MilGears is a customized career-building tool developed to assist you — our military members — while you serve, as they transition, and beyond. Whether you are committed to completing a single enlistment term/obligation or plan to build a career within the military, understanding the pathways towards reaching your personal and professional goals can be daunting. MilGears exists to help you plan and achieve your goals by highlighting career possibilities and helping you visualize how to reach those goals.
MilGears analyzes your unique history—your military duties and training, civilian education and credentialing, and apprenticeships—to provide customized results. Key features include:
- Auto-fill based on your uploaded service history document (ETJ, JST, or VMET).
- Ability to return to where you left off at any time – your progress is saved, but your personal identifying information is not.
- Easy-to-read summary of your military history that you can keep as a reference.
- Customized output that includes:
- Civilian occupations that may be attainable or nearly attainable.
- Mariner Tool which calculates sea time and displays credentials that may be attainable or nearly attainable.
- Apprenticeships, certifications, and education that can help you fill training gaps or that could make you more competitive in the job market.
- “How You Stack Up” – a detailed view of how your credentials compare to those typically required for civilian occupations.
- “Next Steps” – recommendations to fill gaps to enter an occupational field.
The process is straight forward. EMC looks at what you’ve done to date in the military by guiding you through a series of questions that collect information such as: your rating, pay grade, duty station history, training, qualifications (applicable to Mariner careers), and civilian education or credentials. EMC then takes this information and helps you determine your best path forward by showing you the possible occupation options for which you may be eligible based on your current experience.
M2M analyzes your entries and uploaded service records for creditable sea service, training, and assessments that you completed during your military service and compares your results against the standard for an original or upgraded Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC). The results section details which credentials you may be able to pursue based on your specific military experience.
CSWF guides you through a series of questions that allow you to view how closely your qualifications align with the requirements for specific CSWF work roles within the Navy, highlighting any gaps that need to be filled to become qualified for a role. Additionally, it lets you view related civilian occupations so you can plan for post-service employment that will use the skills you have honed during your time in service.
CSWF is based on the qualification matrices found on Navy COOL, which were developed to ensure that Sailors working in Cyber IT and Cybersecurity meet defined qualification requirements to serve in those roles. The DON model is consistent with the DOD Cyber Workforce Framework (DCWF), both are based on cybersecurity work roles outlined in the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) framework. The NICE framework is a result of a partnership between government, academic institutions, and the private sector working to develop a common language to describe cybersecurity work regardless of where the work is performed.
Use the Quick Explorer to investigate career pathways based on a specific credential, career goal, or military occupation, or take a brief interest inventory to research careers that align to your interests.
- Military Occupational Classification Explorer (MOCE) – View ‘best-fit’ pathways based your military occupation. Pathways include academic, industry, apprenticeship, cross-rate opportunities, and post-service employment opportunities.
- Cyber IT/Cybersecurity Workforce (CSWF) – Research Cyberspace IT / CSWF work roles in which you are interested and find out the qualification requirements for Defense Cyber Workforce (DCWF) roles.
- Credential Explorer (CE) – Explore career pathways for selected credentials including academic and certifications, US Military Apprenticeship Programs (USMAP), as well as federal licenses.
- Career Goals Explorer (CGE) – View occupations based on job family, industry, cluster, or pathway.
- Interests Explorer (IE) – Complete a brief Interest Profiler to view occupational options based on your likes and dislikes.
