How to put military experience on a résumé

A civilian hiring manager can't use your rank, your job code or your unit's acronyms. They can use what you did, how much of it and what came of it, and most of that is already written down in your records.

If you're writing your first civilian résumé, you already have most of what you need. It's in your evaluations, your award citations and your training records. The trouble is that those records were written for a promotion board, in a language a civilian hiring manager doesn't read.

That matters because the first look is short. The Labor Department's transition workshop guide says employers often spend fewer than 30 seconds on a résumé's first review. Many employers also use an applicant tracking system, or ATS, that sorts résumés and can screen out ones missing the posting's keywords. A bullet that starts with "responsible for" and runs on acronyms can fail both tests, even when the work behind it was excellent.

This guide shows how to turn one military job into 6 to 8 civilian bullets, each traced to the record it came from. It works for every branch and job code, including combat arms and junior enlisted members who never got a written evaluation. Here is the change on one line from a fictional Army supply sergeant's evaluation.

What a civilian bullet has to say

The Labor Department's rule is simple: show an employer how well you did the work, not what you were responsible for. Start each bullet with an action verb, and don't use "responsible for" or "skills included." CareerOneStop, a career site sponsored by the Labor Department, adds what a good bullet carries: the context, why you did the work, for whom, and what came of it. It suggests about 5 to 8 bullets per job.

Numbers help. DOL suggests using time, counts, savings and percentages. It also says never to be dishonest in a job search, because a skill you claim but don't have will catch up with you in the interview or on the job. So every number in a bullet has to trace to a record you can point to, or to your own memory, marked as an estimate.

Military words come out. DOL says to use civilian terms and avoid acronyms, and CareerOneStop says to swap in civilian words for military terms, titles, ranks and acronyms. Plain words for the same thing are fine. Vaguer words aren't: "mission-critical assets" tells a reader less than "vehicles, weapons and radios." The exception is a term the job posting itself uses. Write it out once with the abbreviation after it, the way DOL suggests for keywords.

Here is how those rules work on five more record lines, from three branches and four kinds of records.

Awards work the same way. An award citation says why you got the award, and that reason is evidence, so its facts go into a bullet. If you also list the award itself, DOL says to name it, add a short reason you got it, and skip unit awards unless you led the group.

Pick one job to aim at first

You can't aim a bullet without a target. DOL says a targeted résumé starts with knowing the position or career field you want, then studying the job posting's requirements. So before you write a word, save one real posting.

If you don't have a target yet, start with My Next Move for Veterans, which the Labor Department sponsors. You can search your job code, search a few words about your work, or browse industries. Each career it lists shows tasks, skills, pay and job openings. Your job code is your MOS in the Army or Marine Corps, your rating if you're Navy or Coast Guard enlisted, your AFSC in the Air Force and your SFSC in the Space Force.

Treat what comes back as a starting list. O*NET, which builds the matches, says they're careers similar to your military job, not equivalents. On its military crosswalk, the list for one supply code, the Army's 92Y unit supply specialist, even includes preschool teachers. A combat job may get fewer and looser matches. For the Marine 0311 rifleman, My Next Move's closest matches fit only some of the job's duties, and the site warns they may require additional training, education or experience. DoD's own VMET help says some jobs, such as tank driver, have no comparable civilian skill.

When a code search comes up thin, search a short description of what you did instead. Guardians should also search their SFSC title. Officers should check that a match is really their job, since a Navy officer's code can return a retired enlisted title. If you'd rather your code didn't decide at all, the site's Interest Profiler suggests careers from the kind of work you enjoy. CareerOneStop's Veterans Job Matcher uses the same matching and adds a "Typical Pay Grade" for some careers; if it's much higher than yours, you may not qualify yet.

Once you have a posting, read its requirements first. They tell you whether you can apply, and whether its experience and supervision lines fit yours. Count the people who reported to you, not your rank. Then number the posting's four main duties, skipping "other duties as assigned." Those duties are what your bullets will aim at. If the job needs a license you won't hold by the start date, ask the employer whether it provides one, and don't call a military training certificate a license.

Where the facts are in your records

DOL's list of source documents is long: evaluations, military records, your Verification of Military Experience and Training (VMET), your Joint Services Transcript (JST), personal awards and school transcripts. It adds collateral duties and training records, which matter most if you never got a written evaluation. Pick one military job from the last 10 years, the one closest to your posting, and gather its records. For junior enlisted members, one job can mean one enlistment, with the collateral duties you held during it.

Inside an evaluation, look for two things: scope, which is the size of the job, and results, which are what happened because of you. On an Army NCOER or OER, Part III is the duty description. The Army says its scope should list the number of people supervised, equipment, facilities and dollars involved. It describes the job, not what you achieved. So take scope from Part III and results from your rater's comments. On a Marine fitness report, Section B is the billet description and Section C covers billet accomplishments.

Below sergeant in the Army and Marine Corps, the record is thinner. The other branches' evaluations do cover junior enlisted grades. An Army corporal's rater records an assessment on DA Form 2166-9-1A instead of an NCOER, and privates through specialists get no evaluation report. A junior Marine's JEPES has marks plus comments from the chain of command, which you can view; ask your admin office how. Read those comments for facts and skip the praise. Then turn to award citations, written counseling you kept, training certificates and any Basic Leader Course report (DA Form 1059). The award recommendation helps too, if your admin office can give you a copy.

Use your VMET for training and job-code facts, not for what you did. DoD says the occupations on it come from your branch's systems and may not match your real work. Entries lag at least 3 to 6 months, professional military education and unit-level courses usually don't appear, and anything listed that you didn't complete should be left off.

A few rules keep this safe. Your VMET holds Privacy Act data, so copy only the accomplishment and its context, never your Social Security number, DoD ID number or anyone's medical details. And keep the records on your own device: don't upload or paste them into any website or chatbot, OperationMOS included. Leave out anything classified or controlled unclassified, operation and program names, unit designations, and exact deployment places and dates.

How to get copies of your records

While you're serving, most of it is in milConnect. Your VMET, DD Form 2586, is on the DoDTAP page under the Correspondence/Documentation menu. The DPRIS page lets you request your official personnel file, including its performance documents: evaluations, fitness reports and commendations. You sign in with a Common Access Card (CAC) or a myAuth account. Set up myAuth with a username, a password and a personal email address before you leave, so you can still get in after you separate.

You can request your VMET at any time, while you serve or as a veteran, and Military OneSource tells service members to make sure they get it during transition assistance. The Air Force requires it, along with your Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) transcript if you have one, as part of transition assistance, which must start at least 365 days before you leave. Your JST covers the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard, officers included, and stays open to you as a veteran. Air Force and Space Force transcripts sit with CCAF instead.

Two branches need a different route. The Coast Guard isn't in the VMET system, so Coast Guard members use the JST. The VMET help names only the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, so Guardians shouldn't count on a VMET.

If you're already out, you can still request your file through milConnect. That works if you left after your branch finished scanning its records: January 1995 for the Navy, January 1999 for the Marine Corps, October 2002 for the Army, October 2004 for the Air Force and October 2006 for the Coast Guard. Otherwise, or if you can't sign in, ask the National Archives through eVetRecs, which needs an ID.me account, or with an SF-180. Basic copies are generally free, but the Archives asks you not to follow up for 90 days, so start writing with what you have. Army National Guard records are held by your state's Adjutant General; for other Guard and Reserve records, see the National Archives' locations page.

Make sure every number and verb is yours

This is where a translated résumé can go wrong. A bullet can be in perfect civilian English and still claim more than you did. These checks follow from DOL's two rules, to use numbers and never be dishonest:

• The number is in a record, or it's from memory and written as "about," using the low end.
• It's yours. A unit total you didn't touch isn't your number. For a team result, say you were on the team and name your part.
• "Led" and "supervised" count only the people who reported to you, not their teams.
• Dollars come from a record and are labeled as listed value. Write "signed for" only if you signed, and "managed" only for money you spent.
• A skill you only trained for gets "trained in," not "performed."

SSG Ortiz, the fictional supply sergeant in the graphic above, shows why. Her first draft said "Managed $41M in property for 135 Soldiers." The $41 million was the battalion's. She supervised one clerk, and her commander, not she, signed for the company's property. Under Army property rules, the commander holds the primary hand receipt, and a supply sergeant's responsibility is custodial. Her final bullets claim the $9.4 million she kept records for, labeled as listed value.

"Zero discrepancies" and "100%" need the same care. In an Army hand-receipt inventory, 100 percent is how much property gets counted, and no adjustments is the goal, but some adjustments are still within the acceptable level. Only weapons, ammunition and controlled-item counts require none. So a clean count is a real result, as long as the bullet says what was counted and when.

Put the bullets in order

Order the bullets by the posting's duties, not by what you're proudest of. Put the bullet that answers duty 1 first, then duties 2 to 4, and keep 6 to 8. DOL calls this targeting: keep what matches this posting, hold the rest for the next one, and repeat it for every job you apply to. A true bullet that matches no duty can go last if it fits the posting's requirements. If you have fewer than six true facts, don't pad, even with a unit award you didn't lead.

Ortiz's posting, for an inventory control job, lists four duties: count stock and fix discrepancies, keep stock records, receive and ship goods, and support audits. Her change-of-command bullet answers duty 1, so it goes first. Her award citation for packing 14 shipping containers and preparing 22 vehicles for rail and sea shipment, with nothing lost, answers duty 3.

Above the bullets goes a title line. CareerOneStop says to lead with the functional area of the job, not a title like sergeant or captain. DOL's own sample résumé lists an infantryman as a "Security Specialist" when aiming at security work. Write what you did most, in plain words. If you add rank, put it after the title with your paygrade: "Supply Supervisor (Staff Sergeant, E-6), U.S. Army, [installation, state], 2023–Present." Still in the job? End the dates with "Present." In the Guard or Reserve, list your civilian job and your military role as separate entries, each with its own bullets.

For a profile that matches your résumé, see the LinkedIn guide for veterans. For using a posting's keywords without overstating, see ATS tailoring without lying.

One example, start to finish

Example (fictional) Jordan Hale is a Marine Corps corporal (E-4), a rifleman with job code 0311, and he has 60 days left before he separates. He starts college next term and needs a job that fits around classes. As a corporal he has no fitness reports, only JEPES marks and comments, and with 60 days left he doesn't wait on a VMET that lags at least 3 to 6 months.

Security guards are among the civilian careers matched to 0311. A security officer job pays now and uses his duty and range-safety work, so he saves one posting. He reads its requirements first, then numbers its four main duties: 1) patrol and log visitors, 2) enforce safety rules, 3) account for keys and equipment, and 4) help train new officers.

His one role is his enlistment as a rifleman, with the collateral duties he held. His records:

• A Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal citation: "fire team leader during a seven-month overseas deployment," "trained and supervised three Marines," and "accountability of all serialized equipment during a 30-day field exercise with no loss of gear."
• A second award citation: "range safety NCO during annual rifle qualification, during which 140 Marines qualified without a safety incident."
• A JEPES comment, "Outstanding Marine, ready for more responsibility." It's praise with no fact in it, so he skips it.
• A first-aid training certificate, and his memory of barracks duty shifts, refresher classes and about six weeks as acting squad leader.

His first draft copied his billet: "Fire Team Leader. Responsible for the health, welfare, training, and combat effectiveness of 3 Marines." That names the job, not what he did. His citation has the facts, so the bullet becomes "Trained and supervised 3 Marines as their team leader during a 7-month overseas deployment."

His six bullets, in the order of the posting's duties:

The last bullet matches none of the four duties, but it fits the posting's supervision line, so it goes at the bottom. His title line reads "Infantry Marine (Corporal, E-4), U.S. Marine Corps, [base, state], 2022–Present." Every estimate says "about," every number is his, and the first-aid line says "trained in," not "performed."

With a free OperationMOS account, the Evidence Extractor gives you labeled boxes for what you did, the scope, the number and what changed, then drafts bullet wording for you to check. You type each fact in and nothing is uploaded. What you save is kept in your account, but its notes box isn't saved, so keep your own note of which record each fact came from.

This guide covers the bullets for one military job on a civilian résumé. Federal jobs on USAJOBS follow different rules, including a two-page limit. The Labor Department's Employment Workshop, part of the Transition Assistance Program, covers the rest of the résumé, and DOL posts its participant guide online.