Civilian Jobs After Military Service: Finding Your Next Career

If you have recently completed military service and are looking for a new career, you might be surprised to find that your branch of the military has career resources and job search materials to help make your transition to civilian life easier. There are also many companies that specifically give hiring preferences to those individuals that have honorably served their country.
In addition to hiring preferences, there are also educational opportunities available to help you find a new career. Many people, both military and civilian, falsely believe that being former military means you are only qualified to work in security or police careers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Today’s military trains men and women for careers in everything from medicine to computers. You just need to let people know what your specialty is in and the best way to do that is in your resume.
When completing your resume, be sure to have a civilian look at it just to make sure that you aren’t using terms that are familiar only to someone in the military. You will also want to highlight your leadership abilities as well as your skills in your specialty area.
When writing your cover letter, you will want to briefly mention your military career and how it trained you for the position that you are seeking. Civilian life is very different from military life, but leadership, honesty and reliability are important in both worlds. Employers recognize this, and many if not most know that an employee that is former military is likely to be an asset to their company in whatever capacity he or she is hired.