Resumes are Public Enemy #1 for Veterans
You apply, and apply, and apply. Email after email sent out to some corporate website that promises it is veteran-friendly. Searching through monster.com or craigslist or LinkedIn.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting it to come out different.
Few of us find good jobs this way. Hell, not many people period find good jobs this way, but it's even worse for us.
Veterans are learning terrible habits about searching for jobs. The whole process is built around a resume. Nothing happens without that stupid piece of paper, and we have a hard time competing on paper.
Unfortunately, I have been reminded of this problem a bunch of times this week. People keep saying the same things to me when I bring it up. Corporate recruiters, executives, and educators all "get it" but just shrug their shoulders. They would like to help, but are all busy with other stuff.
It's painfully clear that veterans are a poor fit for the standard employment model. While we may be able to find jobs, they often underutilize our experience and the unique skills that come from operating in a military environment. Looking for a desirable, upwardly-mobile career is very difficult if you're stuck at - or close to - the bottom rung and aren't good at searching for a new job.
And that's because the best way is to shop around is networking and pushing out your resume. Vets don't do that well, and aren't as competitive based purely on their resume, especially early in their transition when most/all experience is military.
So what is it about resumes? Three things keep popping up.
1) The military isn't considered work. Recruiters know that people work in the military, but very few of them can tell you what any of us do. Many of them imagine a cross between Saving Private Ryan and Zero Dark Thirty, even if they vet is an admin bubba who worked stateside his whole enlistment. While they may respect this caricature of military life, it's obvious that those experiences are not relevant for whatever corporate position they are trying to fill.
2) Civilians are more comfortable exaggerating or straight-up lying. Some estimates claim that over 70% of resumes that contain some misleading information. Broader surveys place it around 46%. In either case, "exaggerating" is something most veterans would not consider. They would rather have a crappy job or none at all. I've written about this before, and a lot of other vets agree.
3) Recruiters look for the familiar. Whether they only spend six seconds is besides the point. Recruiters want to have a high comfort level that the candidate can do the job. According to a recent Forbes article, this means they review a resume for keywords that specifically relate to the job, plus:
- Name
- Current job and company
- Previous job and company
- Education
Add all this up and you start to see the problem at an abstract level. Military experience isn't work. Civilians are pumping up their resumes. Recruiters don't have time to investigate unusual candidates. As a community, we are a poor fit for resumes because we appear to have 4, or 8, or 30 years outside the workforce.
Never mind that we would be incredibly valuable using much of our military experience in business. All we really need is the chance to prove ourselves, and that takes us back to the resume. It's the key.
I wish I had a good answer for this. Probably the best tool I've seen right now is the Personal Branding Resume Engine through the US Chamber of Commerce. If anyone has any thoughts, I'd love to hear 'em.
(Former) CISO🎖⚓
9yErik Ogilvie, I think you have hit the nail on the head with your comments. I have helped vets create stellar resumes when I was working with the VA Vocational Rehabilitation office. There are some key elements that Vets don't think about when creating a resume. 1) Do not use acronyms – If you do, spell out in real words what it stands for. The civilian world uses them too, take POC for instance. It could mean Point-of-Contact or Proof-of-Concept etc. If you mean Proof-of-Concept say that instead of POC. 2) A lot of military veterans are taught or think that a one or two page resume is the only kind of resume there is. This is simply false, if you were in a technical field such as IT, recruiters and hiring managers want to know EXACTLY what you know how to do. My technical resume is up to seven pages long and I recently landed a great job with a major retailer in Florida. Which brings me to my third point: 3) Don’t limit yourself to a certain industry. Don’t think that if you are an IT guru that you must work for Google, yahoo or Microsoft. Think out of the box. What industries are seeing growth? A quick Google search will give you the answers. Using IT as an example again, how many Vets think about applying for positions with the restaurant or retail industries? How about energy companies? Most military know something about logistics and project management – use those skills to your advantage. 4) You might not have a degree, but most military technical schools require more contact hours with instructors than some degree programs. I attended several IT related schools while serving in the Navy and had 420 to 460 actual training hours. If you list the school such as “Information Systems Administration – 460 classroom and lab hours” it’s much more understandable than saying “Attended ISA Training”. (see comment #2) If this helps a single Vet to start to think of their experience as “real world” as well as “academic”, then I think I have done my job here. Vets lived in the real world, you just need to speak to the civilians in a language they can understand and make them realize it.
Responsive Human Resecures Business Partner with well-rounded experience in all functional areas of HR.
9yAs a veteran myself, I can agree that it is difficult for veterans to find work however the issues or problems facing veterans become exaggerated based on the culture. This is to say that the military culture is somewhat convoluted into believing that all they have to do is walk into the front office say they are a veteran and instant job with a promotion to the same salary (as they enjoyed in the military) all within a year. This is not reality at all. The term veteran friendly is not a flippant term used by the recruiters rather it is genuine but many veterans do not know how to write their resume. Another reality is to change the language and there are many more. Here are some pointers that I can give as they worked well for me in my search for a positon in the private sector.
President/Owner Thurber Construction Safety and Rescue Service Call 1-306-980-9101 jthurber@safetyandrescue.ca
9yIt isnt just the military that suffer this. The fire service and police service as well. I find when you try to explain the courses you have and experience you gained doing odd things in the eyes of the public, it makes the process worse. The certification in real world never crosses over and you end up looking foolish or if you get asked to explain it the interviewer looks at you like a three eyed cat. The expressions look like they think they have a crazy person in their office or an obvious liar. I've given in against pushing against or trying to get someone to see the benefit in tech training compared to an awareness on site specific training I employ myself.
Director, Mission Support at Cesium | The Platform for 3D Geospatial
9yTo get down into the details of it - it seemed like the biggest specific disconnect was that civilian resumes needed quantifiable business results and veterans didn't seem to have any and/or had a difficult time translating our military results and accomplishments on paper. Business leaders are accustomed to making decisions around revenue, profit & cost savings and only one of those 3 metrics MIGHT apply to most veteran resumes...and even then probably not that much. It took me a couple years of trial and error to get something halfway decent on paper for myself, and over 9 years of service I could only think of a couple instances where I could cite a monetary accomplishment from over 9 years of service and multiple deployments. Essentially the business world and the US military speak different languages.