Getting that interview

Most Service leavers are highly self-motivated, confident, able people with a number of valuable personal qualities and skills, as well as experience, that they rightly believe should be attractive to their first civilian employer

Most Service leavers are highly self-motivated, confident, able people with a number of valuable personal qualities and skills, as well as experience, that they rightly believe should be attractive to their first civilian employer. Many are just waiting for the chance to sell themselves at interview. The problem is how to get there.

Some are fortunate to have a spouse or other close relative or friend who can point them in the right direction for employment, or give them professional advice about the job-finding process. A few may purchase an outplacement package from a commercial organisation. Most, however, will rely on the MoD-funded resettlement service available to them at the level for which their length of service qualifies them.

So the first thing to do is to find out about the Career Transition Partnership (see Factfile). It offers two levels of assistance – full service and job-finding only – with the time allowed for the former varying according to years served. Nevertheless, it is a comprehensive package and Service leavers should take full advantage of everything it offers. Leavers should not just pick the bits that they think they would like or need – few people know enough to make that judgement until several months after they have completed the transition.

Even people only able to access the job-finding element will find that their Regular Forces Employment Association consultant has a wealth of knowledge, information and contacts just waiting to be used. Indeed, they will probably know more about employment (and everything else) in their area than any other single adviser.

Quest will not repeat the advice available free from CTP consultants – they are the experts in this field. However, after Service leavers have attended workshops, training courses and sessions with their consultant, there are some points that it is perhaps worth making about the process from the employer’s end.

The first is that all employers are a little bit different from each other, with larger differences between different employment fields and different sizes of organisation. It is obvious that a financial services sales person in a bank is in a radically different job to that of a nurse in a psychiatric ward, but it may not be so clear that employment as an IT expert may vary enormously from a major plc to a small local company. The larger the employer, the more employment procedures tend to be standardised and formal. Indeed, major employers have a whole department involved in a year-long or seasonal recruitment process, assessing applications and enquiries according to a strict set of rules.

Therefore, the specialist who meets all the criteria in an advertised job description may well have what it takes to be called forward to interview with both large and small employers. However, generalist Service leavers may not have the necessary profile to pass a major employers’ CV sift because the system is not designed to consider their qualifications and experience. This approach may be narrow and restrictive, but it is commonly used. It does, of course, make life difficult for other people too – like university graduates who took two attempts to achieve good A-levels, older workers and people from minority groups.

With this in mind, the generalist might well wish to look at the more potentially productive area of medium-sized enterprises. These firms often want multi-hatted managers, and may be more flexible than their larger brethren in recognising talent and creating the opening in which it can be used.

Alongside advertised vacancies, most Service leavers should approach the unadvertised market through speculative approaches and networking. Both these skills are taught by the CTP, and Service leavers should not be shy about using them. Selling yourself and cold-calling are two skills that should rapidly be acquired by the newly minted civilian, because they are used in the job as well as while becoming employed.

Another way is to approach recruitment agencies, particularly those that specialise in the appropriate employment field. Quite apart from the possibility of them finding a job, they offer Service leavers excellent ‘real’ interview training, and they should not cost the job-seeker a penny because their fees are paid by the employer.

Employers generally are looking for people who will ‘add value’ to their business. As well as well-publicised skills shortages, there are quality shortages, with too many lazy, hypersensitive jobsworths who shirk responsibility, spend time gossiping and are too eager to take unnecessary sick leave.

Organisations want reliable, trustworthy employees who can think for themselves and act unselfishly in a team environment. They value motivated self-starters who can solve problems before they impact on the job and who work hard to achieve results. Enthusiasm, common-sense, determination to succeed, smart appearance and a ‘positive mental attitude’ are highly prized and do not automatically arrive with every job applicant.

These qualities, as well as formal skills and qualifications, must be communicated during the job search because they are rarer than many Service people think. The language used in the letter, follow-up phone calls, thorough research on the organisation, planned networking and a follow-up campaign all play their part in this. It should come as no surprise that determination, hard work and the ‘will to win’ will aid success in this field just as they do in any other.