Recently, I’ve seen transitioning military members using LinkedIn for their job search, as much as a year in advance of their separation. I’m very happy to see LinkedIn participation increasing for transitioning military because LinkedIn is extremely important to 21st century job search, even if you aren’t planning to separate for 5 years.  And starting a year in advance (even a few days in advance) is an excellent idea!

However, I have seen some mistakes that are making the job search process last much longer than it needs to last.  But these mistakes are not difficult to fix, and the payoff is huge.

1.  Determine the job(s) you want in the civilian job market.

If you don’t already know, start figuring out what you want to do and where

More on Veterans’ Job Search: Veterans’ Job Search Home Military-Friendly Employers Exit Strategy for Career Military CONUS Job Search from an OCONUS Duty Station Veterans’ Benefits in Transition & Job Search Military Experience Value Mining Accomplishments from Your Records Job Search Tools for Vets Leveraging LinkedIn Profiles for Civilian Transition   Focus Your Response on the Opportunity Translating Military Experience Leadership and Management Styles Military vs. Civilian Cultures Military to Federal Transition Reversing the Top 5 Veterans’ Job Search Mistakes 5 Tips for Acing the Transition Interview Dressing for Interview Success Job Application vs. Resume Veterans’ 60 Second Personal Infomercial Veterans’ Spouses Job Search Tips Veterans’ Job Search Expert: Diane Hudson Burns, Veteran’s Job Search Expert More Veterans’ Job Search Resources: Veterans’ Resources by State National Job Search Resources for Vets Military “Alumni” Groups Federal Government Job Links, by Agency Pick Your New Career

2.  Leverage your LinkedIn “Professional Headline.”

Your LinkedIn “Professional Headline” is the one-sentence description of you that appears below your name on your Profile. 

Your Professional Headline appears with your name and photo in everything you do in LinkedIn (make a comment, start a discussion, send an invitation to connect, etc.).

LinkedIn named it your “Professional Headline”  – not your job title and not your current status (particularly if your current status is “unemployed”)!  So, think “HEADLINE!” 

Yes, you may currently be “Platoon Sergeant at US Army” or “Junior Officer at US Navy” right now. But, while accurate, those are pretty useless Professional Headlines. No civilian will be able to translate those phrases into what job you might want, even a civilian who is a veteran. 

So, tell them, like this, for example -

Old: Platoon Sergeant at US Army
New: Army Sergeant, operational manager of 40, seeking a position as facilities supervisor for a large healthcare complex.

Old: Junior Officer at US Navy
New: Navy Lieutenant, manager of 40 logistics workers, seeking a position as supply chain management consultant.

Or, [military title], seeking a position as [whatever you want to do next].  LinkedIn limits you 120 characters, spaces, and punctuation. 

3.  Focus your Profile on your future, not your past!

Job-Hunt’s Resume Expert Susan Ireland tells job seekers that their resumes are about their future, not their past, and she recommends that you take the same approach with your LinkedIn Profile. Focus on what you want to do next!

You don’t need to describe everything you did in the service.  Your LinkedIn Profile is not a catalog of your work history.  It’s a marketing flyer for your job search!

If you’re like that Army sergeant who wants to be a facilities supervisor at a large health care facility, go through your resume and pick out every facilities-management-related responsibility, experience, skill, accomplishment, task, and training class completed successfully.  Then, put as many of those in your LinkedIn Profile as you can fit. 

The Navy lieutenant would look at his or her background and pick out the things (responsibility, experience, skill, etc. as with the sergeant) that would show the potential target employers that the lieutenant has the experience and skills (etc.) needed by a supply chain consultant. Then, that relevant information would be included in the lieutenant’s LinkedIn Profile.

4.  Don’t worry a lot about your rank, unless you’ve achieved a very high rank or achieved high rank at a very young age.

In general (pun intended), most civilians don’t understand military rank structures.  “Generals” and admirals” are recognizable as very senior, but everyone else is just kind of a fog (have you noticed that the media thinks everyone who carries a rifle is a “soldier”?). 

I’ve recently seen recommendations to leave your rank completely off your resume and, I assume, your LinkedIn Profile as well. Given the lack of understanding it may not be a bad idea, but I don’t recommend completely eliminating your rank from either your LinkedIn Profile or your resume.

Because your resume may be viewed by a veteran or someone who does understand military ranks, people who understand the rank structure will wonder why it is missing. They may wonder what you are hiding by not including any reference. 

So, do a brief reference, e.g. “Honorable Discharge as an E-5″ (or whatever you were).  Be sure to include the Honorable Discharge, assuming that’s what you received.  If you did not receive an Honorable Discharge, I would just say – “Rank at discharge: E-5″ (or whatever) or “Rank at separation: E-5″ (as appropriate).

Stick with your classification code as E-# or O-# (for the people who know/care) without the official title or classification.  Since about  90% of the civilian world doesn’t know a corporal from a colonel, describing yourself as a “staff sergeant,” “first class petty officer,” or  even a generic term like “junior officer” will make no sense to them. And that confusion may hurt your job search- “junior officer” and “petty officer” sound like very light-weight jobs to civilians. Don’t take the risk of being underestimated.

Bottom Line:

LinkedIn is where you need to be for your civilian job search, and I’m very happy to see more and more transitioning military members appearing in my LinkedIn Job-Hunt Help Group, which has a sub-group for Veterans.  Just remember to focus on your future and highlight your military experience as it relates to your target civilian job. 

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About the author…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce, USMC veteran, has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

HireVetsFirst.gov relased their list of the top military-friendly employers, based on a survey (not clear whether it was the employers, the employees, or both who were surveyed).  It’s an interesting collection from the BNSF Railway through USAA (not a surprise there) to General Electric and EDS.

The emphasis does seem to be on transportation companies (BNSF, J.B. Hunt, Union Pacific), retail (Lowe’s and Sears),  energy (Progress Energy, Xcel Energy, and American Electric Power),  government prime contractors (Fluor, GE, and EDS), communications (AT&T and SprintNextel), and other assorted companies like Brinks and ITT.

The current list - Top 50 Military-Friendly Employers.  The next list, scheduled for release in December, 2008, will be worth checking.  EDS (# 17 on the current list) was recengly acquired by Hewlett Packard and announced substantial layoffs, so they may drop off.