Civvy, Soldier, Service Leaver, Veteran

I get asked about this a lot, especially since my first article here.

I joined the Army on March 11th 2012. As a 24 year old who was married and had a young child, I was not necessarily your normal demographic of recruit. Initial training was not easy to acclimatise to (block punishments for someone who strives to do the right thing, the right way, and at the right time - a bit of a perfectionist you may say - this was quite a big shock to me for instance) and being away from my young family was particularly hard on us all. Phase 2 trade training was much easier, with my family joining me there (and increasing in number by 1) I was more focussed than ever on learning and developing into a soldier and tradesman to create a future for us all. 2 years of learning and development passed and I made my way to the "field force" as an aircraft technician of the Corps of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The learning and engineering bug had hit me hard in this time, and within months of arriving at my unit I was positive that I wished to continue learning and enrolled on a part time distance learning degree with the Open University - This was the beginning of the end for my Army career...

I say this, as my studies opened up a world of wonder and potential opportunity for me - I was constantly asked to think about engineering in other industries and this got my mind ticking away constantly in the background.

With aircraft engineering requiring the highest of safety standards, the job can be quite monotonous eventually - and I wholeheartedly buy into the notion of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!". There was plenty to learn and excitement initially as I developed as an aircraft technician, which balanced out the career satisfaction curve nicely. However, as I progressed in my experience as an aircraft technician the monotony built. My family also just weren't settling, which combined with my degree just served to fan the flames of my desire to leave my current role and seek opportunities elsewhere. My family were more settled than they were at the start, which meant that time may solve this factor in my desire to leave, so I looked ahead at my potential future career path in the Army. I really tried to envisage a role or opportunity that I would enjoy, and I couldn't see one - at this point I decided to leave and my notice to terminate was submitted.

But what next?

What would I do?

I found aircraft interesting, but would I encounter the same structure on the outside world?

Aircraft licencing looked long, expensive and difficult, so what else was there?

The subjects from my degree were interesting because they were new, but the depth of the subject matter was too shallow to have developed anything I could realistically use as evidence of competence in my CV in seeking a role in those fields - I think this is a very real feeling for a lot of us when attending courses and gaining qualifications in resettlement. I sought to align myself with something that I could realistically do, something with the potential to experience a whole range of engineering skills/roles/experiences.

Alignment and a targeted approach

Alignment required me to break down my current skills, role and experiences into the more fundamental and generalist parts of their make-up (which was good for my CV) and then seek roles that I envisaged would require and value those skills, before researching those roles more closely. If I found any shortcomings, but I was still interested in learning the skills for the role in question, I would research potential courses that might fill the gap and demonstrate some initial competency.

However, I became very conscious of the time it was taking, and I didn't want to be looking across a myriad of roles and industries. Also, some service leavers I had seen (local and LinkedIn connections) had simply taken roles they could secure with the best balance of pay/interest in the role/location/insert individually important factors here, yet I had noticed that a lot of them had left the role, and even changed industry entirely shortly after (some continued this process multiple times for years even); I didn't want this for myself, I had been so set on a full career in the Army and had only managed to last 5 years before deciding it wasn't for me and my family, so I was determined to make as informed a choice in industry as I could. So I decided to briefly refocus my search on the type of industry first, before narrowing my focus into potential roles within that industry and continue with the methodical yet slow approach of alignment. This is where I identified rolling stock as my target, which was realised after I attended an armed forces into rail event at the National Training Academy for Rail (NTAR). I was instantly hooked - from the similarities that were so glaringly obvious, to the training environment, equipment, VR simulators etc. to the focus on continuing education and so on.

Rolling stock - From "I'm in!" to job offer

So with an industry in mind I did as planned, I broke the role down from job adverts, internet research and from speaking with connections already in those roles from my network (any ex-aircraft technician connections in a rolling stock technician role were hounded day and night). I then looked again at my skills and found that I was already well aligned to the roles I was looking at, which a lot of my connections agreed with. NTAR did a rolling stock course, and I had been in contact with them about it, but due to the fact that so many of my ex-aircraft technician connections had managed to secure a role without the course, I decided that I would save my ELCAS credits for now. For those of you who may be reading this and are wanting to join the rolling stock industry, but your background may not be as well aligned, I would urge you to check out the course here.

As I was so committed to making rolling stock a long term career industry, I also started to look ahead at potential career pathways. I decided that I wanted to pursue an engineer's role in the near future, and what I did notice is that the rolling stock engineer roles I was interested in covered the whole vehicle as a system, so I would need to develop electrical and electronics skills among others. The technician roles in the rolling stock industry were also better paid as a multi-skilled or electrically biased technician. Being mechanically biased from the natural division in the aviation world and my apprenticeship, there were still plenty of roles that I could comfortably apply for, yet I felt that it would be more economical to get started with my alignment for an engineer's role straight away. So, I decided to aim a little higher than I was comfortable with (I find challenge brings out the best in me) and seek a multi-skilled technician role to help me quickly develop those practical skills and experience quicker, whilst also taking advantage of the increased salary too (we all go to work for money right?).

I looked around at courses, but I felt that a 4 week course in domestic electrical skills was not quite what I wanted it to be. I also saw some courses that covered industrial panel wring and PLC subjects, and was very tempted by this course here. However, the length of the course held me back and I continued to look; plus, 4 weeks of my resettlement leave was a big ask too - was distance learning the answer? I was already on a distance learning course, so looked to the Open University, but nothing was standalone. I had run out of options I was 100% happy with. I did do something to increase my chances, which was unique to my situation; the degree I was studying at the time was an MEng in Engineering (8 years of part time study, and I was only 2 years in!) and the pathways I was considering were along the lines of mechanical/materials/design/mathematical subjects (playing to my strengths and interests). However, the Open University also offered a BEng degree (only 6 years too!) that had recently been released with an electronics pathway, plus the first modules that I had already sat were the same - meaning I could jump onto an electronics module 6 months prior to termination (I couldn't believe my luck). I took a look and thought it was probably just the ticket for my long term aspirations, so made the switch.

I spoke with various recruitment companies who were interested in me for rolling stock opportunities, one of which was Shorterm. Joseph Hanmer was my contact. He was interested in me and my CV (the electronics module in particular), and he told me of a role for a rolling stock technician that fitted my requirements, before helping me prepare for my interview. Around the same time, NTAR got in touch and asked if I would attend a Forces into Rail event there, to tell my resettlement story in a 5 minute presentation. A few days before the presentation I attended the interview.

The interview was at a company called Bombardier Transportation, and it consisted of a mechanical and electrical test paper and a short question and answer session of competency based questions at the end. This was my first interview, so I was a bit nervous once there, but I had done my homework and that settled my nerves somewhat once everything started - there were no real surprises. I felt it had gone well but as with most interviews, you can never really tell. I waited for my response. A few days later I got the call and was offered a job, but not the job I had applied for.

The role I had applied for was for a High Level Technician role - a multi-skilled role with a more electrical bias. I had scored very well in my test paper for both mechanical and electrical, but the lack of experience was the hiring manager's concern. They made me an offer for a Support Technician role (a role that didn't actually exist at that depot, but they had others in that role at other locations), which was in essence an apprentice High Level Technician role. The caveat for accepting the role was that they would use my 6 month probationary period as a Support Technician to assess my suitability for a High Level Technician role. Initially, I felt like I had failed but quickly changed my mindset from one of defeat into one of, "I will prove to them that I am suitable for the High Level Technician role and will be one of the best they have ever seen", I'm not stubborn, competitive or relish a challenge at all... I swear...

So, I took the job (more on how this went will be in my next article). I then attended the NTAR event and was able to announce my news alongside the presentation, where I gave a similar account (but much more condensed) to that which you have read so far.

So, this was a brief overview of how my journey transitioned from civvy street, to member of the armed forces, service leaver and now veteran. Hopefully this has given you some insight into how I approached my resettlement and it helps others with their own. I will follow this article up another, giving with my insights of my first 4 years in the rail industry soon.

Image - By Ministry of Defence - Based on File:Ministry of Defence from the Thames.jpgThis vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this file: MinistryofDefence.svg (by Geord0)., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110108360