Telling us what you want us to tell you …

This is the 72nd edition of Quest. It is therefore the 72nd collection of features that we have researched, written and updated. It is the 72nd ‘Factfile’ that we have published, and it is the 72nd time we have tried to find case studies of successful Service leavers to illustrate the articles.

It is easy to identify some employment sectors that might appeal to Service leavers. The Armed Forces are stuffed with mechanics and technicians, drivers and logisticians, computer buffs and signallers, managers and supervisors. Personal fitness is worshipped by some and possessed to some degree by all, while there are natural routes into such fields as security, project management, and the police and prison services.

Employers and training providers have valuable information about the skill sets of Service leavers and how they may be developed to meet new employers’ demands, while plentiful anecdotal evidence suggests that most of the 20,000-plus who go every year lead successful lives afterwards. Indeed, it would be strange if the vast majority of people who had already been selected for the Services and given, in some cases, extensive training during their time in uniform were not well-motivated survivors when facing life’s challenges.

But this market information is not, by and large, coming from you, our readers. The feedback forms that some of you complete and return ask for more employment opportunities (understandably), mainly in the usual sectors. Other e-mails and letters generally ask for or mention one of three things: more in-depth information about a very narrow market sector, of interest to very few people; help when there does not seem to be any available from official channels; and complaints about the quality of training. The latter two are, fortunately, very rare, and we always inform the appropriate authorities, without mentioning the complainant, so that action can be taken.

Our features are written to introduce employment sectors to readers who may not know very much about them. They include general information in a standard format so they are easy to navigate, and provide signposts for further research and points of contact for information. They cannot be comprehensive in the space available, and they are not written for the expert in that field. The latter will always know more than the external observer – after all, you would not want an aviation journalist to fly your holiday jumbo jet, although they might well know more about the sector overall than the most highly qualified test pilot.

We have run specialist sections, such as ‘Log on’ and Hands on’, about the ICT and building trades respectively, and will shortly be introducing ‘All about adrenaline’ for extreme sports junkies. But we are very short of responses from our readers to tell us about new sectors of general interest and how we might improve Questin the future to make it more user-friendly.

The £250 prize we offer for ‘best learning story’ in Courses 4 Forces, our quarterly sister publication about personal development while serving in the Armed Forces, attracts a number of entries, so we are going to try doing the same thing for Quest. We will pay £250 for the letter from a reader that most helps us to develop new ideas for the magazine. We will also publish it. These ‘ideas’ can be one big idea or lots of small ones. They can be about sectors that are of interest to significant numbers of Service leavers, the way the magazine is produced, suggestions about how we can find more of the case studies that you tell us you find so useful … in fact, anything that will help us to help you!

So, get your pet likes, dislikes, ‘I could do it betters’ and ‘What a load of rubbishes’ out and dust them off. We would prefer positive thoughts and thanks, but are quite happy to receive criticisms and incoming missiles. Post or fax them to us, marked ‘Quest development ideas’ at Bulldog Publishing at the address or fax number given on page 3 of the magazine. Or you can e-mail them to bruce.hodge@questonline.co.uk

In the meantime, here is this month’s offering. While the emergency services and civil service may seem to be natural homes for Service leavers, they may not be as easy to get into as some people think, and early research is recommended. Franchising now offers a vast range of business activities, some of which may surprise you; while the hospitality, catering, travel and tourism sector is taking advantage of new opportunities to fuel its growth. The transport sector is represented by the rail industry with both technical and customer-facing roles, and by driving instruction, which is set to grow due to new demands for fleet safety.

Add in our usual range of features and there is food for thought for most people contemplating employment outside the Services. Don’t forget to let us have your thoughts – it could be worth it!