How to Get a Civilian Job with the Army

There are many ways to serve your country without actually going into the military. One of those ways is to work in a military civilian job with the Army. There are thousands of these jobs available at any given time in fields such as medicine, recreation, food services, maintenance, among many other fields. Read on to learn how to get a civilian job with the Army.

Instructions

1

The first thing you want to do to secure a civilian Army job is to create a professional resume. This resume can be used for most of the positions you apply for, though you may want to modify it depending on the job posting. While the advice for the typical civilian job is to keep your resume to one or two pages, there are no page limit recommendations for Army resumes. The Army wants to know as much about your educational and professional background as possible, as long as it pertains to the position you want.

2

The best site to search for government jobs is the USA Jobs website. On this site, you will find a listing of almost every government job available. Once on the site, you will upload your resume and create a profile. From here, you can apply for many of the Army jobs that are available. After you have uploaded your resume, click on "Search Jobs" at the top left of the home page. After you click on "Search Jobs," you can enter the keyword "Army" into the search engine for the site and then click on the locations in which you would like to work, or click on "Search All" to search all locations. From there you should follow the job application instructions with care. It is critical to your success that you follow the application instructions exactly. Many people are put out of the running for a job with the Army because they did not follow the application instructions. Because the Army uses software to scan resumes for keywords and phrases, you should tailor your resume to use direct wording and phrasing from the job description itself.

3

Know that Army jobs are also posted on the Army Civilian Personnel On-Line (CPOL) website. The CPOL website also requires that you upload a resume and, like the USA Jobs site, scans many of the resumes with special software with keywords, so you should ensure that you also pull the correct keywords and phrases from the job description. After you have uploaded your resume to the site, you can click on the "Employment" tab on the home page. From there, you can search for regular Army civilian jobs, internships and student opportunities and non-appropriated fund (NAF) jobs.

4

Understand that another "in" for military civilian jobs is volunteer work. Most Army posts have thrift shops, Red Cross chapters, and family support centers which are always needing volunteers. Once you are volunteering with these organizations, there is a good chance you will hear about jobs before they are advertised to the general public. This can also help keep your skills fresh if you are between jobs.

5

Finally, another good place to secure Army civilian jobs is through the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES). AAFES is the organization that runs the post exchange and the food vendors. To apply for jobs with AAFES, you can go to the AAFES employment site and follow the instructions for application.