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I have two questions.

  1. Where should I include my military service (compulsory in my country) on the CV. Would you put it under work experience?
  2. Should I include so-called "dead" languages (ie. Latin) as a language. I studied it at school but for obvious reasons cannot speak it.
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  • What would be the obvious reason you can't speak it? If you're listing it as a language I would expect that you can.
    – SaggingRufus
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 17:50
  • you are supposed to translate texts but almost noone speaks it fluently apart from some monks in Italy. I am just not sure about. I picked it instead of learning French/Russian which were the other 2 choices. So I really studied it but cannot converse in the language
    – Chris
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 18:08
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    A CV is a way to show, through your previous activities that you are skilled for the job you're applying to. So list all experiences/skills relevant for the job, nothing more. Have your military service made you fitter for the job? I guess so (learning how to obey hierarchy, manage people, be reliable/on time…), so list it. But if not, don't. Idem for Latin.
    – ebosi
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 18:25

3 Answers 3

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List the military experience chronologically, highlighting relevant experience while there, list the language under "additional skills", but only if relevant.

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  • +1 presumably the OP got paid for it so it's a job, just a slightly less dangerous one than working in an office :)
    – motosubatsu ♦
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 17:08
  • I might also add knowing a dead language is rarely relevant when job hunting as it adds no benefit to the company.
    – SaggingRufus
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 17:47
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    @SaggingRufus knowledge of a classic language tends to correlate with an overall educational sophistication and curiosity which can be of benefit. And these do still have modern relevance from time to time.
    – Chris Stratton
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 17:51
  • @ChrisStratton At least in the UK, knowledge of a classical language correlates with nothing more than going to a posh school.
    – Philip Kendall
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 19:17
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    Scientia est potentia
    – Old_Lamplighter
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 21:07
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Military service shows you have learnt discipline, organisational skills, teamwork and many other virtues that are transferable to other fields. Absolutely mention it.

Latin shows good education so if you're in any kind of intellectual field (ie anything that requires a university degree or higher) definitely put it in.

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1) No. Or better, you just need to write something like "military service completed" since the risk for the employer is that he hire you and after a couple of months (or more) you need to leave to your military duty. In Italy we had the same problem and in the CV we simply add the phrase to state we are done with our military duty (one year at the time). Eventually you can add where and with which posting.

2) No, this should be clear from the school you attended on your CV unless you studied it as hobby, but it is not the case. Again, in Italy if you write on your CV that you attended a scientific high school ("Liceo scientifico" in Italian) is implicit that you studied Latin.

I used Italy as example since I am Italian, but I suppose that every employer of your country know what you study in school and, since it is compulsory, that you need to do you military duty at some point in life, normally just after the school.

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