How To Become A Reserve Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a reserve officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a reserve officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.94 an hour? That's $51,866 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -10% and produce -42,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreReserve OfficerUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $51,866

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate -10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.01%

Asian 2.08%

Black or African American 15.94%

Hispanic or Latino 18.45%

Unknown 5.41%

White 57.11%

Gender

female 28.10%

male 71.90%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.0

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a reserve officer

Explore reserve officer education requirements

Most common reserve officer degrees

Bachelor's

62.1 %

Associate

16.3 %

Master's

9.8 %

Start to develop specific reserve officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Patrol	28.41%
Law Enforcement	8.28%
Jrotc	6.76%
Traffic Control	5.86%
Public Safety	5.68%

Complete relevant reserve officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New reserve officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a reserve officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real reserve officer resumes.

Research reserve officer duties and responsibilities

Manage all construction projects to ensure all establish DOD security standards are incorporated.
Direct logistics management as a company commander of a combat engineering company.
Maintain organization of other members and platoon squad.
Serve warrants, summons, subpoenas, civil and other official papers.

Prepare your reserve officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your reserve officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a reserve officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable reserve officer resume templates

Build a professional reserve officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your reserve officer resume.