Exporting an OER from EES for Civilian Employers

An Officer Evaluation Report (OER) can help translate Army leadership, planning and performance into evidence a civilian employer can understand. The Evaluation Entry System (EES) stores and manages many Army evaluations, but the file needs a little preparation before it is sent to a recruiter, hiring manager or human resources team.

For applicants in Australia, the document may be reviewed by a recruiter in Sydney, a government hiring panel in Canberra or a business owner in Perth who has never used Army evaluation language. Exporting a clear PDF, protecting sensitive information and adding a short explanation can make the report much more useful.

Check That Your OER Is Ready

Sign in to EES using your authorised Army credentials and open the area containing your completed evaluations. Depending on your permissions and the current interface, this may appear under a performance evaluation, officer evaluation or completed documents menu. Select the final, signed version rather than a draft or routing copy.

Before exporting, confirm the rated period, grade, duty position and signatures. An unfinished evaluation can contain missing remarks or approval fields, while an older version may not reflect the final assessment. If the report is not visible, check whether it was completed in another system or contact your unit S1, administrative section or appropriate evaluation support channel.

The distinction between the rater and senior rater can affect how an employer reads the document, so review this rater and senior rater explanation before describing the report in your application.

Prepare Information For A Civilian Audience

Civilian employers generally recognise terms such as team leadership, operational planning, compliance, risk management and staff development. They may not understand phrases such as command climate, field-grade officer or broadening assignment without context. You can keep the official OER intact while adding a separate one-page note that translates military duties into business language.

For the Australian market, use “CV” rather than “résumé” if that matches the employer’s wording, and align the explanation with the position description. A recruiter using SEEK may scan quickly for outcomes, while an Australian Public Service panel in Canberra may look for capability-based evidence. Do not alter the wording inside the official evaluation to make it sound civilian.

Gather Files Before Exporting

Collect the supporting material before you leave the Army network. A civilian employer may only need the OER PDF, but having the related documents available helps you answer questions about dates, responsibilities and achievements without repeatedly returning to EES.

Keep the official evaluation separate from your tailored application material. This makes it easier to send a clean attachment to a Melbourne consultancy, a Brisbane employer or a mining company in Western Australia without accidentally including unrelated personnel records.

• Final signed OER, rather than a working draft
• Civilian CV matched to the advertised role
• Short glossary for Army ranks, units and abbreviations
• Contact details for an authorised professional referee
• Any award or qualification record that supports the evaluation

Export The Evaluation As A PDF

Open the final OER and look for an export, download or print control. If EES provides a PDF option, choose it and save the file to an approved location with a professional filename, such as Surname_Firstname_OER_2024.pdf. Avoid saving personnel material to a shared computer or an unapproved cloud drive.

If there is no visible export button, use the browser’s print function and select “Save as PDF” or the equivalent system option. Review the print preview first to ensure every page is included, the margins have not cut off remarks and the signatures remain visible. Interface labels can change, so follow current Army instructions if they differ from these general steps.

Open the saved file outside EES and check that it is a real PDF rather than a shortcut or incomplete download. A file that opens correctly on an Army workstation may still fail when attached to an Australian employer’s email system, so test it on a separate approved device where possible.

Protect Sensitive Details Before Sharing

An OER may contain names, duty locations, unit information or operational references that a civilian employer does not need. Do not remove content from the official record itself. Instead, create a separate redacted copy only when appropriate, and retain the original unchanged for your own records.

Consider whether the employer genuinely needs the complete evaluation. Some roles may benefit from selected evidence or a supervisor reference instead. Never send classified, controlled or operationally sensitive material to a civilian inbox. When in doubt, ask your chain of command or security representative before releasing the document.

Australian employers may also request a right-to-work check, police check or Working with Children Check. Those processes are separate from an OER, and the evaluation should not be used as a substitute for them. Treat the PDF as supporting evidence, not as a complete employment background file.

Explain What The PDF Shows

Attach a short note explaining the report’s purpose, rating period and relevance to the vacancy. For example, describe an OER statement about leading a section as evidence of supervising staff, allocating resources and delivering outcomes under pressure. Keep the language factual and avoid claiming that an Army rating is equivalent to an Australian licence, registration or qualification.

If the employer asks about promotion or Army career progression, explain the difference between performance evidence and administrative scoring. A promotion points guide may help you understand related Army processes, but those points should not be presented as a civilian credential.

For applications to the APS, local councils or major employers in Sydney and Melbourne, map the OER evidence to the selection criteria. For smaller businesses, a plain-English summary of team size, budget, project scope and measurable results will usually be more useful than a list of rank-based achievements.

Review The File Before Sending

Complete a final inspection before uploading the PDF to an application portal or attaching it to email. Check readability on a normal screen, confirm the file opens without a password and make sure the name on the evaluation matches the name on your CV.

Use a secure sharing method approved for the information involved. If an employer requests a revision or disputes an administrative detail, keep the original file and save any new version with a different filename. Never overwrite the source document.

• Confirm all pages are present and in the correct order
• Check that signatures, dates and rating details are visible
• Remove unintended drafts, comments or personal attachments
• Use a clear filename with your surname and evaluation year
• Scan the PDF for operational or private information
• Open the attachment after sending to verify it was delivered

Keep A Record And Resolve Problems

Store the original PDF, any redacted copy and the civilian explanation in a secure personal records location permitted by your service obligations. Keep a note of which version was sent to each employer, especially when applying for several roles across Australia. This prevents an outdated evaluation from being attached later.

If EES will not display the OER, the export fails or the PDF contains errors, record the exact message and the date and time of the problem. Contact the relevant Army administrative or technical support channel rather than repeatedly creating copies that may become inconsistent.

If you believe the evaluation contains an error, use the authorised review process before presenting it to an employer. Guidance on the OER rebuttal process can help explain the formal route, but a civilian application should never be used to challenge or rewrite the official record.