Some Amber Lights on Civilian Street

Everyone in the Services essentially works to a traditional working pattern, with one employer, tax and National Insurance deducted at source, pension contributions paid, and reasonable job security until retirement. This is not necessarily going to be the case in their next employment, with part-time working, freelancing, job sharing, contract employment, portfolio working and a hundred variations on these and other themes being found in UK plc nowadays.

They will have to understand their terms of employment from the job description, or negotiate terms that suit both them and their employer. They may have formal employment contracts and/or letters of engagement. Employers may or may not obey every Brussels diktat and the fine print of employment law; workplace culture may be similar to that of the Forces or vastly different; and they may or may not have anything in common with their new boss. All of this will vary from one workplace to another, and it is something that most people only fully understand when they experience it for themselves.

Employment cultures therefore vary between groups; as do learning cultures between individuals. In the Services – and readers will have to excuse some stereotyping – a great deal of learning has been of the ‘this is what you do and now let me see you do it’ variety. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this and there are probably circumstances in which it is the best way to learn, but it does not suit everyone all the time. It is also not the way in which many civilian skills are learned. The trouble is that someone who wants to learn in that way can find other teaching methods confusing and difficult, while someone who wants to teach in that way can quickly produce resentment and rebellion among their students.

(In its way this is akin to the difficulty that some Service leavers have with the entire concept of job finding. After many years of ‘authority’ posting them to a suitable appointment, they can find it difficult to post themselves. It is appreciated that the majority, however, take to this level of personal freedom with courage and enthusiasm, although a number can require the stimulus of a Career Transition Workshop to start the process.)

Learning styles are very individual, and we are all different. There are books galore on the subject, but two experts (Honey and Mumford) essentially break down these learning styles into four categories: activists try anything once and learn from the results; reflectors gather experience and consider it before moving; theorists think through problems logically; while pragmatists enjoy practical solutions. In practice, most of us employ all of these styles some of the time and one or two of them most of the time. Learning ‘by the book’ is very uncommon nowadays, just as it is fast disappearing from the Armed Forces; so be ready to listen with an open mind, question what you do not understand, try it out and improve on your first efforts.

Another different but related point concerns sharks. A number of people that you pass on this street will be very different from the ones you have been serving with. They are interested only in getting the most money they can without going to jail. High-profile examples of behaviour of this sort appear daily in the press with, incredibly, some of the villains later appearing as guests on shows like Celebrity Love Island! But there are plenty of smaller sharks out there with quite sharp teeth, who may even believe their own lies and half-truths.

So have a good look into any organisation before you part with money, and never believe anyone who offers something for nothing. If a claim is too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. At Quest we try to ensure that our articles offer unbiased views that will benefit our readers and that our advertisers comply with all the proper rules. We operate to high standards, and it would not be necessary to write about sharks if other organisations did the same. Unfortunately, they do not.

This month, we look again at sport and fitness, and diving. The two are linked through recreation, physical development and the instructional requirement – and, most importantly, through their popularity with ex-Service people. Security, too, continues to be a popular employment area, with the advent of licensing and increasing emphasis on qualifications coming at a time when demand is at an all-time high.

Service transport experts will be aware of new legislation and recruitment shortfalls that are combining to give employers a severe headache – a good market in which to be a job hunter – while aviation engineers are a specialist breed with very transferable skills. The construction and building skills sector needs close to 100,000 recruits each year to meet current requirements; and the Olympic bill will increase this figure, while many Service leavers choose to start their own business and need to consider what is involved.

Finally, we publish a reminder that vocational qualifications are here to stay, and we thus draw your attention to Courses 4 Forces – our sister publication – for more information on learning.

It is a great package and we hope you enjoy reading it.