By Marlene Weaver | 09/10/2025
With 38 years of federal service working in various agencies, I have reviewed many military resumes, interviewed many veterans, and worked directly with many military members. In all three of the agencies where I worked, a high-level military servicemember was the commanding leader.
Most divisions were run by a military officer alongside a civilian leader. We shared space with military servicemembers throughout my career in all three agencies.
Although I have no direct military service experience gained from working for Uncle Sam, my son was an Air Force officer, and we shared many similar situations but in different contexts. Now, in my current role of teaching many military students who are veterans or active-duty servicemembers, I see similarities with my previous experiences in working with and supervising military veterans.
Many military students who I teach are working toward their degree so that they can seek a civilian career and be more competitive in the civilian workforce. As I tell them, this goal is a wonderful thing, especially with the skills they’ve gained from a military career.
I also know that when I advertised for a civilian job, a degree was not always required. However, that was more 15 years ago, so things have changed considerably. Now, more positions in the non-military job market do require a degree.
How a Degree Impacts Job Applications
When there was a civilian job that didn’t require a degree, I might get 30 applicants. Once HR reviewed them, there were about 22 applicants who were qualified. Then, I would receive a listing of the top 10 qualified applicants based on the job description, their experience, and their resume.
We would then choose which ones we wanted to interview or decide to interview all 10. After the interviews, there were typically two candidates that stood out from the others.
Those candidates for that civilian job had a great resume, good experience, and a solid interview. If one of the candidates had a degree and the other one did not, that was typically the deciding factor.
Other times, I served on the HR review team for other positions. My job, along with six others, was to review all the qualified resumes to weed out unsuitable candidates.
For these jobs, about half of the applications were from veteran candidates looking to join the civilian workforce. The other half were from non-servicemembers in the civilian workforce seeking better opportunities for a career transition.
I remember reviewing resumes that were six to eight pages long, with far too much detail about every station and every deployment. This level of detail was not necessary to show what experience and military skills were applicable to the job. Most times, I lost interest in these applicants because I felt that they did not adequately summarize the most important aspects of their career, especially in civilian terms that could be easily understood.
When my son asked me to review his resumes for civilian employment, he also had too much detail about skills gained from his military occupation. I would always suggest that he summarize his accomplishments to two or three pages to retain the reader’s attention in the job search.
Adjusting to Civilian Life After Military Separation
Once hired, a military veteran needs to adjust to civilian life and sometimes has a tough time. I would coach my newly hired veteran employees that civilian workers expect to be treated with respect and consistency.
By consistency, I mean that you can’t tell one employee to take the day off for good behavior without giving everyone else that same option. You can’t tell an employee with a personal problem to work from home for a week if you don’t give that option to everyone.
In the military lifestyle, people are servicemembers 24/7. Leaders know when their servicemembers are in trouble outside the workplace, and they have the authority to let a member go home early to address a personal problem.
In the civilian workforce, a supervisor only oversees an employee for eight hours a day. Supervisors can only allow their subordinates to leave early for an emergency if they have accrued the necessary leave.
What you do for one employee, you must be able to do for all. You can’t set a precedence in these situations.
Comparing Military and Civilian Management Styles
An exercise that I use in one of my business courses emphasizes the different ways that military students and civilian students would handle their subordinates. In this course, I give my students six real-life scenarios that I find are handled quite differently between civilian students and military students.
Military students often choose a path that gives an employee more time off, remote work, or fewer responsibilities if that subordinate are having a personal problem.
One example is a scenario where an employee lost her husband in a car accident. That subordinate is back to work after having her allocated time off, is performing poorly, and is due to undergo a performance review in 60 days. Many military students suggest more time off, enabling the subordinate to work remotely, and putting off the performance review.
The reality is that in the civilian workforce, you can’t give these benefits to just one person who is having a difficult time unless the company policies allow for remote work and more time off. Human resources personnel need to be consulted to ensure that policies are properly followed for everyone.
Another scenario is the case that an employee on a production line consistently arrives late. That employee has already received a warning but still arrives late most days.
Many military students want to evaluate the reasons why the employee is late. They want to allow flex time or revise the employee’s schedule. They want to help that employee fix the problem and make a plan.
I warn those students that in the civilian workforce, a supervisor can’t ask personal questions about why someone is late. They should remind the employee that the start time for work is 8:00 a.m., and the employee is expected to be at work on time.
Being on time to work is a basic expectation of civilian employment. An employee may offer excuses for lateness, but it is that worker’s responsibility to fix the problem, not the supervisor’s responsibility.
Teaching about Coercive Leadership
In the courses I teach, we study coercive leadership. Coercive leadership is when a leader gives an order that must be immediately followed by employees to prevent a crisis. Coercive leadership should be used sparingly so that when it is used, the employees listen and act promptly.
An example I use is a fire chief yelling, “Exit the building, now!” His people must listen and obey immediately because their lives are in danger when the building collapses.
I remind military students that coercive leadership is not when a leader is yelling in your face at boot camp. That is not leadership but intimidation.
Practical Advice for Veterans Transitioning to Civilian Careers
There are many adjustments that veterans need to make during their transition to civilian life. The transition process from the military to civilian life isn’t easy and veterans face various challenges, especially in today’s job market.
I offer this advice to veterans who plan to seek a civilian career or who are recently hired for civilian jobs:
- Watch and listen.
- Avoid coming to the table thinking that you have all the answers.
- Understand that you will need time to see how others around you communicate and connect.
- It is great to be confident, but don’t be arrogant.
- Develop a professional network. Start with family members and other veterans, then gradually expand your network over time.
- Explore all the education benefits like the GI Bill, vocational training, and any transition assistance program available to you after your military service. For instance, the Department of Veterans Affairs ( DVA) offers career counseling and other resources. Similarly, AMU's Career Services department can provide guidance with resume writing and other aids for finding employment.
Civilian employers commonly look for military veterans because those former servicemembers are typically disciplined and experienced. Traditional military jobs teach valuable business skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, and mission completion, which are valuable for people seeking civilian careers.
Civilian employers know that from their military training, veterans transitioning into civilian jobs know how to follow directions and get the job done. It is important to take the time to know processes and policies in the civilian human resources community before diving into a non-military workplace.
The B.A. in Business at AMU
For adult learners interested in learning about supervision, management, and other related topics, American Military University (AMU) provides an online Bachelor of Arts in Business. In this academic program, students will take courses in the basics of business, critical thinking strategies for business decisions, and the principles of supervision. Other courses include the fundamentals of marketing, statistics, and accounting for non-accounting majors.
AMU’s B.A. in business has also earned specialty accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP®). This accreditation demonstrates that this B.A. program has been thoroughly examined and held to high academic standards by higher education professionals.
For more information about this program, visit AMU’s business administration and management degree program page.
ACBSP is a registered trademark of the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs.