Ant2185 wrote:
I have a few questions about the resume. I have been told to stay away from military jargon in resume. I am currently in the process of updating my resume and come across a few issues I'm not sure of. I have been a BN Assitant S-3 Planner (Operations) for 18 months I don't know how to properly list that so an admission director would be able to fully understand what that means. I have been told it is the civilian equivalent of Assistant Chief of Operations. I have been in the Army 5+ years now and have held more positions then I can list on a one page resume, so should I just start from current and work my way back until I run out of room or go with two pages. Additionally, I am trying to translate my responsibilities as a Tank Company Commander into something the an adcom might understand. Are they any vets with combat arms background that could give me some tips.
Resumes are 1 page--that part is not up for debate unless you have 20+ years of work experience. Remember a resume isn't supposed to tell the adcom or hiring guys everything you've ever done, it's supposed to give them just enough information about you to make them want to ask you more in an interview. Consolidate positions if necessary...for instance I combined my time as a rifle platoon commander and rifle company XO under the same heading because they were within the same company. Obviously those of us in the military know that a platoon commander and XO do very different things, but to adcom there's a much smaller distinction. Same deal with my time as a series commander and company commander at a recruit training command...I was doing basically the same thing in both billets, the difference was mainly a matter of how many DIs and recruits I had under me.
And yes, you absolutely need to civilian-ize the terms and descriptions in your resume given that the person who reads it may know nothing about the military. Be specific, but talk in terms like:
"led # soldiers on # training/real-world operations, resulting in _______"
"managed XY millions of dollars in equipment, maintaining XY% readiness and operational efficiency"
"mentored # of soldiers selected for meritorious promotion or commissioning programs"
"led patrols that located # tons of homemade explosives and detained # insurgents who were turned over to Iraqi court system" (don't talk about how many bad guys you killed, though)
"trained # Iraqi/Afghani police and soldiers, boosting security and transition timetable and reducing insurgent attacks by XY%."
"ranked #2 out of 15 1stLts in my peer group by my battalion commander"
"held XYZ billet as a 1stLt, a job normally held by a senior Capt"
"awarded XYZ Medal for _______"
You get the idea.