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Job Seeking Advice
If you’re leaving the military and getting ready to begin the search for your next role, you may need some assistance to write your CV in a manor which highlights and celebrates the skills acquired whilst serving within the armed forces, allowing you to connect more with prospective employers.
The vast majority of personnel transitioning from the armed forces back into civilian life are highly motivated, skilled, trained and disciplined. The challenge is in demonstrating these aforementioned qualities to recruiters, while also assuring them of your ability to operate effectively in a role outside the highly regimented military environment.
At Ex-Mil Recruitment, we come across a lot of CVs and applications on a daily basis. This article will present a brief look into how your ex-military CV should be written, highlighting four key findings.
This is one of the main parts of your CV, and although transferable skills are always talked about, the majority of people do not know how to present them or describe how useful they can be in a new role. Your CV must demonstrate the main skills which you acquired throughout the duration of your military service and how they can assist within your transition into civilian life. Although the skills might be useful for a specific area within the armed forces, the capabilities which you now possess can be be very relevant to many different industries. Some notable transferable skills could include:
Once you’ve established the most important transferable skills from your time within the armed forces, it’s important to ensure these are detailed properly and referenced throughout your CV. The habit of using traditional military vocabulary and jargon within your CV must be removed. Many prospective civilian employers will not be familiar with military terms or with what your military job title entails. Therefore, military specific jargon must be avoided. Instead, aim to highlight how the training and experience which you have gained whilst in the military can be relevant to the specific role which you are applying for.
If you are an individual who possess a commendation or medal , this must be explained and highlighted within your CV with a skills focus, for example – great leadership, exemplary performance,innovation or good judgment. Doing so will allow the employer to deduce the key information and scan your capabilities quickly.
The training you’ve received is also important to mention when job hunting. These training courses often tend to have complex titles, the essence of which can equally be difficult to grasp. In your CV we advise you use functional equivalents for the courses and training, which will allow the employers to understand what the course entailed and how it can be helpful for their organisation.
As opposed to just describing and talking through some of your accomplishments and achievements, use figures and data to assist you in demonstrating the extent of this success.
Make sure you describe what you accomplished with top line numbers and percentages. Explain what impact you had on a particular figure, for example, what percentage of increase or decrease you helped to produce, how large a group you supervised or trained was, or the numerical value of equipment under your management.
Although transitioning back into civilian life could be daunting in itself, transitioning back to the workforce doesn’t need to be. By using the above tips as a starting point will give you a better chance of being noticed and to find your perfect role.
At Ex-Mil recruitment, we possess a combined 50+ years of experience in the military, 50+ years in the commercial sector and over 30+ years in the recruitment industry. This vast experience we have amassed has given us an in-depth understanding of what employers want and how we can help them appoint the perfect candidates.
We are experts in in sourcing and appointing ex-military candidates for businesses of all sizes both within the UK and overseas. We are driven by our passion for the recruitment sector and the armed forces.
Whether you’re an employer seeking to recruit the very best ex-military talent, or if you’re currently a serving member of the armed forces looking for new recruitment opportunities, please contact our founder Jean-Claude for a confidential discussion on [email protected] or call +44 (0)333 202 6500 ext 1.
