Based on the success of the Navy Credentialing Opportunities Online — known as Navy COOL — a new online tool is now available to personalize a Sailor’s search for civilian credentials and certifications to enhance their career. 

This new tool, called MilGears, does the heavy lifting of matching a Sailor’s Navy career experience to potential credentials by synchronizing with the Navy COOL platform and drawing from other data already in the Sailor’s record like off-duty education. 

How MilGears works is similar to many popular tax self-preparation programs that guide you step-by-step through the process. In MilGears, a Sailor will provide information and answering questions through a series of pop-ups and help boxes – all to get a complete background and profile of the user. 

In the end, MilGears provides information and options for the Sailor to consider as they ponder their next career move. MilGears is so advanced that is also gives recommendations for industry credentialing that can help their in-service advancement while ultimately assisting Sailors in finding post-service employment.

“Military services and industry demand for credentialing continues to be very high,” said Jim Johnson who heads the Education Strategy and Policy Branch for the chief of naval personnel. “The Navy and MyNavy HR are committed to providing service members with tools and resources to maximize the value of their training and experience, through credentialing.” 

The muscle behind MilGears is the Navy COOL’s ability to make military to civilian occupation translations that match the Sailor’s Navy skills to civilian credentials available on the Navy’s COOL website.

Since launching, Navy COOL’s offerings have grown to more than 1,800 credentials. To date, the service has funded over 182,000 certifications and licenses. 

“What the tool does is give a personalized assessment of what civilian credentials and career pathways that may be immediately or nearly attainable. It also provides insights into how to fill any gaps and next steps to accomplish those goals,” said Johnson. 

The ability to match occupations to a service member’s background is what makes MilGears such a relevant tool, feel Navy officials. 

“The tool also shows users their best-fit post-service occupations and gives them resources to explore to attain them,” said Johnson. 

MilGears also has a separate tool for Sailors wanting to translate Navy service into merchant mariner qualifications. This section is specially designed to analyze the sea service, training, qualifications and experience a Sailor completes during their military service.  Here, the tool compares their resume against the standards set for a merchant mariner credentials, making recommendations on how to pursue them. 

For more information about MilGears visit https://milgears.osd.mil or call (850) 452-6683 to speak with a MilGears representative during office hours, Monday through Friday, between 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Central Standard Time.

MilGears – Powered by COOL—is an application managed by the Department of Defense and supported through Naval Education and Training Command as part of MyNavy HR Force Development, which ensures that all Sailors are equipped with the resources they need to do their jobs and have access to professional growth opportunities to enhance their careers both in and out of the Navy.

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