The "Seven Second Test"

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How long should your resume be?  As a general rule, target one page for every

10 years of service, with a two-page maximum.  

 

A civilian employer will go through hundreds of resumes to find a manageable number of qualified candidates.  Your resume must survive the culling process.  Assume each resume will get seven seconds of the reader's attention.  During those seven seconds the reader has to find the key information.  If you must have more than one page, make sure all of the good things are on the first page!  If this information grabs their attention,

they might take a look at the second page.

 

 

 

Think Accomplishments

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Companies hire people for their experience, their potential, or a combination of both.

If your military specialty has a direct civilian equivilent and you want to continue in that occupation, then highlight that information on your resume.  If you are not continuing

your current specialty you are then selling your "potential" more than your experience. 

 

 

 

Translate

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Much of what you do in the military will make perfect sense to civilians, but there are

some functions that have little or no civilian equivalent (e.g. ammunition handler).

The significance of being assigned as your detachment's Classified Material Sysyems (CMS) custodian will probably be lost on a potential civilian employer.  Translate the position into a language a civilian reader can undeerstand.  Therefore, CMS might

read "selected by Commanding Officer to be the controller of the detachment's

classified material."

 

 

 

Punt the Acronyms and the Alphabet Soup

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Where would the military be without acronyms and abbreviations?  Every OP ORDER, MOVEREP, STIREP, and MUC would double in length without them.  Unless you are

certain that the acronym has common civilian usage, forget it!  Spell it out or paraphrase

it in civilian terms.