved from basic security work to management. We know he can manage teams and that is relevant to any "civilian" employer.

Why Your Resume Needs to Be Accurate

It seems like the most obvious declaration about a resume: the information within it needs to be accurate. But many resumes are not accurate. Should I say some resume authors stretch the truth? Granted, the truth has shades of gray. (For instance, one's years of experience. Your title may be administrative assistant but you may very well be filling the role of a project manager or even a tech support rep. So, how do you document that on a resume?) But, the greater issue is the employer's use of extensive background checks. I have been getting reports back from my clients that their references have told them (the job seekers) that an employer contacted the references even before calling the job seekers for a telephone interview. Employers are conducting more behind-the-scenes checks on job applicants than ever before. Facebook checks included! If your resume is inaccurate, you may disqualify yourself even before your horse gets out of the gait. And I'm not talking the Kentucky Derby here!

I am sent hundreds of resumes to review every few weeks. Most of them are accurate from what I can tell. But I have seen fraudulent resumes. Most of the time I can tell by the way the resume owner writes. If he claims he is a college graduate and he cannot write a simple subject-verb-object sentence (e.g., My car runs well.) correctly, I usually look much closer at his resume. I check dates. I will go to a Web search engine and verify if the company he said he worked at was truly located in Atlanta and it was in business when he said he worked there. But his lack of correct grammar isn't the only red flag of resume fraud. After all, some people just can't write. I look at the timeline of his resume. And, if he uses a functional format instead of a chronological format, I will check the resume more thoroughly. Functional formats are easier to hide employment gaps. Resumes are often called 'personal marketing' documents. But they enter into the legal sphere since they are assumed to be accurate and truthful. So, ensure that the information that can be verified is indeed accurate.

As I have suggested earlier in this article, some resume information is subjective. Years of experience possesses gray zones. One's skills' proficiencies is another gray area unless the employer specifically defines what they mean by an "advanced level of MS Excel proficiency." In addition, let's say you know how to do a few simple tasks in PhotoShop (e.g., resize a photo, rename a photo, etc.). Should you include it in your skills even though you really couldn't be a full-blown graphic designer.  Well, be honest. You clearly have a basic familiarity with the program. So, you could say you have a "Familiarity with PhotoShop," which suggests (at least to me) that you know something about it but in a limited way.

Recently, I have seen an example of where a resume owner thought she was being accurate but only caused confusion. In her work history, she said the following:

Digital World & Blankenship & Associates, Atlanta, GA (2005--Present)
Accounting Coordinator & Executive Assistant to President & CEO

• Accounts Payable responsibility for main and subsidiary companies
• Achieved monthly payment reductions with vendors by coordinating payment plans to decrease budgeting
• Organize and maintain daily calendar, schedule, coordinate, execute company travel 

The confusion arose because which role went to which company? Did she hold the same roles for both? Was she an Accounting Coordinator at Digital World and an Executive Assistant at Blankenship & Associates, or vice versa?  I contacted her for a clarification and she said the following:

"Yes, they are owned by the same people so I was doing work for both. I would also like to mention that I did accounting work for all sister companies including the main street cookie company, ox lumber company and ike macy's bookstore."

Well, she didn't answer my original question for starters. But it also indicated that she wasn't entirely sure how to communicate her employment accurately. It seems like she worked for a holding company perhaps or at least one company that had a number of different businesses. So, I contacted her again and asked her, "Who pays you? What company name is on your paycheck?" Her response clarified the matter and resulted in the following:

Accounting Coordinator, Digital World,  Atlanta, GA (2005--Present)
Summary: perform accounting and executive assistant duties for the company and her sister business including Blankenship & Associates, Main Street Cookie Company, Ox Lumber Company and Ike Macy's Bookstore. Duties include the following:

•  Accounts Payable responsibility for main and subsidiary companies
• Achieved monthly payment reductions with vendors by coordinating payment plans to decrease budgeting
• Organize and maintain daily calendar, schedule, coordinate, execute company travel 

How To Write a Resume with Time Gaps in Employment

Besides providing job search consulting as my regular job, I spend a few hours a month volunteering in the employment assistance section of a social services and training nonprofit in Chicago. I provide resume help and job counseling to many different kinds of job seekers. This past week I helped a man who had a 10-year gap in employment. His work history stopped in 2001. Prior to this time, he worked as a business analyst and industry researcher. He was dressed in a suit, which isn't required, well-spoken and articulate -- not the type of person you would expect to have "dropped out." That's the way he explained the employment gap when I asked him about it. So, how do you go about helping someone write his resume who has a wide gap in employment?

Everyone has employment gaps. If you are laid off, it generally takes most people up 3 months to get re-employed. This type of employment gap is not a problem. Some people have employment gaps because they returned to college for 2 to 4 years. Again, this isn't a problem because the time in college is documented. A problem arises when people have employment gaps for a year or more. When they are unexplained, red flags go up in a recruiter's mind. Does this person have a personal problem? Long gaps in employment are assumed to be more than skills or interviewing issues.

When I reviewed his resume and began asking him about this 10-year gap, he revealed he had had two jobs: one as a handyman and another as an office worker for a "friend." He got the latter job through networking. Presently, he is a volunteer math tutor at a social service agency. He said he has a good relationship with the tutor manager and would ask her to be a reference.

As I alluded to earlier in this blog entry, an explained gap is not a problem. Unexplained gaps and reference checks are. Employers are rather aggressive about reference checks these days. I have a customer whose references were called before she was even offered an interview! So, references of 10 years ago pose a problem; it's unlikely he can even locate them. Without current work references, his employment search will go nowhere. In addition, online applications collect a lot of information on job candidates. This employment gap would be revealed early in the process.

For starters, he had to come to the realization he could not simply restart his old career. We looked at a few jobs ads for business analyst and industry researcher. We read the basic and desired requirements together. "I can't even do the first one," he said with a bit of regret. Realizing he had to start over was an important step for him. His new resume could not focus on old experience. Rather it had to be refocused on what he can offer an employer right now.

Rewriting his resume was a 3-step process:

• Select a realistic job objective
• Create a detailed and expanded knowledge, skills and capabilities summary
• Expand the current job descriptions while briefly summarizing the past ones

Realistic Job Objective: Since he realized he was not ready to be a business analyst again, he had to decide on what he could do. Over the past few years he had worked as an office worker, handyman and now is a math tutor. He did not want to be a handyman. We looked through some jobs on indeed.com and decided that some kind of office worker or administrative assistant was realistic.

Expanded Career Summary: While he may have gaps in employment, he still has the knowledge, skills and capabilities of a business analyst or researcher. He has a college degree. And he knows a lot of software programs. He's clearly a good tutor so he has good training skills. So, the task before him is to create an extended knowledge and skills inventory that will make up a big portion of the resume's footprint. Most resumes spend over 80% of the page on work experience. He can't do that because of the employment gap. So, he must spend  more time on his knowledge to demonstrate what he has to offer. In other words, he must weight his resume to his knowledge, not his experience.

Describe in Detail His Current Occupations: His current "job" is that of a volunteer math tutor. Most people would place a volunteer position in a "Volunteering" section of their resume. He can't do this because it would draw attention to his employment gap. So, this tutoring job needs to be treated as his current employment and his duties must be expanded in detail. He also must state in the summary of this "job" that it is a volunteer position. I have used this approach with other customers. What happens is that the volunteer situation is overwhelmed by all the detail in the job duties that the job type doesn't matter much. Next, he needs to use this same approach for his office and handyman job. For his previous experience, he must briefly describe it in a separate section at the end of the resume. He should list only job title, employer, location and dates. For this man, his previous employment written this fashion was only 3 lines of the resume.

Knowledge-weighting a resume for long employment gaps is only effective to a point. This approach shifts the resume reviewer's attention away from the employment gap. But, this approach will not always pass the background check test or the competition in online recruitment or applications. So, this man will need to use his knowledge-weighted resume as a job networking tool. He will be compelled to "work" his contacts more than people who do not have large time gaps in employment.

How To Improve your Resume's Job Duty Statements

When it comes to writing about what you did at each of your jobs on your resume, I'll admit that there is conflicting information regarding what your job duty statements should include. Most resume owners list their responsibilities, duties or a combination of both. Other experts claim a resume should include only one's accomplishments (sometimes called achievements). These statements distill how you excelled at the job. I have found one other recommendation by a recruiter: describe in detail projects you have completed and explain how you used your skills on these projects.

I have always found that resumes which only list a job's responsibilities to be weak and uninspiring. I have seen resumes where the responsibilities appear as if they were copied directly from a job ad or an occupational specialty handbook. A list of responsibilities do not tell a recruiter much about your capabilities. I always recommend taking a list of responsibilities and summarize them into one sentence as the opening statement of job duties.

For example, this list of responsibilities for an administrative assistant include the following:

• Preparing and revising leases, lease-related documents (i.e. amendments, extension agreements, termination agreements, letter agreements, lease summary sheets), other documents, letters and memos which attorneys and paralegals have drafted
• Providing clerical support such as filing, faxing, copying, opening mail, making travel arrangements, ordering supplies and answering phones
• If applicable, maintain a follow up system and send follow up letters on files in a timely manner

The above list could be summarized for inclusion on a resume in the following way:

• Provided office and administrative support for attorneys and paralegals in a commercial real estate office.

Some resume owners are unsure of what to include or exclude in a list of job duties. So, they put in everything: responsibilities, skills, accomplishments and mix them altogether! What they fail to realize is that most recruiters do not read resumes. Rather, they read or skim resumes in an inverted triangle manner. What I mean by that is they assume a resume owner has placed the most important and relevant information at the top of a job duty entry and the least important at the end of it. In addition, the reading turns into skimming by the end of the entry.

For example, this is a list of job duties for a computer support specialist:

• Worked with teachers and staff on hardware and software issues
• Experience shopping and ordering parts
• Responsible for over 400 computers, 60 printers, and 60 projectors
• Scheduled and worked on school-wide computer projects
• Experience with LANDesk Network Management software.
• Experience with troubleshooting and wired and wireless networks
• Experience with Windows Server 2000,2003, and 2008
• Managed Active directory on all servers and client computers 

 The above list could be re-ordered in an inverted-triangle, relevancy format in the following way:

• Experienced with Windows Server 2000,2003, and 2008, and LANDesk Network Management software. Managed Active directory on all servers and client computers
• Troubleshooted and wired and wireless networks
• Worked with teachers and staff on hardware and software issues for over 400 computers, 60 printers, and 60 projectors
• Ordered supplies and replacement parts.

A list of one's accomplishments or achievements is the most challenging part of a job duty statement. The most common problem with writing these statements is the point of view. Most resume owners write accomplishments from their point of view instead of a recruiter's point of view. What this causes is the following types of accomplishments:

• One of the youngest Lab Managers in the company
• Promoted after consecutive high performance years
• Displayed strong leadership abilities 

While the above statements are meaningful to the resume owner, they are meaningless to a recruiter who has specific requirements she must fulfill prior to forwarding a resume to a client for consideration.  Accomplishments are statements of excellence measured against a standard. (If this standard has a numerical basis, all the better.) The fact that this job seeker was one of the youngest lab managers in the company only says he is probably a bright kid with some ambition. But, it could also mean he was darn lucky! What a recruiter really wants to know is what kind of "high performance" is he talking about? Give some detailed examples. In addition, he alleges to have strong leadership abilities. Well, this can mean different things to different people. He needs to give examples that demonstrated strong leadership. In other words, show don't tell.

The above list could be improved in the following manner:

• Successfully led laboratory through 3 major external audits including the planning of initiatives to resolve audit findings. Result: improved the laboratory's productivity by 30% as measured against the company's ISO 9001 quality management system.
• Provided timely data with highest ethical integrity and presented data to refinery blending team for potential profit maximization. Result: Production blending error was averted and a cost savings of $250,000 was obtained.

The goal of job duty statements is not simply to tell the resume screener what you were responsible for or what tasks you performed. Rather, they are meant to "sell" you to the recruiter who will then speak in favor of your job candidacy to the employer.