You have a veteran''s resume open on your screen. The job titles look unfamiliar. There are acronyms you do not know. There is a list of medals at the bottom. And you have nine other resumes to read before lunch.

Most recruiters skim it, get confused, and move on. That is a mistake. A military resume holds a lot of signal once you know where to look. The trick is knowing how to read the document, section by section.

This guide is the deep version. It walks you through an actual veteran resume top to bottom. You will learn what each section means, how to gauge real responsibility, and what awards actually tell you. For a fast at-the-desk version, use our recruiter screening checklist. That is the 60-second rubric. This guide goes deeper into reading the resume itself.

One note before we start. This is not about decoding job codes. A 25B or an 0311 maps to civilian work, but that lookup lives elsewhere. Here we focus on reading the document in front of you.

Why does a veteran''s resume look so different?

A military resume is built from a different career system. The veteran did not pick their job titles. The service assigned them. They did not negotiate raises. They earned rank on a fixed schedule. So the resume reflects a structured world, not a corporate one.

That structure is good news for you. Military careers are documented down to the detail. Rank, dates, duty stations, and awards all carry exact meaning. Once you learn the pattern, you can read it faster than a civilian resume full of vague buzzwords.

The catch is the language. A veteran may write "executed" when they mean "managed." They may say "personnel" when they mean "team." Some veterans translate their experience well. Some do not. Your job is to read past the wording and find the work underneath.

BMR helps with this on the supply side. We add over 1,000 new veteran profiles every month, and our platform has built more than 60,000 resumes. A growing share of those are already translated into plain civilian terms. But you will still see raw military language in the wild, so the reading skill matters.

How is a military resume structured?

Most veteran resumes follow the same skeleton. Knowing the order lets you scan fast and land on what matters.

Here is the common layout, top to bottom:

• Summary: A few lines on years of service, branch, and focus area.
• Experience: Each role as a billet or assignment, with rank and dates.
• Awards and decorations: Often a list near the bottom.
• Education and training: Degrees plus military schools.
• Certifications and clearances: Licenses, certs, and security clearance level.

The experience section is where you spend most of your time. It is also where the most signal hides. So we will break that one down the hardest.

One quick read on seniority. Look at the rank progression in the dates. A veteran who went from junior enlisted to senior NCO over 12 years showed steady promotion. That is a track record of trust, just like a civilian climbing from analyst to director.

How do you read the experience section?

This is the core skill. A civilian resume says "Managed a team and a budget." A military resume says the same thing in code. You have to pull the real numbers out.

Look for five things in each role. Scope, headcount, budget, equipment value, and the "we versus I" tell. Each one turns vague service language into a clear measure of responsibility.

Scope: how big was the mission?

Scope is the size of what they ran. A squad leader runs a small team. A platoon sergeant runs several teams. A first sergeant supports a whole company. If the resume names the unit, that tells you the scale.

Watch for words like "section," "shop," "detachment," and "command." Each one points to a level. A "section lead" ran a small group. An "operations chief" ran a function for a large unit. Ask in the interview if you are unsure.

Headcount: how many people did they lead?

This is the cleanest signal of all. Good military resumes state it plainly. "Led 12 personnel" means they managed 12 people. "Accountable for 45 Marines" means direct leadership of 45.

Compare that to your open role. A team lead role needs someone who has run 5 to 15 people. A manager of managers needs someone who ran 30 plus. The veteran often has more leadership reps than a civilian of the same age.

Budget and equipment: what did they own?

Military leaders are accountable for gear, and the dollar figures are real. "Responsible for $4.2M in equipment" means they signed for it. If it broke or went missing, it was on them. That is asset accountability, the same skill an operations manager needs.

This matters most for logistics, supply, and operations roles. A supply sergeant who managed millions in inventory has run a warehouse function. They just called it something else.

"We" versus "I": who did the work?

Veterans are trained to credit the team. So they write "we" a lot. That humility can hide their own role. When you see "we," ask one question. What was your part?

A strong veteran will tell you exactly. "I planned it, briefed the boss, and ran the team that did it." That answer separates the leader from the member. The resume rarely shows this clearly. The interview does.

What do military awards actually tell you?

The award list looks like noise. It is not. A few awards carry real meaning for civilian work. Most do not. Here is how to sort them.

Ignore service ribbons and campaign medals. Those mark where someone served, not how well. Everyone in a unit gets them. They tell you nothing about performance.

Pay attention to merit and achievement awards. These are earned for doing a job well. The official criteria are public. The Meritorious Service Medal recognizes outstanding non-combat achievement or service. The Joint Service Achievement Medal marks strong performance on a joint team. An Army or Navy Commendation Medal for a specific project signals a job done above the bar.

The top valor and merit awards are rare and high-signal. The Bronze Star and similar awards are listed on the Department of Defense awards site. You will not see many of these. When you do, read the rest of the resume closely. This is a proven performer.

How do rank and billet show level of responsibility?

Rank tells you pay grade. Billet tells you the actual job. You need both to read the level right. A veteran can hold a rank but fill a job above it. That is common and it is a green flag.

Here is the simple frame. Junior enlisted are individual workers. Mid-grade NCOs are frontline supervisors. Senior NCOs are operations leaders and program managers. Officers run larger missions and own outcomes. Warrant officers are deep technical experts.

Now match billet to rank. A sergeant filling a "platoon sergeant" role is doing a job one level up. A petty officer running a "leading petty officer" billet is the shift lead for a whole shop. When the job exceeds the rank, the service trusted them with more. That is the same as a civilian who got stretch assignments.

For a deeper read on turning rank into leadership scope, see our guide on the leadership skills veterans bring to employers. It maps the leadership reps a veteran logs by their mid-20s.

How do you read military education and training?

The education section has two parts. Civilian degrees and military schools. Both matter, and recruiters often miss the second one.

Civilian degrees read like any resume. A veteran may have used Tuition Assistance or the GI Bill to finish a degree while serving. That shows drive. Working full time and earning a degree is not easy.

Military schools are the hidden gem. These are real professional education. Leadership academies teach management. Technical schools certify deep skills. A senior enlisted leader who finished an advanced leadership course completed months of formal management training. That is professional military education, or PME.

Some military training also maps to civilian credentials. The Department of Defense runs Credentialing Opportunities On-Line, called COOL, which links military jobs to civilian certifications and licenses. If a candidate lists a cert, you can sanity-check it there. If they do not list one, COOL shows what their job qualifies them to earn.

If your role does not need a four-year degree, do not screen veterans out for lacking one. Their training may cover the gap. We break this down in our guide on evaluating a veteran candidate with no civilian degree.

How do you spot strong signals versus noise?

By now you can read the document. The last skill is judgment. What is real signal, and what is just military formatting? Here is the short list.

One more thing on the clearance line. An active or current security clearance is a real asset, especially for defense and government work. It saves months and real money to hire someone already cleared. Treat it as a hard plus, then confirm it is still active. Before the offer, verify the service itself with the DD-214.

And do not punish a rough resume. A weak resume often means weak translation, not weak experience. A veteran who undersells themselves on paper may be your strongest hire once you talk to them. The reading skill is what catches that.

What is the simplest way to do this every time?

You do not need to be a military expert. You need a repeatable read. Here is the order that works.

That four-step read takes under two minutes once it is a habit. It will catch strong veterans your competitors skip past. The follow-up happens live. Our guide on how to interview a veteran candidate covers the questions that pull out the "I" behind the "we."

If you want the reading skill as part of a bigger plan, our veteran recruiting strategy playbook ties resume screening into sourcing and offers. And to translate a whole career field into your open roles, see how to map a military career field to your open reqs.

Get a pipeline of veteran candidates worth reading

Reading military resumes well is a skill. It pays off most when you have a steady flow of veteran candidates coming in. That is where BMR fits.

BMR adds over 1,000 new veteran profiles every month, and our platform has built more than 60,000 resumes. Many of them are already translated into plain civilian language, so the scope and numbers are easier to read. That means less decoding for your team and faster screening.

If you want access to that talent pool, partner with us. We will connect your open roles to veterans who fit, so the resumes on your screen are worth the read.