You open a veteran's resume. Near the top you see "25B" or "0311" or "AT2." It looks like a parts number. Most recruiters skim right past it. That little code is one of the most useful things on the page. It tells you exactly what the person did all day.

This code is the military job title. The Army and Marines call it an MOS. The Navy and Coast Guard call it a rating. The Air Force and Space Force call it an AFSC. Different name, same job. It is the occupation, not the rank.

Rank tells you seniority. The job code tells you the skill. They are two different signals. This guide is about the job code only. We cover four things. What the code is. How to read its title. Why one code can fit very different civilian roles. And where to look it up fast.

What is a military job code?

Every service member has a job. The military assigns a short code to that job. Think of it like an internal job title plus a SOC code rolled into one short string.

The format changes by branch. But the idea is the same across all of them.

You do not need to memorize any of this. You just need to know one thing. When you see a short code near the top of a veteran resume, that is the job. Look it up and you know what they did.

Many veterans write the plain-English title next to the code. So "25B" shows up as "25B, Information Technology Specialist." When the title is missing, that is your cue to look it up. We show you how at the end.

One thing to keep straight. A code is not the same as a rank. A rank like Sergeant or Petty Officer tells you how senior someone is. A code like 25B or HM tells you what trade they work in. A junior person and a senior person can hold the very same code. The code stays the same as they grow. So read the code for the field. Read the rank for the seniority. Never mix the two up.

How do you read the job title behind the code?

The code points to a real civilian skill set. Your job is to find that skill set. Start with the title the veteran wrote. Then ask one question. What does this person actually do with their hands and their head all day?

Take an Army 25B Information Technology Specialist. The code says IT. The day-to-day is help desk, network support, account setup, and hardware fixes. That maps clean to a civilian IT support or network tech role.

Now take an Army 92A Automated Logistical Specialist. The title sounds dense. Strip it down. This person runs inventory, tracks parts, manages a warehouse, and uses supply software. That is a supply chain or inventory role in plain civilian terms.

The pattern holds across branches. A Navy Hospital Corpsman (HM) provides direct patient care, runs a clinic, and handles emergencies. That maps to EMT, medical assistant, or patient care roles. An Air Force 3D0X2 Cyber Systems Operations airman runs servers, manages systems, and keeps networks alive. That is a systems admin or cloud ops role.

The trick is simple. Translate the title into work verbs. What did they operate, fix, track, lead, or build? Those verbs are the skills you are hiring for.

Why can the same code mean very different civilian jobs?

Here is the part that trips people up. One code does not equal one civilian job. A single code can fan out into several very different roles. The code is the starting point, not the final answer.

Think about a 25B again. One 25B spent four years on a help desk. Another 25B ran network operations for a large unit. A third 25B led a team of twelve and managed a project budget. Same code. Three different civilian fits: IT support, network engineer, IT team lead.

Why does this happen? A few reasons.

So treat the code as a door, not a box. It tells you the field. The resume bullets under it tell you which room they worked in. Read both together.

This is also why you should not reject a veteran just because the code does not match your req word for word. A medic code can fit a safety role, a training role, or an operations role. Read the duties before you decide.

Code versus duties: which one do you trust?

The code tells you the lane. The duties tell you the work. When they seem to differ, trust the duties.

Here is why. A veteran often does work outside their primary code. A supply person might run a small IT shop because nobody else could. A medic might lead training for the whole unit. The military hands people big jobs early. The code does not always catch up.

So read the resume in this order. First the code, to set the field. Then the bullets, to see the real work. Then the rank, to gauge the scope. Rank is its own signal, and we break that down in our guide to military rank for recruiters.

One more note. The code is a claim until you verify it. A veteran can verify their job code with their service records at the offer stage. You do not need that to screen. You need it later, only if the code drives the hire.

Where do you look up a military job code?

You do not have to guess. Free tools turn any code into plain English in under two minutes. Two are worth your time.

The first is the DoD COOL crosswalk. Type in any code or title. It returns matching civilian occupations with skills and tasks. It covers all six branches: Army MOS, Navy and Coast Guard ratings, Air Force and Space Force codes, and Marine MOS. This is the fastest way to go from "0311" to "this person is an infantry team leader who can do security, operations, and crew leadership."

The second is the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. Once the crosswalk gives you the civilian occupation, the Handbook tells you the typical duties, pay, and outlook for that role. It helps you set a fair offer and confirm the skill fit.

BMR also keeps a deep civilian career guide for hundreds of codes, with skills, salary data, and matching roles. The links to the 25B, 92A, Hospital Corpsman, and 3D0X2 pages above are part of that set. Use them as a faster, vet-written read of any code you hit.

How does the job code fit the rest of the resume?

The code is one signal. It is not the whole story. To screen a veteran well, read it next to a few other parts.

Rank tells you scope and seniority. The job code tells you the trade. Awards and evaluations tell you how well they performed. Training and certs tell you depth. Put them together and you get a full picture in about a minute.

If you want the field-level view, where you take a whole career field and match it to your open roles, read how to map a military career field to your open reqs. That zooms out from a single code to the broader skill area.

For a step-by-step screening flow, use our recruiter checklist for screening veteran applicants. And for reading the evaluations that sit alongside the code, see how to read an NCOER, OER, or FITREP.

A quick example: reading one resume top to bottom

Let's run a real read. A resume lands on your desk for an operations coordinator role. Near the top you see "92A, Automated Logistical Specialist, U.S. Army."

You do not panic. You run the four steps. The crosswalk tells you 92A maps to logistics, inventory, and supply roles. The duty bullets say they ran a warehouse of $4 million in parts, cut order delays, and trained six junior soldiers.

Now you know more than the title gave you. This person controls inventory, manages a supply operation, and leads a small team. That fits an operations coordinator role well. The code opened the door. The bullets sealed it.

Run the same read on a code that looks like a poor fit. Say the role is a security supervisor and the resume shows a medic code. The crosswalk and the bullets might show the medic led a team, ran safety checks, and stayed calm in a crisis. That fits security work well. The code alone would have hidden a strong candidate. The duties brought them back into play.

That whole read took about two minutes. Do this on every veteran resume and you will surface strong candidates that other recruiters skip. Reading the code is the cheapest edge you have. For the full picture across every signal, see what employers can see on a veteran's profile.

Where do you find veterans with the right codes?

Reading the code well is step one. You still need resumes to read. Most midsize companies do not run a dedicated veteran sourcing program. You do not have to.

BMR runs a veteran talent pool built by the candidates themselves. Over 1,000 new veteran profiles get added every month. More than 60,000 resumes have been built on the platform. These are veterans who already translated their codes into civilian terms, so the reading work is half done before you start.

You can search that pool by skill and field instead of waiting on job board applications. When you read the codes well and source from a fresh pool, you fill roles faster. Reach out to access BMR's veteran talent pool and put this skill to work.