Wednesday, 19 February 2025 Issue#019
If you started the week by wishing your stock portfolio looked like the egg prices chart, welcome to 2025.
There has been a lot of churn in the Federal Government, which can really add to your already high stress in a transition. Try and remember to focus on the things you can control and continue to press on with your transition plans.
Speaking of things you can control, we will begin this week with a look at some resume tips building off of last weeks issue.
Common Resume Mis-steps
I know what you are thinking..."great, another article about resumes." I know that this topic gets lots of attention, and rightfully so. Finding adequate post military employment is one of the most common stressors for a majority of service members. We all know that one person that seemingly walked out the door in uniform on Friday and walked back in the door in a suit on Monday. Why then does this seem so hard?
Well, the vast majority of transitioning service members do not simply walk into civilian roles. Its a grind to find a new job, and it does feel unfair at times. Sometimes, you may even be shooting yourself in the foot and not even know it. Hopefully, this helps prevent that.
Last week, we took a look at how to objectively look at your resume to see if you are communicating the right message and not sending mixed signals to potential employers. This week, we'll take a look at some common mis-steps that are easy to make and can really hurt your chances of landing a role you want.
While I am not an expert by any means, I have reviewed hundreds of transitioning service member resumes submitted to the company I work for. These service members are looking for SkillBridge opportunities and often times the resume is all we have to go off of before a manager reaches out.
The following are the most common things observed over the last two years.
Military Jargon - Resumes are filled with acronyms that most civilians are simply not familiar with - you're speaking a foreign language.
❌ "Battalion NCOIC responsible for logistics and supply chain operations."
✅ "Managed supply chain and logistics for a 500-person organization, ensuring the availability of mission-critical equipment."
Leadership titles that don't translate - Similar to acronyms, many military job titles simply don't resonate with civilian hiring managers.
❌ "First Sergeant"
✅ "Senior Manager overseeing training, performance, and professional development of 150+ employees."
Mission accomplishment vs. business outcomes - Veterans love to talk about how the team accomplished the mission or kept the mission going. Business leaders are looking for quantifiable outcomes.
❌ "Ensured mission success by leading a team of 20 in high-pressure, no fail situations."
✅ "Led and mentored a 20-person team, improving efficiency by 30% and reducing safety incidents by 25%."
Security clearance overuse - Clearances are valuable, but unless the job requires it leave it off. Often times, it doesn't have the impact you think it does. I often hear, "why is this on here" from managers I work with. Plus, a lot of the clearance nomenclatures (TS/SCI w/CI Poly) are hard to decipher for those who don't work in that world.
War Stories - I have actually seen body counts in a resume...I'm serious. The number of EKIA on a target simply does not belong on a resume. Beyond that there are a lot of mission specific things that may be great for your performance report but don't help you on a resume.
❌ "Expert in leading in tactical combat operations."
✅ "Trained and led teams in high-stress environments, ensuring operational readiness and team cohesion."
Look, you are going to get a lot of advice regarding your resume. Try your best to take it all in and craft yours for what you feel is most effective. Do your best to make your resume as clear and concise as possible. Have someone that is non-military affiliated read it and ask specifically if there is anything that they don't understand. Lastly, don't be afraid to ask for feedback if a recruiter or hiring manager reaches out. You can frame it like this to make it a bit less awkward: "what parts of my resume would you like to know more about?" Often, they will hone in on something they don't understand fully, identifying an improvement opportunity for you!
Update on Retroactive GI Bill Benefits
The VA has been pretty busy to start off 2025, and I'm not even talking about DOGE. If you remember (check issue #013 for reference), there was a Supreme Court ruling in late 2024 that changed the way the VA calculated GI Bill benefits. The end result was that millions of service members were eligible for an additional 12 months of GI Bill benefits.
According to the VA website, many of the Veterans who are eligible have already been contacted. However, if you feel left out you can request a review, more on that in a minute.
First, here is a quick review of what makes you eligible for the additional 12 months:
Veterans who earned both Montgomery GI Bill benefits and Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits while completing two separate periods of service may be eligible to receive those 12 additional months of educational assistance.
- Did you pay into Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty (Chapter 30)?- Have you previously applied for the Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter
33)?
- Do you have separate periods of service?
Some key things here, the separate periods of service doesn't mean you had to leave service and come back in. It can be continuous service if you re-enlisted. However, enlistment extensions or stop loss actions do not count for this.
Luckily the VA made a decision tree to help you determine if you may be eligible:
If you are wondering why it's called the Rudsill decision tree but too afraid to ask, it is because the plaintiff in the court case was Army veteran James Rudsill.
If you think you may qualify but haven't heard anything, request a review by going to the VA Page and follow the prompts to get one done.
