Resumes

[number41]

Anybody out there got a good/successful resume?  I'm looking towards engineering/training/ops (no, I couldn't be less specific ) if that matters.  I guess I'm just interested in seeing what resume style is getting hired.  I've read more pages than I care to remember with advice about what should/should not be on a resume, but I know I'll get more out of just seeing a good example.  Also, anybody with hiring experience that is willing to critique my current resume let me know and I'll send you a copy for perusal.  Thanks.

-Seth

[cincinnatinuke]

Your profile shows your email as hidden so I couldnt send you a copy of an old one of mine.

I do remember searching yahoo for "navy nuke resumes" and seeing some good ways of verbalizing something better.  Lots of good books out there on the subject that would only take the normal nuke about a day to read.  Also, look into going to a TAPS class.  Not sure how well those are in upstate NY (its where your profile says you are from), but mine in San Diego was very enlightening.

[number41]

cincinnnatinuke, sent you a pm

[Fermi2]

Send it to me.

Mike

[JustinHEMI05]

I got your message and will send you mind if you send me a reminder to my home email... I keep forgetting.

Justin

PS Just don't put NAVY CHIEF PETTY OFFICER in big bold letters across the top like a certain friend of ours, because no one gives a shit. 

[ddklbl]

PS Just don't put NAVY CHIEF PETTY OFFICER in big bold letters across the top like a certain friend of ours, because no one gives a shit. 

You know, I put in my resume a line that I thought was an inside joke.  Something obscure that kind of flowed.  One of the people who interviewed me picked that single line out and gave me props for it like she was truly impressed.  Be honest in the resume and people will draw from it what they want.

[JustinHEMI05]

You know, I put in my resume a line that I thought was an inside joke.  Something obscure that kind of flowed.  One of the people who interviewed me picked that single line out and gave me props for it like she was truly impressed.  Be honest in the resume and people will draw from it what they want.

I was halfway joking but this guy had it on the front page top and center in 18 point bolded font. Putting Chief in your resume is fine... just shouldn't be the biggest, loudest thing on the page. Thats all I was saying.

Justin

[cincinnatinuke]

cincinnnatinuke, sent you a pm

Replied via email.  Best of luck and once you get something formulated I would say send it to me, but I dont hire and fire, although if I tried hard enough I could probably get fired.  I can offer you my opinion, but it would only be from the perspective of little ole' me.  I would take BZ up on his offer to look at your resume.  He seems fairly knowledgable, in fact rumor has it if you give him 10 days he can do just about anything.  A Macgyver of sorts.  When he dies, he will likely come back as a Swiss Army knife.  I merely hope to return as a leotard.

[number41]

I was halfway joking but this guy had it on the front page top and center in 18 point bolded font. Putting Chief in your resume is fine... just shouldn't be the biggest, loudest thing on the page.  Thats all I was saying.

Justin

Justin, who was that?  Couldn't be Gregg XXXXX!  I think he'd rather cut-off his own head with a plastic knife before doing something like that.  In all honesty, I'm a little proud that I finally made it, but the only reference I had planned-on making about it in my resume was in the "organizations/affiliations" section where I listed my Masonic affiliation and my membership in ANS.  I figured being a member of CPO association would fall in that category.

EDIT: Deleted actual name (libel issues) RT

[Already Gone]

You are part right.  Nobody cares if you were a Chief or an MM2.  Did you finish NPS/NPTU?  Do you have relevant experience (training, maintenance, operations)?  Did you play a major role in any large projects (PSA, refuel)?

Do NOT!!!! try to get cute with Bullshit lines like, "in charge of maintenance of a propulsion plant for a 130 person mobile facility"  If you were the M Div LPO on a nuclear sub, say that you were the M Div LPO on  nuclear sub.  Everybody out here in the nuclear world will know what that means, or they can ask someone who works literally feet away from them what it means.  But if you try to use crap lines like the one above, your resume won't make it farther than the nearest recycle bin.

Tell the truth about what you did.  Use plain, readable English and complete sentences.  Don't try to put a satin dress on a sow and call it a prom queen.  List the basic duties of your jobs and stress accomplishments above all else.  KEEP IT SIMPLE!!
Don't use bullet lists except for a group of very similar items.  Use sentences and paragraphs (short ones) instead.  Example: State that you could operate various kinds of specialized equipment, then add a bullet list to provide the list of the relevant ones.  But don't stick different things with different levels of significance inside a bullet list.  This makes the special look like it was mundane.  What I mean is - don't stick a NAM in the same bullet list with your gold star from your kindergarten teacher.

Nobody cares that you could run feed pumps, circ pumps, condensate pumps, RPFW pumps ... yadda, yadda, yadda.  Big deal.  You can turn a switch.  Who cares?  Instead, say that you operated, maintained and repaired pumps, compressors, oil purifiers, turbine-generator sets, hydraulic and pneumatic systems, air and motor operated valves, air-conditioning plants ...  Get the picture?  (this would be a good place to use bullets.)

Do not use throw-away phrases like "references available upon request"  Anyone who wants to hire you knows damn well that you will make anything he freakin' wants available on request.  There is no need to say this.  Instead it sends the negative vibe that you are holding something back, and the hiring boss needs to jump through your hoops to get it.  He isn't going to jump any farther than that recycle bin to slam dunk your wadded resume.  So just leave this kind of crap out altogether.

Nobody really wants to know that your hobbies include line-dancing, macrame, and raising prize-winning earthworms.  Leave that part out too.
Forget about any mention of Freemasonry, church, synagogue, or social organizations.  Being a member of the Moose Lodge is not a job qualification and the hiring boss just might be an Elk.  However, holding a position of trust or responsibility in one such organiztion, or having organized a successful charity fund-raiser could be evidence of leadership and/or organization skills.  Being elected Grand Poohbah is not for the resume, but being chairman of the campaign that raised $20,000 to buy wheelchairs for kids is definitely a plus.

I threw out a resume that stated among the accomplishments of the current job that he had a budget of $400,000 and that he reported to the Site VP.  Every person in the whole country who has the same job as his reports directly to the site VP.  The fact that he thought that this made him special was the thing that told me he was clueless.  The budget part was just to make himself look important.  So what if you had a $400k budget?  If your job was to procure fire engines, that much money would only pay for one.  What did you do for the rest of the year?  My point? --- Simple.  A real big shot doesn't think of himself as a big shot, and doesn't expect anyone else to be impressed by things like that either.  So, if you are putting these things in the resume, you are not going to be received well.

So, being a Navy Chief Petty Officer is not something to put into big bold letters.  It needs to be listed, but all it really means is that you know how to take a test, how to kiss a little butt, that your uniforms passed inspection most of the time, and that you re-enlisted at least once when everyone else was smart enough to get out and make twice the money.  It really carries about as much weight as being a captain in the local volunteer fire department.  Both are worthy accomplishments that demonstrate leadership, but you have to bring a lot more than that.

[JustinHEMI05]

Justin, who was that?  Couldn't be Gregg XXXXX!  I think he'd rather cut-off his own head with a plastic knife before doing something like that.  In all honesty, I'm a little proud that I finally made it, but the only reference I had planned-on making about it in my resume was in the "organizations/affiliations" section where I listed my Masonic affiliation and my membership in ANS.  I figured being a member of CPO association would fall in that category.

EDIT: Deleted actual name (libel issues) RT

No it was a guy that got out before me who had a very similar resume to mine... he was also a "golden boy."

Justin

[matthew7899]

I am also preparing to get out (Jul/Aug next year) and would appreciate any examples of resumes that are floating around.

I will be attending Taps in the next few months, and would like to get there ahead of the game.

Thanks,
Matt

[Already Gone]

You're not getting this are you?
The reason I remembered the BS about the 130 person mobile facility is that I saw it on a dozen different resumes.  It was BS on one, and UNORIGINAL BS on the other eleven.
Trust me, you do not want to see other resumes.  Write your own.  Microsofr Word has a lot of templates.  Or, you can just use your head.

First, (this is very important) send a different resume to every employer.  Instead of putting some meaningless language in the "objective" section, leave that section out altogether.  It is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer that your objective is to get a job.
So, make the resume that you send to Jambalaya Industries look like you have at least a little interest in working there.  Write a little note - a couple of sentences - that say what job they have open that you can do and why you can do it.  Nobody gives a smelly fart if you are seeking a "challenging environment" or a "position of responsibility".  The fact is that what you are looking for is totally irrelevant.  Chances are that you do not know exactly what you are looking for anyway.  Instead, tell them what you have to offer.

"I am responding to your advertisement on Nukeworker.com for a Radiation Protection Technician (Non-Licensed Operator, Maintenance Technician, ... etc.).  My experience and training make me highly qualified for this position."

Second, list your past experience.  Limit this to the names of companies, locations, job title, and dates.  Then, list the specific accomplishments of that job.

"2006 - Batchelor of Science in Applied Science and Technology from Thomas Edison State College"

2003 to present - Engineering Laboratory Technician, USS Podunk.
- Qualified as Engineering watch supervisor
-Qualified in Submarines
-Participated in refueling of ship's reactor
-Assigned as System Expert during new construction of a Virginia Class Attack Submarines
- yadda yadda yaddda

If you were awarded a letter of commendation, letter of recognition, Navy Achievement Medal, or some other biscuit for diong a good job, put that first on the list.

2003 Graduated from US Navy Nuclear power Training Unit Ballston Spa, NY
- Qualified as Mechanical Operator
2002 Graduated from US Navy Nuclear Power School

Third, keep it to one page and leave out the Burger King gig you had in High School.

If you have a degree that is relevant to the job you are seeking, and it is not the same degree that everyone else in the world has (every foot doctor has a medical degree but not every teacher has an Ed.D.) put that BEFORE the experience.  If your degree is common, or you have vast and impresive experience, then put the education after it.  You see how I put the BSAST degree first but Nuke school last?

Keep the whole thing to two pages max.  Anything that needs to be seen needs to be on the front page.  Anything that does not need to be seen needs to stay off the resume altogether. All the other stuff is good to know but not all that important.  If the frst page doesn't hook them, they won't even look at the second.  So don't hold back something amazing until the end.  This is not a suspense thriller.

It is okay if you have exactly the same education and experience as twenty other applicants.  It is NOT OKAY if your resume looks exctly like theirs or contains even a single catchphrase or buzzword that is common among them.

It is expected that a lot of people will apply for a job who have almost identical histories.  Make yours stand out by all the garbage that is NOT in it.  Show some respect for the time and intelligence of the person who is reading it. Use your own voice and don't use flowery or "smart" words.  Stick to witing the way that you talk.  Then, edit it for grammar and fomat it to be easily readable.  If you use a template, it is perfectly alright to delete a section that you are not going to use.  It is better to cut out a section than to say something unimpressive just to fill it.

Cover letters are a waste of time.  If your resume tells the story effectively, there is no reason to waste time restating it on a cover letter.  They used to be necessary because there were no computers.  Resumes were typed and copied - or produced by an offset printer - so they could not be individualized for every job.  Therefore, it was necessary for a resume to be non-specific and the cover letter to be written for each prospective employer.  This is no longer necessary.  It is an archaic practice that shows that you don't know how to think.

Lots of magazine articles have been written which tell you that you need a cover letter.  These articles are written by people who write cover letters and resumes for a living.  Of course they are going to tell you that you need one.

This is important!!!  You have the tools to write a resume and edit it hundreds of times for hundreds of employers.  Use that technology.  Show that you have enough interest in the job to spend the measly five minutes to customize a document on your computer fer chrissakes.
If you have a computer and send a one-size-fits-all resume it says that you are lazy and/or incompetent.  The same is true if you copy as much as a single phrase from someone else's resume.

Now, sit down and write your own resume.  If you need advice on how to tune it up, email it to me.

[number41]

BeerCourt, first I would like to thank you for all of your input.  I find it very valuable.  I just hope you aren't getting the wrong idea about what is happening here.  It's not that I want to plagiarize someone else's resume.  That's not why I'm here asking others to look at mine and to provide some examples that they have seen.  I'm simply trying to see what other ideas there are.  I have already written what I would consider a good resume.  However, I've never had a real job that required a resume before.  Therefore, I have simply asked that others available here that HAVE seen alot of resumes take a look at mine and send me some examples.  Of course I can think for myself, but I know that can get me into trouble too.  For example, I think that it should be ok to have some gaps in resume time that I can explain later if asked about them.  But the people that I have talked with here have said that is definitely a bad idea.  On a separate note, I would disagree with you about what it takes to make Chief.  Maybe taking a test and kissing ass is what it takes to advance in some places, but I have worked my ass off for 13 years to make Chief.  Furthermore, I resent the fact that you believe that you were "smart enough" to get out and make real money while I was not.  I stayed because I truly cared enough to try and fix the things that I believed needed fixing.  Just because the system sucks doesn't mean that the people that excel within the system suck.

[Already Gone]

Aha!  You made a bad assumption there.  I never said that I didn't reenlist once.  I did not however, take the MMC exam (which pissed off my CO) because I would still have had to re-up again to accept the paygrade.  Anyway, nothing wrong with being a CPO.  Being a Chief doesn't mean that you suck.  It's just that it denotes absolutely NOTHING (to civilian employers) other than the amount of time you were in the Navy.  To them an MMC or MM1 or MM2 don't mean much.  They are looking for accomplishments.  There are some civilian employers (especially nukes) who were in the Navy.  Many of those hated chiefs like ... well, like you did before you became one.  They will still give you a fair shake, but not if you flog that fouled anchor all over the page.
Chances are that if you made Chief, you have some good accomplishments to tell about.  This is my point.
On a resume, don't tell that you were a Chief and expect it to have the desired effect: tell what you did to become a Chief.  That is what will get you what you need.  (The stuff about kissing ass you can leave out.)

But really, I mean it.  Don't look at anyone else's resume unless he already has the job that you want.  It isn't that I think you can't think for yourself.  It is that you will risk seeing something on another's resume that will strike you as good.  If you copy anything - from phraseology to formatting - you risk making your resume totally undistinguished.
I realize that the military mindset is to be just like everyone else, only better.  On a resume, that is the kiss of death.  If you are going to model anything or even just compare your resume against anything, you have to model success.  Unfortunately, the resume that got the last guy the job that you want is the only one that should be of any interest to you, and it is probably not going to be of any help either.  Really, looking at someone else's resume when you are job hunting is a very bad idea.  It will do you more harm than good.

Here's another clue.  Read the job posting and find out what duties are required.  If you have done exactly the same duty, then reword your resume so that the description of that duty is worded exactly the same.
Like this:  If the posting says that you will be required to "calibrate M&TE" change the words on your resume that say you "calibrated torque wrenches, micrometers, and test equipment" to "calibrated M&TE, including torque wrenches ..."
It might seem like a triviality, but the first person to screen your resume may be an administrative type who is unaware that M&TE and torque wrences are the same thing.  It is necessary to find out what they call everything.  Civilian nukes, for example, use radiation detection and measuring instruments.  The word "radiac" refers to a brand of chemical used for deconning tools.  I don't think that they even make it anymore.  The point is that nobody out here uses that word, so don't use it on your resume.  Likewise, only Three Mile Island, Oyster Creek and some DOE sites use the term RadCon.  Most of the civilian industry will understand that you mean Radiation Protection, but guess what -- RadCon is a brand name of a foam that is used to decontaminate stuff.  Use Radiation Protection or Health Physics instead.

Also, include the exact title of the job somewhere in the resume.  If you have never held that title, this would be a good thing to put in the opening sentence where you tell what job you are after.  There is a good reason for this.  Lots of large companies use software to sort incoming resumes and slot them with open jobs.  Naturally, having those exact words on your resume will result in a higher match score than if you don't.  This is also a good reason for the preceding paragraph.  I have gone so far as to cut and paste the duties from a job posting into my own resume and deleted the ones I didn't actually do.  This was probably a bad idea because the postings are written by people who use a lot of corporate speak instead of English.  Even though I used the same wording that they did, they probably thought it was stupid once they actually read it.

OH!! That's another thing.  Have someone else read your resume to you aloud.  There is no better way to know what parts sound dumb than to hear them coming out of someone else's mouth.  Definitely do this.

You are right about gaps.  They look bad.  But you don't have to account for your whole life.  Start with when you graduated High School or College.  Basically, anything before you entered the Navy is irrelevant except for college anyway.  You don't have to list every single duty station either.  If you spent six months on the lawn-mowing detail while you were awaiting school or something, you don't need to put that down.  Just start with the year you went on active duty and list the Navy as one job.  You don't even have to narrow it down to the month.  What year you graduated college, nuke school and whatever other training is close enough.  If there is a major accomplishment, you might list the year that it happened.  But it is totally fine to lump your navy experience together.

[Kev3399]

Like Beercourt said, keep it simple. I thought my resume was lacking due to the simplicity of it, but it was successful for me.

Also....One question Beercourt. Does anybody really consider the Thomas Edison BSAST a "4 year degree". All you have to do is about 8 CLEPS and 2 or 3 classes.(Calc 2 is required......) Thomas Edison requires 12 semester hours of courses or you have to pay a fee.....Most have to pay that fee. So six months of CLEPs, 2 actual classes maybe and a check to Thomas Edison.....Bam, time to put that baby at the top of my resume. 

I was jaded with the "Navy College/Thomas Edison" hype.....so maybe I am wrong. I refused to get a toilet paper degree while in, but I might be off in left field on this. I'm not calling you out on your opinion, just curious on what the consensus is out there.

[cincinnatinuke]

Beer Court, I actually looked at several resumes to see various styles at TAPS.  They actually seemed to encourage it, and it helped me alot.  I dont think I can agree with your assessment that it is a bad idea.  It was encouraging to see successful examples and incorporate parts of them.  Note I did not say plagarize, but admittedly I could be the exception to the rule.

One thing that was tough for me was trying to explain what I did without sounding like the examples you mentioned, essentially a tool.  I believe alot of that comes from the way the Navy is/was.  If I see a Chief, I know he has got to be pretty accomplished and he doesnt really ever have to spell his accomplishments out to his shipmates.  I dont think we (not implying I was a chief here, just all ex-navy types) ever had to sell ourselves.  Your resume was the uniform you wore.  From the rating badge, to the ribbons, the rank, the service stripes, warfare pins.

Now for the first time in many a persons life, we execute a choice to make....well a choice.  We no longer get orders telling us where to report and what to do.  No uniform, no title.  Hell I was scared and I was just a nublet in comparison.  I wasnt walking away from 13 years and a membership to the goat locker.  I think I would look for all the advice I could get.

And a degree is a degree.  I went the Excelsior route and I went out of my way to avoid the online classes as much as possible.  I got to take real classes with other real engineering students.  I never felt outclassed or unworthy.  A kid out of college is going to place his degree right at the top of his resume.  Put yours where it makes sense and know that your "filler" will probably wow more people than "Record Holder of the Tri Lambda house Keg Stand"   That piece of paper will only open doors, not get you in.  Your performance will and it will keep you in the door too.

[Ops Nub]

Pay attention in TAP. There's a lot of good info that they tell you about. I liked the interview training and resume writing. It helped me a lot.

[Already Gone]

Like Beercourt said, keep it simple. I thought my resume was lacking due to the simplicity of it, but it was successful for me.

Also....One question Beercourt. Does anybody really consider the Thomas Edison BSAST a "4 year degree". All you have to do is about 8 CLEPS and 2 or 3 classes.(Calc 2 is required......) Thomas Edison requires 12 semester hours of courses or you have to pay a fee.....Most have to pay that fee. So six months of CLEPs, 2 actual classes maybe and a check to Thomas Edison.....Bam, time to put that baby at the top of my resume. 

I was jaded with the "Navy College/Thomas Edison" hype.....so maybe I am wrong. I refused to get a toilet paper degree while in, but I might be off in left field on this. I'm not calling you out on your opinion, just curious on what the consensus is out there.

I don't know what anyone else thinks about the TESC BSAST.  I know that I don't consider it the equivalent of a BS in Engineering.  I went the Excelsior route.  Actually it was Regents College back then.  Guess what, I still only have 118.5 semester hours.  They gave me only 3 for prototype.  They give like 23 if you went a few years later than I did.  Anyway, I don't have the degree yet.  So if you have one, display it on you resume prominently.  It is points that the average Navy nuke may not have.

But, don't over-simplify the TESC degree.  Sure, there is not a lot that a Navy nuke has to do to get the diploma.  That doesn't mean that it is a mail-order degree.  You neglect the fact that a turn in the Navy for a nuke is worth almost 100 semester hours before you do those CLEP's and online courses.

[Already Gone]

Beer Court, I actually looked at several resumes to see various styles at TAPS.  They actually seemed to encourage it, and it helped me alot.  I dont think I can agree with your assessment that it is a bad idea.  It was encouraging to see successful examples and incorporate parts of them.  Note I did not say plagarize, but admittedly I could be the exception to the rule.

One thing that was tough for me was trying to explain what I did without sounding like the examples you mentioned, essentially a tool.  I believe alot of that comes from the way the Navy is/was.  If I see a Chief, I know he has got to be pretty accomplished and he doesnt really ever have to spell his accomplishments out to his shipmates.  I dont think we (not implying I was a chief here, just all ex-navy types) ever had to sell ourselves.  Your resume was the uniform you wore.  From the rating badge, to the ribbons, the rank, the service stripes, warfare pins.

Now for the first time in many a persons life, we execute a choice to make....well a choice.  We no longer get orders telling us where to report and what to do.  No uniform, no title.  Hell I was scared and I was just a nublet in comparison.  I wasnt walking away from 13 years and a membership to the goat locker.  I think I would look for all the advice I could get.

And a degree is a degree.  I went the Excelsior route and I went out of my way to avoid the online classes as much as possible.  I got to take real classes with other real engineering students.  I never felt outclassed or unworthy.  A kid out of college is going to place his degree right at the top of his resume.  Put yours where it makes sense and know that your "filler" will probably wow more people than "Record Holder of the Tri Lambda house Keg Stand"   That piece of paper will only open doors, not get you in.  Your performance will and it will keep you in the door too.

I think you said what I was trying to say - only better.  I was not trying to minimize being a CPO.  But, it came out that way.  You put it much better.  Navy people know what it means, but there are a lot of lubbers out here.  You have to spell it out for them.

It really depends on who is reading your resume.  All this is really fluff if you are applying for a job at a nuclear power plant.  If you send them a postcard that says "Six years Navy Nuke Machinist's Mate"  you will get a call.  All the other stuff is a chance to show them that you did more than the average bear.  Don't do this though.

All this does not come from my having written the prize resume.  The truth is that my resumes always looked like total crap.  I have never needed a resume to get a job.  It was a formality.  Every job I have had since the Navy was based on one of two things:
1) Three letters.  E.  L.  T.
2) somebody already knew me and was aware of my capabilities from personal knowledge.

So, you are right on the money.  The resume got me in the door (because it had ELT on it) and everything else I had to earn.

My insights on resumes, since they don't come from writing them, all come from reading them.  I have seen so many from sailors that contained the same BS, that I am firmly convinced that it is horrible advice to tell someone to look at other resumes as examples.  As I stated before, it is okay to study the resume of someone who already has the job you want, but it is not good to look at one unless you are sure that everything in it directly contributed to his getting the job.  Who knows, the guy might have been hired despite his resume, and you may glean only the bad ideas from it.  Style is a good thing to study, but not content.  Even the style needs to be modified to fit your resume.

The last two people I hired are good examples of this.  One, who is online here right now, had a great resume that was totally irrelevant to the job I hired him for.  His reputation for being even-tempered and a good thinker got him the job.  Yes, his resume was evidence that he was intelligent and able, but not a single thing on it applied directly to the job.  I barely glanced at it.  The second guy was one whose work spoke for itself.  I hired him despite the fact that he had a horrible resume.  (It was an RP tech resume that basically listed the dates and sites of all the outages he worked and what jobs he covered.  This gets you into a plant as a contract RP tech, but it is no good for anything else.)

[admiral202]

Anybody out there got a good/successful resume?  I'm looking towards engineering/training/ops (no, I couldn't be less specific ) if that matters.  I guess I'm just interested in seeing what resume style is getting hired.  I've read more pages than I care to remember with advice about what should/should not be on a resume, but I know I'll get more out of just seeing a good example.  Also, anybody with hiring experience that is willing to critique my current resume let me know and I'll send you a copy for perusal.  Thanks.

-Seth

Seth,

You should try writing a different resume for each position that you intend to apply for.  I probably have 150-200 versions of my resume.  It evolves every few months.  Outside of the Navy, the job market is very competitive.  People will tell you to write one page only, but that is bs too.  I've seen people bring in books of their work, what they've published, overviews of projects that they've work on.  Just don't limit yourself to what you read on these forums.  Most resumes end up over two pages at 10 font because they come off a recruiting website or even the corporate website application system.  Keep a journal of some work you've completed the last few years.  It could simply be a list of bullet points on a Word document as reference material for writing a targeted resume.  It's extremely helpful to do this.  One thing to remember, people are going to ask you about your results.  Highlight examples that provided real measurable results that will help you in your interview.

Also, having a degree is nearly imperative for supervisory and management positions. 

[Kev3399]

Also, having a degree is nearly imperative for supervisory and management positions. 

Not true at all.

[Already Gone]

It doesn't matter.  Very few people are going to come out of the Navy into a management position, except for some officers who will, of course, already have degrees.
Here's the thumbrule.  I know how the navy guys just love thumbrules.  It does not always apply, but it helps to gauge your landing zone.
Six years as an enlisted Navy Nuke = 2 years experience.
Twelve years as an enlisted Navy nuke = 2 years experience.
Eighteen years as an enlisted Navy nuke = 2 years experience.
A BS degree = 1 or 2 years experience.
Any number of years as an enlisted Navy nuke with or without a degree = 2 years experience.

The difference is where those 2 years experience apply.  If you are a 6 'n' out guy, your 2 years apply toward a NLO or technician job.  If you are EWS/EOOW with a stint at prototype, your 2 years could apply toward an instant SRO type gig and/or something in training.  At the least, it should get you directly into the next license class.
If your degree is an ABET accredited Engineering degree, your 2 years apply toward Engineering, Operations, Health Physics, or some other tech. staff job.
If you are a Master Chief with 20 years and a BS, your two years would probably apply toward planning, work-control, etc.

Not a single one of you is going to come out here and be a General Foreman, Maintenance Superintendent, Control Room Supervisor, Rad Protection Manager, or Plant Manager.  Although, one or two of you may end up that way in a very short time, your military career just makes you a more advanced newbie; but you are still a newbie.  You still have to remember that the NPS class that I graduated from in 1981 has not yet retired.  Basically, everybody who went through the nuke pipeline anytime between 1965 and 2001 is in line ahead of you along with everyone who has been a loyal employee of the electric company since about the time you were being conceived.  So, don't get into a hurry to be top dog.  If you are destined for that, it will come to you no matter how many of us you pass up along the way or how quickly you do it.  If you are meant to be the boss, you will be.

What I'm trying to say is take the best offer even if it is entry-level.  There will be plenty of time to improve upon that later.  If you don't have your degree yet, most utilities have excellent tuition reimbursement plans.  So, by all means, don't let the lack of a degree hold you back.

[JustinHEMI05]

It doesn't matter.  Very few people are going to come out of the Navy into a management position, except for some officers who will, of course, already have degrees.
Here's the thumbrule.  I know how the navy guys just love thumbrules.  It does not always apply, but it helps to gauge your landing zone.
Six years as an enlisted Navy Nuke = 2 years experience.
Twelve years as an enlisted Navy nuke = 2 years experience.
Eighteen years as an enlisted Navy nuke = 2 years experience.
A BS degree = 1 or 2 years experience.
Any number of years as an enlisted Navy nuke with or without a degree = 2 years experience.

The difference is where those 2 years experience apply.  If you are a 6 'n' out guy, your 2 years apply toward a NLO or technician job.  If you are EWS/EOOW with a stint at prototype, your 2 years could apply toward an instant SRO type gig and/or something in training.  At the least, it should get you directly into the next license class.
If your degree is an ABET accredited Engineering degree, your 2 years apply toward Engineering, Operations, Health Physics, or some other tech. staff job.
If you are a Master Chief with 20 years and a BS, your two years would probably apply toward planning, work-control, etc.

Not a single one of you is going to come out here and be a General Foreman, Maintenance Superintendent, Control Room Supervisor, Rad Protection Manager, or Plant Manager.  Although, one or two of you may end up that way in a very short time, your military career just makes you a more advanced newbie; but you are still a newbie.  You still have to remember that the NPS class that I graduated from in 1981 has not yet retired.  Basically, everybody who went through the nuke pipeline anytime between 1965 and 2001 is in line ahead of you along with everyone who has been a loyal employee of the electric company since about the time you were being conceived.  So, don't get into a hurry to be top dog.  If you are destined for that, it will come to you no matter how many of us you pass up along the way or how quickly you do it.  If you are meant to be the boss, you will be.

What I'm trying to say is take the best offer even if it is entry-level.  There will be plenty of time to improve upon that later.  If you don't have your degree yet, most utilities have excellent tuition reimbursement plans.  So, by all means, don't let the lack of a degree hold you back.

Wow... very well said.

Justin

[Ops Nub]

That's exactly how I have been seeing it in my current job searches. It pretty much seals the deal for me getting out of the navy now instead of in a few more years. I want to get started now! Entry-level here I come!