How to Write a Resume When You've Been a Military Wife

A resume that highlights your skills can help you find success.

As a military wife, it might be difficult for you to create a unified resume that truly highlights all of your skills and accomplishments. Often, a military wife has a fragmented work history and hasn't been working toward advancement in any one career field. The important thing to remember is that it is possible for you to find success no matter how many years you've been a military wife.

Instructions

1. Use a combination style resume instead of a more traditional chronological resume. The main difference is that your job responsibilities and accomplishments are listed under specific skills headings, rather than under a particular position.

2. Read the job ad carefully and check out the company website. This can help you determine what traits and skills the specific firm values. Try to understand the values of the field where you're applying through your research. For example, if you're applying for a job as an account executive in a marketing firm, know that the marketing field values professionals who are outgoing, well connected and experienced in the new wave of Web 2.0 marketing techniques.

3. Create an objective for your resume. The objective should clearly state the type of job you're looking for, the industry you want to work in, and specific strengths you can bring to the position. Using the example above, your objective could read, "To obtain a position as an account executive in a mid-sized marketing firm where I will contribute strengths in Internet marketing, communication skills, and advanced experience interacting with the media."

4. Add a qualifications summary section after your objective. Your summary can list three to five areas of expertise you've acquired that qualify you for the job. You also should list how many years of relevant experience you've had. You might have had years off between positions, so try to add all the years you've actually worked in the field, and include that figure in your summary.

5. Create a professional experience section. List three to five skills in this section as subheadings. Under each subheading, list three to five bullet points explaining actual things you have done to demonstrate these skills. You can use experience from a job, volunteer work or just your day-to-day life as a military spouse. Start each bullet point with an actionable verb, and try to use numbers whenever possible, such as "Reduced marketing budget by 12 percent."

6. List your actual job history in an employment history section. Don't list any bullet points under each job. Include your job title, the name of the company, your dates of employment and the location. Only use years in your dates of employment, instead of years and months. This will help hide particularly short service time in certain jobs.

7. List your education and training in the next section. Include any college degrees you've earned, relevant classes you've taken, and certifications or licenses you have. If you haven't earned a college degree, but completed some college coursework, include the school you attended, the field you studied, and a phrase such as "some coursework completed" or "three semesters completed."

References

• Military: "Tools for Building a Great Resume;" Vivan Carrasco