Military to civilian careers

How do I remove military jargon and acronyms from my resume?

Rewrite every acronym and term so that someone with no military background could understand it, and keep only acronyms that the target employer uses too. A civilian reader should not need a glossary.

Steps:

  • Highlight every acronym, unit name and military term in your draft.
  • Replace each with plain words. "NCOIC" becomes "supervisor in charge"; "ops tempo" becomes "workload"; "SITREP" becomes "status report".
  • Replace unit names with descriptions: "infantry battalion of 600 personnel" rather than a unit number.
  • Ask a civilian friend to read it and mark anything unclear.

Example before: "Served as S4 NCOIC for 2-12 IN, managing CL IX."
Example after: "Supervised spare-parts supply for a 600-person unit, keeping vehicles ready for daily operations."

Reviewed · by the ResumeBuilder.ae editorial team

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Templates to try

Free to edit and preview. Single-column layouts are the safest choice for applicant tracking systems.

ATS Modern

Single column

Use this template: ATS Modern

ATS Professional

Single column

Use this template: ATS Professional

ATS Classic

Single column

Use this template: ATS Classic

General guidance for job seekers, not legal or immigration advice. Employers and applicant tracking systems differ, so always follow the instructions in the job advert. Spotted a mistake? Email support@jobb.ae.

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