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Joey's experience...............
Hi Dude,
promised a while ago that I'd attempt my pearls of wisdom for the civdiv page ,
so here goes.....
Having done 16 years I'll be honest and say I really didn't have a clue what to
do when I got out. I attended the Catterick resettlement centre a few times but
still didn't find anything that caused me to be excited about my future.
I happened to read an article in the paper about the lack of tradesmen in the
construction industry, 37,000 plumber shortfall expected by 2009 etc, so decided
to have a better look.
I attended a seminar in Catterick held by British Gas who convinced me that I
had all of the qualities that they wanted...... truth however was slightly
different. I attended a plumbing course thinking that it was a cert to get me in
with BG, but after attending an interview I was told that I didn't have the
experience with the public that they valued so highly. "Right that's it then" I
thought, "fucked innit" no film about confessions of a gas fitter for me!
I sent a shedload of CVs out to every plumbing outfit in the local yellow pages
and ended up with a few daft replies, but in the end I received one from the
company I now work for.
I've now been working for the company for the last 18 months and I have to say
that I'm having a whale of a time, but that's not what this is about.
I know it's taken a while to get here but here's a snippet of info for those of
you that decide to read this page at some stage. When I got the knock back from
BG, having done everything they said would secure me the job, I was gutted and
didn't know where to go next. I carried on phoning and writing to every plumbing
company in the phone book and eventually got the job I was looking for. As an
adult trainee the union rate is £7.60 an hour, I'm now on £8.63 an hour, which
doesn't sound a lot but then I can ask for £100+ a day for a foreigner, so it's
not too bad after all.
Just to top it all off, you're not bored enough yet, the other day I asked my
boss about the possibility of taking on my 18 year old next door neighbour as an
apprentice. His reply was that he had had enough of young lads who can't get out
of bed and are forever ill, he said he would gladly swap the 5 apprentices that
the company presently has for 1 squaddie any day of the week. We don't turn up
late, we don't cry off sick and we have standards that your average 17/18 year
old will never dream of. In short we're the type of chap that the construction
industry is screaming out for.
I'm happy, extremely happy. The boys are good, you feel as though you've
achieved something at the end of the day and the cash ain't bad. Give it a
thought .
Joey.
Lee Baker's experience.....
Hi Simon and fellow club members, Reference civ div,
having left the Army just under four years ago, I thought I’d write and tell you
about my experiences.
I left the Army having dedicated fourteen years of my life to the Royal
Engineers after joining at sixteen straight from school.
I was a Sergeant when I left and it was a gamble jumping into the unknown. The
Army had given me job security, a roof over my head and an extended family. I
won’t lie, I actually cried after arriving home on my last day.
When I was leaving the army I found there were lots of IT companies offering
service personnel all sorts of promises if they attended their IT training
courses. I was told the IT industry was really short and you could be earning
£25000 a year when you leave the Army. They also stated that they would put me
on a job database and would contact me when job vacancies came up. The reality
was the only person who found himself a job after leaving the Army was me!!
Every company I wrote to or telephoned asked me the question how much experience
do you have?. My answer of six weeks MSCE training with company X was answered
with, sorry but we are looking for someone with one to two years experience for
this job with a starting salary of £16000 a year. Personally I think IT was the
wrong choice for me. If you’re trade in the forces is computer based then a
career in IT could be for you and the training offered by the IT companies will
help you to get the qualifications needed to gain employment. If you’re a combat
engineer and have no experience of computers or networking choose a different
resettlement course.
I left the Army without a job to go too, but signed on with a temping agency and
ended up working straight away. Temping gave me the opportunity to earn money
and look around for other jobs. I managed to find an IT position on real crap
wages after six weeks. Some of the people I worked with temping ended up being
given full time employment after two months by the company we were working for.
To cut a long story short, I ended up sacking IT after six months because it was
boring and I had nothing in common with the computer whiz kids I was working
with. I ended up joining the Police, which was something I’d never considered
prior to leaving the Army. I have now been in the Police for three years and
glad that I left the Army when I did. My top tips for leaving the forces would
be.
1. Buy a house prior to getting out and get your family settled where you want
to live.
2. Always wear a suit to any job interview.
3. Tell the people interviewing you about your service career and harp on about
all the responsibility you had.
4. Don’t believe everything training companies try to tell you (at the end of
the day they want you to attend their course so that they get your resettlement
grant)
5. Try not to worry, it’s a big wide world out here and it does take a little
bit of getting used to, but once your settled life can be good fun outside the
forces.
Si,
bit of info for the civ div, one of my lads is leaving the RGJ and he intended
as advised on his resettlement board to combine his enhanced learning credits
and resettlement grant to pay for a course only to find out this is not possible
you can use one or the other for your resettlement course not both as you are
lead to believe.
Also if using the enhanced credit system it may be difficult to use the DRSA for
accomm on a residential course.
So all of us in this position need to think carefully and plan ahead, also
ensure that you have registered for the enhanced credit system they can check
for you over the phone and will send your conformation through the post which
you need to do any of the courses.
Hope this of some use Dickie 2 Coats
Hi Si,
Just a quick one from my work address re your request for tips on getting
out.
I had a similar course to yours at RAF Cottesmore run by a flashy, head-hunting
civvy recruitment consultant, so I can't stress enough the importance of having
a good CV. Also, when asked "What if I'm up against a
graduate, they're going to pick the graduate every time aren't they?" his reply
was "Do you know what we in the recruitment business say to a graduate with a
job? Big Mac and fries please." That gem stays with me forever.
But my main tips are as follows:
1. Register with the RFEA (Regular Forces Employment Association) well before
getting out, they are a superb source of job vacancies. That's how I got the job
I'm in now.
2. Read a book called Great Answers to Tough Interview Questions by Martin Yate.
Then read it again.
3. Consider joining the filth; even after doing 22 years in the forces, you will
be head and shoulders above any civilian recruits.
4. DO NOT accept any jobs doing convoy escorts in Iraq, no matter how tempting
the pay is. It's a sure fire way of getting yourself killed.
5. Final and most important one: STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOUR MATES.
Yours Spence
Ref Civ div. If I can give one good tip it would be,
believe in yourself, civvy employers love ex servicemen. They take less sick
time ,work under their own initiative. and are far more disciplined and better
under pressure than their civilian counterparts.
2) Still dress up for an interview however old fashioned it may be. When I got
my current job there were 2000 applicants for 6 jobs and the HR manageress spent
the whole interview talking to my bulled shoes. and commented on how refreshing
it was ton see someone who new how to prepare for an interview.
3)) Do not take the first job offered if it isn't right for you. I know from
bitter experience. I was too proud to go on the dole when I left the RAF and
took a job which paid the same money as benefits but then I had to pay travel
costs poll tax etc . I was actually worse of working. added to that I then had
no time to look for a decent job. It possibly cost me six years of near poverty.
4) You have served your country you are entitled to everything you get . It is
not a charity but an insurance policy.
hope this is of use
cheers Mik Boon
Good to visit web sites;
http://www.demobjob.co.uk/ Thanks Danny Siggers for this, Danny hasn't used them but have a look any way