Last week, I reviewed a resume from a former Air Force cyber operator with a TS clearance and solid technical skills.
Zero responses.
The problem wasn't his experience. The problem was his language.
He used military jargon unfamiliar to GovTech recruiters
Missing the keywords their systems searched for.
Personal Reality Check:
I made this exact mistake when I transitioned out.
My clearance and experience weren't opening doors.
Turns out, I was speaking the wrong language entirely.
The Two-Stage Filter Most People Don't Know About
Stage 1:
The Robot Screen: Your resume gets scanned by software before any human sees it. Miss the right keywords? You're invisible.
Stage 2:
The Human Test: Pass the scan, and a real person reads your resume. They want proof you understand their world, not just that you can do the job.
This is where most military transitions get stuck.
The Exact Keywords That Get You Interviews
I analyzed 500+ job postings from top federal contractors and tracked which terms appeared most frequently.
The results were surprisingly consistent:
Cybersecurity Roles 🔒
The Compliance-Heavy Path
Essential Certifications:
CompTIA Security+ (non-negotiable baseline)
CASP+ (advanced practitioner level)
CISSP (senior-level gold standard)
CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker)
GovTech Gold Keywords & Skills:
NIST cybersecurity framework
SIEM platforms (Splunk is king)
Risk Management Framework (RMF)
Incident response and threat intelligence
Vulnerability assessment and penetration testing
STIGs (Security Technical Implementation Guides)
Cloud Administration Roles ☁️
The Future-Forward Track
Essential Certifications:
AWS Certified Solutions Architect
Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate
CompTIA Cloud+
GovTech Gold Keywords & Skills:
Container orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible)
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Python and PowerShell automation
AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud
Network Administration Roles 🌐
The Infrastructure Backbone
Essential Certifications:
CompTIA Network+ (foundation level)
Cisco CCNA (industry standard)
GovTech Gold Keywords & Skills:
TCP/IP and routing protocols (BGP, OSPF)
Network security and VPN configuration
Load balancing and network monitoring
DNS/DHCP management
VoIP (Voice over IP)
IT Project Management Roles 📊
The Leadership Path
Certifications That Matter:
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
PMP (Project Management Professional)
PMI-ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner)
GovTech Gold Keywords & Skills:
Jira & Confluence
Agile and Scrum methodologies
Budget and contract management
Risk and stakeholder management
FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation)
The Translation That Changes Everything
Military experience is valuable, but you need to translate it properly.
Here are three examples from my transition:
Before: "NCOIC of 12-person communications team"
After: "Technical Team Lead managing enterprise communications infrastructure for 12 network engineers"
Before: "Maintained Link 16 tactical data systems"
After: "Ensured real-time data interoperability across multi-domain network infrastructure supporting mission-critical operations"
Before: "Responsible for equipment accountability"
After: "Managed asset lifecycle and configuration management for $2M+ in enterprise IT infrastructure"
Notice the difference?
Same experience, contractor language.
Bottom Line:
Your clearance opens doors, but the right keywords and language get you through them.
Next week:
I'm showing you exactly how to use AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini to translate your experience into GovTech gold, automatically!
No more guessing at keywords or struggling with translations.
See you next week, 🫡
— Jerraill