Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog

Critical Retirement Step – Adapting Your CV to a Résumé

Posted on January 26, 2026 Updated on January 20, 2026

Throughout my career, I updated my academic curriculum vitae (CV) monthly. As a result, I thought it would be in good shape for transition, but I was wrong. Almost no one wanted to see my 40 page CV, and I needed a résumé.

My CV

Here is the CV I currently have and what I started with before getting all sorts of help condensing it down to a 2 page résumé:

During my job exploration so far, there were only two entities that were OK with my full CV, academic institutions and the VA. Other than that, every one else wanted a résumé that was only a few pages long.

Creating My Résumé

Initially, I just condensed my 40 page CV down to 2 pages, but that was not a polished résumé and I needed help. Similar to my LinkedIn profile update, many resources exist to help you create your résumé.

VetJobs

VetJobs gave me some detailed résumé and LinkedIn profile feedback, which you can read here:

They also partner with Hiring Our Heroes for an online résumé engine that I thought was cool.

Finally, they gave me a clean Applicant Tracking System (ATS) compliant résumé template that I liked and used:

ATS is the computer system that employers use to receive, organize, and screen résumés. If you have an overly complicated résumé format with photos, graphics, and other unnecessary things, it may impair the ATS screening of your résumé. It seems that when it comes to résumé format, simpler is better.

VetJobs regularly offers free virtual résumé sessions, which can be seen here.

Military Officers Association of America (MOAA)

I’ve spoken about MOAA before as I’m a lifetime member. They provided me free résumé feedback as well. To quote them, “Please don’t be concerned by all the comments—that is pretty standard for an initial draft.” Here was their feedback on my 2 page condensed CV:

Any MOAA members can send their résumés to transition@moaa.org. If you’re not a member, here is the membership link (basic membership is free):

https://www.moaa.org/content/join-moaa/why-join-moaa/

COMMIT Foundation and Mr. Scott Vedder

The COMMIT Foundation helps transitioning veterans and they were able to get me a free hour with a resume/hiring coach who has literally written the book on resumes, Mr. Scott Vedder.

I talked to him for an hour and learned:

• Remove military jargon and titles. If I say I’m a “Captain”, civilians will think I drive a ship or fly a plane. Military titles are no longer my brand. I am a Veteran now, not a Navy Captain.
• Make sure everything on the résumé is true. For example, I shouldn’t say I’m the “CEO of US Naval Hospital Guam” because I’m not. Maybe I say I’m the “Senior Executive Leader” instead of “MTF Director” or “Commanding Officer”, both of which are military titles civilians won’t understand.
• All bulleted accomplishments should be unique to me. I shouldn’t have generic descriptions of my roles, but specific accomplishments that are mine. In other words, everything I list as an achievement during my time as XO of Portsmouth or CO of Guam should be unique to me. It should not be something my predecessors or successors could say too.

Here are a few links and tools that he said I could share:

1. My web site is www.ScottVedder.com and I’ve got a trove of resources on it including:

1. A PDF of My Top 5 Veteran Résumé Tips
2. Another PDF with My Top 5 Veteran Interview Tips
3. A page of veteran resources others have found helpful
4. On LinkedIn I’ve got a few articles including:

1. My “Smart 5^th Grader Test” to ensure examples will always be understood by civilians or anyone in a different field
2. Some great tips on networking including the approach we discussed to reach out to those with common backgrounds
3. My books specifically for veterans, reservists, and MilSpouses include:

1. Signs of a Great Résumé: Veterans Edition, and
2. Signs of a Great Interview: Veterans Edition
3. Side note: If you apply for federal agencies, be sure to follow the new USAJOBS résumé guidelines (including the 2-page limit) in compliance with the Merit Hiring Plan.  I found this article from American Public University pretty insightful too and I agree with most of its points.

My Updated Résumé

While still a work in progress, if you want to see what my resume looks like after all of this, here it is: