The job market is tough right now. In fact, it’s always been tough and it always will be. What you need is a reputable expert on the matter to help you to get through it. Recruitment Agencies can help.

You may well have spent the best part of your adult life in the Forces. This is no bad thing but it will mean, particularly if you joined up straight from school, that you have little or no experience of finding a job. Fortunately, recruitment agencies can help to give you the best possible chance in the job market, that even on a good day, can be tough.

Recruitment agencies literally represent you in the job market. Normally a candidate would approach them with his or her CV for an initial assessment and some idea of the type of jobs or sectors they’d like to work in or feel that they would be best suited to. After the agent has had a little time to reflect and collect a few rough ideas together they will usually invite you in to their office for a chat along similar lines. It’s worth making every effort during this time to look and act professionally. The agency has a reputation to protect and will be reluctant to put forward a candidate that might jeopardise that by embarrassing them. The face to face meeting is literally a chance for them to measure you up and to some extent work out how you’d ‘present’ at interview.

Selecting an agent

It won’t be too high pressure, particularly since they’ll realise your position as an ex Serviceperson. In fact, it’s a much more equal partnership than you might think. If you don’t like the agency or the way you’re treated you could choose to appoint another agency to represent you. Although there are (relatively) few jobs and (relatively) many candidates, agencies like to play a numbers game and can’t afford to lose a good candidate with the skills they know your military background will have given you.

At the end of your face to face meeting the agent will usually register your details and ask you about any specific jobs and sectors you’d like to try as well as equally those you’d prefer to avoid. This is a good time to mention any issues, problems or barriers that you know of regarding specific choices. If you have a phobia towards clipboards for example, don’t become a warehouse manager. Your agent will also be able to advise you on the availability of jobs in your ideal sector or if you’re struggling to make a decision advise you on jobs they think your skills and experience make you suitable for.

Recruitment agencies that have established themselves in a sector or geographical area will be able to give you the inside track on what’s happening in their part of the job market. Similarly, businesses will probably already know who they are, how they operate and the types of candidates that they put forward. Their brand, in effect could serve to get your foot in the door, assuming they’ve put forward good candidates in the past (especially if they’ve gone on to become effective employees).

Generalist versus specialist

Although the big high street agencies will usually have a generalist viewpoint they may well have industry experts embedded within their offices (usually in areas like sales, factory work or construction). Other agencies that might be smaller in size may have a specialist angle. They will generally have fewer clients but because of their bespoke services be potentially more respected by their clients (the employers) who you want to get in front of. The nature of the agency you approach will become evident when you meet with them. It’s also worth mentioning that you shouldn’t have to sign up to any exclusive registration and remain free to use other agencies. It is worth mentioning to agencies which organisations your CV has been put in front of because it prevents frustrating duplication of effort.

If you’re certain that you’d like to pursue a career in a particular sector a specialist agent might be your best option. Because of their more intimate knowledge of the clients they’ll be able to match your skills more effectively to the vacancies they have. They’ll also be able to give you the best possible preparation for interview. They might even be on personal terms with the person that arranges to interview you, giving an obvious head start.

It’s true that the best agents will sometimes go to extraordinary efforts on your behalf perhaps raising an expectation of some exorbitant fee that you’ll require for their expert consultation. Actually, recruitment agencies don’t charge their candidates. They sell their services to their clients. All of the pre interview work that the agency does for you is also helpful to their clients from the perspective of filtering good candidates through to the correct sectors, jobs, even specific organisations. This saves employers many valuable man hours in selection interviewing. The only things a reputable recruitment agency might ask you to pay for would be other professional services such as CV building or personality testing (to help you make an informed decision about which sectors you might be effective in).

Options

Not all jobs are full time appointments and some are managed on a temporary basis. Some agencies may be able to put you in touch with organisations offering these types of opportunities. ‘Temping’ is a great way of getting work experience under your belt and really finding out if the job is for you. The only downside is that you’ll be an employee of your agency (and not awarded the rights and privileges of co-workers that have contracts from the actual employer) and you won’t receive pay for holidays or sick days.

Whether you choose to get into temporary, part time or full time employment, recruitment agencies provide an ideal service for anyone who has been away from the job market for any amount of time. They have specialist knowledge and up to date information to share with you. They can also be utilised before resettlement and could potentially arrange a contract to be waiting for you on your return home.

Getting the Best from Your Recruitment Agent

CV

Your recruitment agency won’t know anything about you, at least initially. Try to have a rough idea of some of the sectors, job types and maybe organisations that you’d like to work with. Make sure you target your CV towards these areas through highlighting the more appropriate skills and experiences you’ve acquired.

Be open

Recruitment agencies have knowledge about the job market that you don’t. Listen and learn in order to get the inside track on what’s going on.

Be honest

Let the agency know in advance if there are any specific things they need to know about you that could affect your employability in certain areas, ie: scared of heights, injured back or allergic to Velcro etc.

Be nice

Good candidates and bad candidates both circulate in the job market. The bad candidates get in the way of agencies doing their job and suffer the elbow as a consequence. Being a good candidate starts with treating your agent like a trusted professional and being comfortable to work with. This will surely encourage more effort on their part for you.

Be persistent

There is nothing wrong in following up with an agency, especially if they have given a date by which to do so. Following up on the phone and in person when you ‘happen to be passing’ shows interest and keeps you at the top of their mind when talking about vacancies.

The Royal Air Force and the Royal Air Force Reserves have opened up to the public, with their ‘Be Part of the Story’ campaign telling the stories of the people behind the aircraft – with the aim of boosting recruitment, particularly among the RAF Reserves.

Available jobs in the RAF includes full-time roles (for those aged 16 or above) as Air Traffic Controllers, Aerospace Battle Managers and Regiment Officers. The RAF Reserves can offer part-time jobs in a variety of roles, including Movements Controller, RAF Regiment Gunner and Intelligence Analyst.

A television advert highlights the story of RAF Intelligence Analyst Corporal Paul Farthing and members of the RAF Reserves, whose training and quick thinking in Basra, 2008, helped them identify a rocket pointing towards the base. Within a matter of minutes a jet was called in, the rocket destroyed and the threat averted.

Group Captain Gordon Bruce, Head of Recruiting for the RAF, said: “Corporal Farthing and his RAF and Reserve colleagues are a great example of who we look for to be part of the RAF story and the kinds of challenges we face. We hope that this campaign will encourage the public to think about a career full-time in the RAF or part-time as a Reserve in the future.”

MORE: www.raf.mod.uk/rafreserves

There’s seldom been a better time to join the security industry.

WORDS: ROB FLETCHER

“The press don’t always paint the security industry in the best light,” according to one professional working in the security sector. This is despite many of their activities being both essential and constructive, to the extent that there has rarely been a better time to be involved in the industry.

British involvement in the Middle East and Central Asia, plus the attempt to rebuild the infrastructure and industry of countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq are presenting excellent opportunities. While, closer to home, events such as the forthcoming London Olympics are also going to generate considerable security work.

Considering the peacekeeping role the contemporary Armed Forces are so often required to play, it is perhaps no surprise that the security industry considers Service leavers prime candidates. Indeed, while many areas of the industry are open to civilians, military training, discipline and experience all make Service leavers ideal employees, especially for many of the more interesting postings both at home and abroad.

QUALIFICATIONS

Many frontline companies will have a workforce dominated by those with military backgrounds. This not only makes adapting to civilian life easier, but also makes the companies more receptive to giving more Service leavers jobs.

No matter your experience and qualifications, though, if you want to work for a UK-based security company – whether as a CCTV operator in a small town shopping mall, or as a close protection (CP) officer for a high ranking politician on the frontline – you first have to gain a qualification recognised by the Security Industry Association (SIA).

An example is a BTEC qualification, a level 3 award in close protection. Offered by numerous universities, colleges and institutions, the most popular tend to be the intensive three-week courses run by companies such as Clearwater Special Projects in Shropshire. Generally costing between £2,000 and £3,000, these residential courses provide full board and excellent intensive training in matters as diverse as surveillance, ambush detection and histories of terrorist organisations, making them more colourful and practical than most of their academic equivalents.

OPPORTUNITIES

Combining both practical and theoretical elements, once the course is completed, you then have to sit a SIA exam; after that, the world is your oyster! You could end up acting as CP to rock stars, protecting senior military figures and politicians or even providing the right conditions and advice to attract investors to formerly war-torn areas abroad.

Those whose jobs put them ‘at the sharp end’ benefit both from the military structure of security businesses and from back up and infrastructure which, according to one operative, “rivals, and sometimes exceeds that provided by the military”. An added bonus is the system of ‘nine weeks on, three weeks off’: it ensures that you’re less likely to be affected by combat stress and that “it’s possible to spend more time with your friends and family back home”.

All in all, a career in security can provide either an excellent bridge between the military and a more settled civilian existence, or an exciting, dynamic and rewarding career in its own right. Either way, it’s liable to keep you thinking on your feet!

Andrew Connelly started off his Army career with the Royal Artillery before transferring to the Artillery Parachute Regiment. He then served 15 years with the Royal Military Police (RMP), where he attained the rank of WO2 and conducted various policing/operational roles around the world, including close protection (CP) operations in the Balkans and Middle East.

Retiring on a full pension in February 2008, Andrew’s experience and qualifications gained in the Army, including passing the RMP Close Protection Course – “No mean feat for a 36-year-old man,” he reflects – meant that pursuing a career in the security industry was a “natural path” to follow.

“Despite my experience and knowledge from completing the highly-regarded military CP course, in order to work legally in the British CP field I had to first gain the BTEC level 3 qualification,” he says. “This required 150 hours of additional coursework, before I could obtain the SIA licence.”

Rather than work in the UK, Andrew opted for freelance work in Afghanistan and Iraq. He found these particularly rewarding; they were “dynamic and focussed on economic revitalisation, which is the most important stage in a country’s growth after the counter-insurgency operations.”

He then successfully applied for a job with Aegis Defence Services. “Aegis have years of experience at all levels in hostile environments and is the leader in the security industry,” he explains. “The opportunities available in the company are very rewarding and there is plenty of scope to promote within house. Their additional civil affairs work is very rewarding and the Aegis Foundation, a registered charity, does much to help local communities to look after themselves through small, grass roots, low cost and high impact community projects.”

Andrew believes his new role is ideally suited to Service leavers. “The industry has opportunities at all levels of experience, and Service leavers’ attributes will only benefit the industry,” he says. “The training you get in the Armed Forces is second to none. The management roles I have conducted in the Army have benefitted me in my current role and there are several uncanny similarities. It’s amazing how many people who I knew in the Forces I now work alongside. The transition into civvy street can be seamless, as long as you prepare yourself. I have to thank my wife for her support also during this transition and the CTP’s Career Transition Workshop course, which is invaluable to all Service leavers – it’s free and you will benefit more than you can imagine.”

He adds: “Whether you want to work in the UK as a CCTV operator, as a Personal Protection Officer (in the UK) or in a frontline CP role abroad, the security industry has something to suit all tastes. The remuneration for work in hostile environments is more rewarding for obvious reasons, but with the big oil producing companies now signed up to contracts in Iraq, the industry is going to get even busier.”

Rob Fletcher investigates the growing career opportunities for engineers in the green sector.

With fossil fuel supply limited and dwindling, and nuclear power still politically contentious, it’s well known that we’re increasingly turning to the more elemental forces of nature – mainly the sun, water, wind and wood – to satisfy our energy needs.

The more cynical among you might be tempted to dismiss such options as unrealistic and fit only for the kind of people who like to sit around attempting to knit jumpers out of muesli. However, whether you’re a believer in the benefits of ‘renewables’ or not, few sectors offer such good job prospects at present. And you won’t need to learn to hug trees, live in a tree houses, grow a lengthy beard or wear tie-dyed t-shirts in order to join the growing ranks of renewable environmental engineers.

Alison Barbuti, of Kingston University, offers several reasons why now is a great time to sign up for the sector, not least the fact that the share of the market for renewable energy is expected to increase by at least 50% globally by 2050. “As a result of targets set by national and international agencies, there will be a net shortage of highly skilled engineers needed to develop, operate and maintain renewable energy technologies in the near future,” she tells Civvy Street.

Bringing possibilities rarely seen since the days of the Klondike Gold Rush, Alison believes that Service leavers should be well-placed to cash in, even if they don’t have all of the necessary engineering qualifications. “Ex-military personnel often have a range of attributes,” she says, “including transferable skills, flexibility to change, being very good at meeting challenges, being focused and self-disciplined. We also find generally former service personnel have a good approach to learning new skills and problem solving and are project focused.”

While it is certainly possible to find employment in the sector without an MSc or similar qualification, Kingston’s MSc in Renewable Energy Engineering offers the chance to achieve better paid positions, in that it “aims to prepare specialist graduates for senior technical and management positions in industries such as power, construction, aerospace, petroleum, automotive, and manufacturing.” And the types of positions available to graduates include project managers for offshore wind construction, wind forecasting managers, energy and eco-design specialists, wind resource analysts, renewable energy consultants and energy conservation officers.

The bad news for some is that minimum entry requirements for the course are a 2:2 honours degree in engineering or related science subjects, although applicants with industrial experience will be considered on merit. The good news is that the programme can be undertaken full-time or part-time by block release, allowing Service leavers the time to resettle and/or work at the same time as they study.

Essentially the options are endless for those who graduate and the course itself is also rewarding, in that it provides a novel approach of deploying general engineering concepts in the design and development of sustainable energy systems. It integrates mechanical, thermal, electrical/electronic and control engineering principles for the conversion of renewable energy to power.

MORE:

www.kingston.ac.uk/pgrenewableenergy

www.regensw.co.uk

STEPHEN GREEN

Stephen Green served as a Weapons Engineer Officer in the Royal Navy for 27 years, reaching the rank of Commander before leaving in May 2008. The day after his terminal leave finished, he started work as Technology Project Manager with Regen South West – an Exeter-based renewable energy agency – and, in the intervening period, much of his growing frustration with life in the Services has disappeared.

He is now the project manager for the South West Bioheat Programme, a pioneering programme delivering exemplar biomass wood fuel installations in the SW region, and promoting the uptake of wood fuel from sustainable regional forestry resources. Aimed at commercial/business installations, the programme is delivering a diverse range of installations to horticultural nurseries, schools, housing developments, a dairy, and combined heat and power plants – one of his client sites is actually the MoD at Azimghur Barracks in Wiltshire. The sites will consume an estimated 30,000 tonnes of wood fuel a year and save, he points out, around 25,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year alone.

Stephen  was, in his own words, facing “Limited (and diminishing!) promotion prospects” in the Navy and was keen to move on, although at the same time he was unwilling to uproot his family from their base in South West England – including his son, who was settled in a good local school.

The renewables sector appealed to Stephen for a number of reasons. Not least, because it is “an expanding sector, (that) gave me the chance to undertake a worthwhile and rewarding second career in the SW region, an opportunity to use my translatable skills, as well as a pleasant change from defence-related work.” Plus, for Stephen, the transition to a civilian career was relatively straightforward as it required no further qualifications.

Stephen took on his new position as a fully-qualified APM project manager and Chartered Electrical Engineer with a Systems Engineering background. And, thanks in part to these qualifications and his own experience gained in the Navy, his “main difficulty in new job,” was simply “deciding what to wear each day to come into work!”

Stephen’s enthusiasm for the job is such that he he’s “delighted” with the change and has “no regrets or reservations about leaving”. As a result, he’d not only be more than happy to recommend a similar move to other Service leavers, but also feels ex-Service personnel have a huge amount to offer.

His main advice to Service leavers is they must recognise that they share many and varied translatable skills –  even though they do not necessarily realise it: in particular, there’s “their innate ability and commitment to see a difficult job through”, as well as their team-working ability.

“Working in renewable energy,” he concludes, “is an exciting, expanding and challenging environment that gives a high degree of job satisfaction.”

Box out

THE MOVE TO RENEWABLES:

Britain already has more offshore wind power than any other country, according to Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. “The natural resources are there and waiting to be harnessed: two independent reports found the UK has the largest potential for wind energy in Europe, and one of the greatest natural wave power resources in the world.”

Following a major consultation in 2008, the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) published a Renewable Energy Strategy that set out how the UK can increase its use of renewable energy sources. This will allow the UK to tackle climate change (for example, reducing UK emissions of carbon dioxide by more than 750 million tonnes by 2030) and help secure the nation’s future energy supplies – reducing fossil fuel demands by 10% and gas imports by up to 30% by 2020. “With cleaner energy, new opportunities for jobs and greater security of supply, this plan shows a clear route to a cleaner, better energy system,” added Miliband

As part of EU-wide action to increase the use of renewable energy, the UK Government has committed to sourcing 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 – an increase in the share of renewables by almost a factor of seven (the figure was just 2.25% in 2008) in scarcely more than a decade. To help ensure this happens, the UK Government has established an Office for Renewable Energy Deployment (ORED) which will “drive delivery” of the Government’s targets in conjunction with local and national authorities and private sector partners.

Progress has already been made, though much more still has to be done. “Renewable electricity has doubled in the UK in five years, and in the last year alone, onshore wind capacity grew by almost a third, and offshore by two thirds,” Miliband added.

Not to be outdone, the Scottish Government in Edinburgh has set its own target, wanting half of electricity used north of the border to come from renewable sources by 2020 – and have set themselves an interim target of 31% by 2011 – the figure for 2007 was 20.1%. Scotland has been estimated to have 25% of Europe’s wind energy potential, as well as a quarter of Europe’s tidal energy resources. As a result, investment is increasing; this summer, the Danish wind turbine manufacturer Skykon announced that it was significantly expanding its construction facilities in Campbletown, Kintyre, which would enable it to boost staff from 100 to 300!

The Welsh Assembly Government, meantime, aims to achieve ‘zero carbon’ emissions from all new buildings in Wales by 2011, and has committed to reducing green house gases by 3% a year from 2011 in areas where it has responsibility.

MORE:

www.decc.gov.uk

HAL Training Services, is a very successful name in the Refrigeration & Air Conditioning sector. Established in 1993 by Nigel Parkin and Stuart Ellis

HAL Training Services, is a very successful name in the Refrigeration & Air Conditioning sector. Established in 1993 by Nigel Parkin and Stuart Ellis, the company is an approved training provider for the Career Transition Partnership; Ellis is an assessor for Construction Skills and City & Guilds 2078/2079, is qualified to City & Guilds D32, D33, D34 and has a D36 accreditation of prior learning. He is extremely patient and highly enthusiastic about all aspects of Refrigeration providing “up to the minute” information and training.

HAL can offer you a choice of training courses: their popular 10 day course now includes the new F-Gas regulations. To compliment this course HAL have introduced an extra five days of electrical instruction and certification, the City & Guilds 17th Edition 2382. This 15 day course is a complete training package that will give you the  necessary certification for entering the fast growing Refrigeration and Air Conditioning sector.

HAL is proud of its 98% pass rate. This course has a level three outcome which has been ELCAS approved, and has a client list of individual people, small companies, large organisations and multi nationals. On attending a HAL training course you will be assured of a warm and friendly welcome.

For further information and codddurse dates call 01302 883 276 or visit www.hal-training.co.uk.