Skills Translation
Translating Military Experience to Civilian Terms
- One of your biggest challenges
-
Employers may overlook a military member because their resume is:
- Filled with military job titles and military skills not understood.
- Written using military jargon. acronyms and awards.
- Not targeted to the job.
- It doesn't matter how qualified you are if the employer can't understand your resume.
Military to Civilian Skill Translator Resources and Websites
O*NET
Web Site: http://online.onetcenter.org
The Department of Labor's O*NET website helps you to translate your military skills by providing common language and terminology to describe your military occupational specialty.
To use O*NET you will need to know your Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), Navy Rating or Air Force Military Occupation Code (MOC).
- Enter your MOS, MOC or Navy Rating. The system will provide a summary report of your job duties. O*NET can also help you browse civilian occupations by occupational group, high growth industries and by education required for the job, i.e., Chemist.
Army COOL and Navy COOL
Web Sites: https://www.cool.army.mil or https://www.cool.navy.mil
These websites were developed in coordination with the Departments of Defense and Labor. They catalog and define comprehensive information on occupational credentials correlating with military ratings, jobs, and occupations.
- Go to the COOL website
- Click on the tab to “Search for Credentials”
- Enter either your specialty Code or search by your military job title, and a screen will appear with civilian equivalent jobs, common associated certifications, etc.
- Then, by clicking on the civilian equivalent job titles, you will be redirected to Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, which lists the nature of the work, job outlook, earnings, related occupations, and more
Verification of Military Education and Training (VMET)
Web Site: http://www.dmdc.osd.mil/vmet
America's CareerInfoNet
Web Site: www.acinet.org/moc
This is a military to civilian occupational translator that provides a wide range of information such as occupational outlook by state, wage information and other job-specific resources.
Jobsaurus, The Jobs Thesaurus
Web Site: www.taonline.com/jobsaurus
Type in a job title and this site will provide you with a resume objective and industry-standard terms to help you describe a job(s) you have held.
Military.com Translate Your Skills
Web Site: http://www.military.com/skills-translator/mos-translator
This site provides very basic information on the civilian job that relates to your military specialty.
Mil-Skills Translator
Web Site: www.taonline.com/mosdot
Enter your MOS, MOC or Navy Rating and this site will provide you with a very brief description of your job in civilian terms.