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If you’ve been following our resume series, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed with all of the work you need to do to make your resume shine. While it’s true that a good resume definitely takes some work, it’s actually a lot easier than it seems at first glance.

You’ve probably put a lot of thought into the best format of your resume and have decided that either a functional, chronological, or combination resume best suits your needs. The layout of a resume is super important because it helps guide hiring managers through your career. Since you’re transitioning from the military, your resume is probably going to look a lot different from your civilian counterparts, and that’s okay. In fact, having a resume that stands out from the applicant pool helps set you apart from the rest. Let’s take a look at another way you can make sure your resume shines.

One of the most commonly overlooked areas on a resume is a job description. A job description gives a hiring manager the chance to read about what you’ve accomplished in the positions you’ve held along with providing a snapshot of your experience and skills. When you have job descriptions that are well written, your resume is more likely to hold the attention of the person searching for the ideal applicant. Here’s the thing you need to keep in mind, though – lots of your experience is going to be difficult to articulate into simple civilian language. Let’s face it: the military has a language all its own. So what will serve you best is to make a list of accomplishments from each unit and then look for ways to make the achievements easier to understand. Unless you’re applying for a GS position or something military-related, the chances of a civilian being able to interpret military jargon is just about null.

Now, once you’ve written out the achievements from each unit, you’re better positioned to begin writing a comprehensive job description. The best job descriptions are concise and always include effective impact statements. This means the short paragraph should focus on the skills you either perfected or learned and gives just enough detail to support your reason for applying. Keep out pronouns and make your descriptions short when you remove unnecessary articles (like the words the, that, and a).

Finally, make sure your resume is customized for each specific job. Yes, this is an added bit of effort, but the effort will pay off. The reason? Because most hiring managers use searchable computer databases that allow them to search through the pile to find applicants with industry and job-specific keywords. The best part is that all job listings give you the keywords you should include in your description in the original posting. All you need to do is add them to your existing resume. This helps increase the likelihood that your resume is found in the stack of applicants. Try to use as many as possible and place them strategically throughout the descriptions.

A well-written resume is a path to getting an interview, which might just lead to the job of your dreams. You owe it to yourself to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to give yourself a fighting chance