Marines · 3052
Your Packaging Specialist experience maps to civilian jobs like Packers and Packagers, Hand and Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand—and well beyond. Explore the specific roles below, see what each pays and requires, and build from there.
The federal crosswalk lists only a broad “Material Moving Workers, All Other” bucket for 3052—so here are the specific civilian roles Packaging Specialist experience genuinely maps to. See what each involves, what it pays, and why it fits.
$34,830/yr mediantypical $26k–$45k~645K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: High-school diploma plus short on-the-job training
Pack or package by hand a wide variety of products and materials.
Why it fits: Packing and preserving materiel transfers to packaging roles.
$37,660/yr mediantypical $29k–$50k~3M U.S. jobs
★ Bright Outlook — many openings
Typical entry: High-school diploma plus short on-the-job training
Manually move freight, stock, luggage, or other materials, or perform other general labor.
Why it fits: Material handling maps to freight and stock moving.
$39,780/yr mediantypical $31k–$58k~844K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: High-school diploma plus short on-the-job training
Verify and maintain records on incoming and outgoing shipments involving inventory.
Why it fits: Documentation and accountability support shipping and receiving.
$36,390/yr mediantypical $29k–$49k~2.9M U.S. jobs
★ Bright Outlook — Rapid growth; many openings
Typical entry: High-school diploma plus short on-the-job training
Receive, store, and issue merchandise, materials, equipment, and other items from stockroom, warehouse, or storage yard to fill shelves, racks, tables, or customers' orders.
Why it fits: Staging and inventory support stocking and order filling.
$38,330/yr mediantypical $30k–$56k~372K U.S. jobs
★ Bright Outlook — Rapid growth
Typical entry: High-school diploma plus short on-the-job training
Operate or tend machines to prepare industrial or consumer products for storage or shipment.
Why it fits: Closely related to your Packaging Specialist occupations on the manufacturing & production side—a natural next step.
$39,250/yr mediantypical $30k–$53k~45K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: High-school diploma plus short on-the-job training
Feed materials into or remove materials from machines or equipment that is automatic or tended by other workers.
Why it fits: Closely related to your Packaging Specialist occupations on the transportation & logistics side—a natural next step.
$44,310/yr mediantypical $33k–$58k~53K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: High-school diploma plus short on-the-job training
Set up, operate, or tend machines that cut or slice materials, such as glass, stone, cork, rubber, tobacco, food, paper, or insulating material.
Why it fits: Closely related to your Packaging Specialist occupations on the manufacturing & production side—a natural next step.
$43,540/yr mediantypical $31k–$59k~13K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: High-school diploma plus short on-the-job training
Operate or tend bonding machines that use adhesives to join items for further processing or to form a completed product.
Why it fits: Closely related to your Packaging Specialist occupations on the manufacturing & production side—a natural next step.
$34,360/yr mediantypical $28k–$42k~23K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: Little prep — a few days to a few months of training
Grade, sort, or classify unprocessed food and other agricultural products by size, weight, color, or condition.
Why it fits: Closely related to the civilian jobs your Packaging Specialist experience already matches.
$44,470/yr mediantypical $35k–$60k~779K U.S. jobs
★ Bright Outlook — many openings
Typical entry: High-school diploma plus short on-the-job training
Operate industrial trucks or tractors equipped to move materials around a warehouse, storage yard, factory, construction site, or similar location.
Why it fits: Closely related to your Packaging Specialist occupations on the transportation & logistics side—a natural next step.
Roles selected from the O*NET occupations that fit Packaging Specialist experience; the Department of Labor's own crosswalk lists only the broad “Material Moving Workers, All Other” category for this code. Pay is BLS OEWS (May 2023). See the O*NET crosswalk.
Use the level that reflects what you actually did—not rank alone. Two people with the same code and very different experience should not submit the same résumé.
Lead with hands-on tasks, tools, equipment, qualifications, safety discipline, and the conditions in which you performed. Do not inflate supervisory scope.
Add team leadership, training, inspections, work allocation, quality control, readiness, and the people or assets you directly supervised.
Emphasize multi-team operations, schedules, resource forecasting, safety systems, policy enforcement, advising leaders, and organization-level results.
A translated title isn't enough. These four moves turn Packaging Specialist experience into evidence a civilian hiring manager can act on.
List the systems, vehicles, equipment, and tools you personally operated as Packaging Specialist—plus qualifications, certifications, and the recurring high-stakes tasks you owned.
Marines led, dollar value of equipment you were accountable for, workload, readiness rates, and safety or quality outcomes. Scope beats adjectives.
For any target role, name the license, degree, or software it requires and start now—your GI Bill and credentialing assistance can cover most of it.
Recruiters rarely search “3052.” Search job boards by the equipment, skills, and outcomes above as much as by “Packaging Specialist.”
You don't have to make this jump alone. These programs exist specifically to move service members into civilian careers—most are free, and several pay you while you train.
Train or intern with a civilian employer during your last ~180 days on active duty—at full military pay.
Earn a paycheck while you train for a trade or technical role; USMAP can credit the military training you already have.
Corporate fellowships and hiring events that place transitioning service members and military spouses.
Free career training and nationally recognized certifications for service members, veterans, and spouses.
VA-funded high-tech training (IT, cyber, data, software) that does not touch your GI Bill entitlement.
Free local career centers plus certification and state-by-state license finders for any field.
Logistics, operations, and driver pathways that actively recruit veterans.
How to use this: Treat these as targets, not limits. Your exact duties depend on your assignments, so lead with what you actually did—and remember that regulated careers require their own license, certification, or degree.