Expert job search advice.

How to Find a Job After Military Service

best resources to find a job after military service.

Searching for a job after military service can feel never-ending. Looking for high-quality career advice after military service but don’t know where to start? Here’s a list of the best resources to help you find the right career after the military. 

Online Resources for Job Searching After Military Service

  • Hire Heroes USA is a non-profit that provides employment assistance to veterans, military members, and military spouses looking to find a career after military service. They offer personal career coaching and job searching, with free access to resume writing, mock interviews, career events, and job searching. 
  • Military to Civilian Career offers a series of virtual courses for job searching veterans. It includes resume building, job searching, and tailoring your LinkedIn profile. They give you all the tools needed to land an interview, and the secrets to find a job after military service. Military members/veterans can get access to all courses for $49. Courses are also available in a PDF format. They also offer a free resource for 100+ military to civilian translations for recruiters to understand. 
  • American Corporate Partners helps both job searching veterans and military spouses develop long-term careers. They network through mentorship and career advice, helping people searching for a job after military service transition back into civilian life. ACP is a national non-profit literally created to connect you with mentors in industry + ease the career transition.
  • Onward to Opportunity is run through Syracuse University. It is a free career training program for military members, veterans, and military spouses. They offer online training and practice exams to earn one of above 200 certifications in industries like PHR , PMP and various IT certifications. O2O even pays for one certification exam after passing the practice exam. 
  • LinkedIn is also offering a free LinkedIn Premium subscription for military members and their spouses. Premium includes the salary tool, 15-free InMails a month and LinkedIn Learning courses.

Directory Resources for Life After Military Service

  • National Resource Directory is a database that searches resources for military members and veterans. They offer search engines for a variety of categories, such as compensations, education and training, homeless assistance, housing, travel, health, employment, and more. 
  • Transitioning Servicemembers Cheat Sheet provides the steps to take for finding a job after military service. The cheat sheet focuses on transitioning back into civilian life. It is a wealth of resources and links that walks you through starting points and job searching in specific career fields, along with education tools, books, and mentors to reach out to. 
  • Military-transition.org is another site that provides an abundance of transition resources for a successful transition back into civility. 
  • VirtForce Podcast is an incredible resource for transitioning military members and their families. Host Kimber Hill brings in guest speakers on a variety of topics from federal resumes to getting security clearance for a job and how to get connected to the Army wife network.

Book Recommendations for Transitioning Military Job Seekers

There are many excellent books for transitioning military members, but one that is regularly recommended is The Transition Mission: A Green Beret’s approach to transition from military service. Amazon reviews claim it’s “cheaper than coffee and more valuable than gold” and “bootcamp for becoming a civilian.”

Another book to consider reading is Out of Uniform: Your Guide to a Successful Military-to-Civilian Career Transition. Written by a former USNA graduate, this book covers job search basics.


Job Searching After Military Service: Advice from Michael Quinn, HireMilitary

Michael Quinn is the Founder and CEO of HireMilitary, a site dedicated to connecting transitioning service members to a successful job search and meaningful careers. He gave us his top three tips for finding a job after military service.

Tip #1: Your Network

“There are few things more valuable than building a strong network. Connect with people in your industry of interest, learn about it, ask for advice and ask for guidance and mentorship. FAR too many veterans don’t do this at all or don’t do it effectively, and it hurts them. Effective networking takes time. It involves the right people. It involves connecting to people who can not just plug you into jobs, but who can prepare you for the emotional rigors of the lifestyle change. TAP programs can’t walk you through the emotional rollercoaster of transition – a mentor can.” 

Tip #2: For Jobs- Use LinkedIn, Indeed, and Recruit Military

“I realize these are three resources. But depending on what you’re looking for in a career, you need to assess all 3. All 3 of them may possess different resources or options.” 

Tip #3: Look into Professional Military Transition Programs

“Along with building a network, get a jumpstart on your professional insight by looking into Hiring our Heroes Fellowship opportunitiesUSO Pathfinder, or The DoD Skillbridge program. These programs give transitioning service members some really valuable options to prepare for the transition and/or to go work for a company while in transition.” 


LinkedIn Profiles for Finding a Career After Military Service

  • Sarah Johnston and the Briefcase Coach write executive resumes and conduct mock interviews for officers transitioning to management consulting roles, human resources, supply chain, sales, and management.

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