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3 Steps for Recruiters to Align Job Descriptions with MOS

We discussed how transitioning military should civilianize their resumes so recruiters can better understand what they do. But what are we recruiters doing to meet them in the middle?

Most of the time we ask vets and transitioning military members to come 90% of the way and then we can come the last 10% to head toward the finish line…or not. If you and your company are serious about hiring vets or transitioning military for your organization – and honestly every company should be – then we need to come at least half way when trying to get them in the door.

So where to start? Again I recommend the MOS/Rating/AFSC. What are these things? They are the codes the military uses to designate “job titles” for the most part. Each code breaks down to a different job and different level of experience, but they also give you an idea of the experience each service member comes with.

I don’t often see an MOS/Rating/AFSC on a resume in lieu of a job title, but if you do see that a quick Google search on the code can give you more information on what the codes means and the skills involved. But rather than wait for transitioning military resumes to come to us, we should be taking the time to go after them.

1. Take some time to look at your common openings and see what type of skill sets you normally need. Then work to align those to the military codes.

Each military branch will have a different set of codes and they will call them something different. MOS for the Army/Marines, Rating for the Navy/Coast Guard and AFSC for the Air Force. Knowing which of these codes align with your jobs can help you target those resumes when doing searches. You can also put those codes next to your job titles on postings to assist military members with matching their code to a job.

2. Notice what the requirements are for each code versus what your Basic requirements are. Is there a huge discrepancy?

If I need to hire a Vulnerability Assessment/ Incident Response Analyst then I would most likely want to target a Navy CTN (Cryptologic Technician – Networks), but the educational requirement is only a high school diploma. If your postings are always asking for a four-year degree to fill those roles it may be time to discuss changing those requirements so you don’t miss out on a highly-skilled and qualified candidate pool. Do you often have a certification requirement for these roles? Maybe set up an in-house training program to get those certifications completed within 6 months of hire. I know sometimes those requirements are locked in, but if you have the ability to make those changes, even just an in lieu of degree for experience requirement, you can open your candidate pool greatly.

3. Use those codes to network and target your approach to certain locations.

Using the CTN example, take some time to research the area your opening is located and see if there are any local groups/meet ups/ happy hours/etc. that target CTN types. Maybe there are groups online that CTN individuals are part of as well. Also look around at the Navy installations that would most likely have these types of people. Not every military installation is going to have a large pool of people for each code, so which locations should you be targeting? Take some time to find that out and reach out their transition office to build a relationship.

Knowing each Military Branch’s codes can be a tedious job. I’m still learning which codes are relevant to me, especially as assignments and the type of positions I need to fill change. If you start with just a few common openings and build from there it can be a successful tool for your organization. Take the time to find your pool of candidates within each code and help both you and our transitioning military members.