Men unlocks his cyber dream

British Army veteran Menbahadur (Men) Gurung has secured his cyber security dream role with the help of SaluteMyJob’s training courses for military veterans …

It’s no secret that cyber security professionals are in high demand across the world, but there is also a shortage of skilled talent and this has led to thousands of jobs remaining unfilled. This is where SaluteMyJob’s free online training platform, IBM’s SkillsBuild, comes in – along with its commitment to helping ex-Service men and women bridge the skills gaps and open up fantastic opportunities in civvy street.

‘It’s now or never’

Men Gurung was raised in the rural Gorkha district in Nepal, enlisting in the British Army’s Brigade of Gurkhas at a young age. He served 20 years in the regiment, with stints in an array of countries worldwide. After retiring with an exemplary service record in 2006, he trained and worked as a close protection officer.

Although Men was confident in his decision to work in cyber security, he was less sure of how to get there. A tip from a veteran friend led him to SaluteMyJob. When Men’s most recent job working as a CPO ended, he knew it would be easy to find another job in personal security but he thought it was finally time to take the leap into cyber security. He says: ‘I knew I would love to work in cyber security but it was far out of my comfort zone. However, I thought, it’s now or never.’

Men is one of more than 500 veterans that IBM and SaluteMyJob have trained in the UK, with more than 75% of them securing employment. Men is now working at IBM in a dream role and he hopes he can inspire other veterans.

Men’s words of advice

‘Use your networks; work with an organisation like SaluteMyJob and, above all, if you want a change don’t wait too long – go for it!

Veterans and cyber security

Men’s first cyber opportunity was at Wood PLC. Men’s manager, Malcolm Norman, chief information security officer at Wood PLC, sees the value in hiring veterans, saying: ‘Veterans such as Men have a huge variety of experience. They have an ability to be part of a team and to lead by example. They are resilient and flexible. And, most of all, they get stuck in and focus on delivering a solution.’

Malcolm advocates for educating recruiters and hiring managers about the capability and talent within the veterans’ community, and firmly believes that SaluteMyJob helps veterans realise the value of their skills and to sell those skills, overcoming the common problem of underselling themselves. He adds: ‘Diversity in the cyber security profession needs to improve. We need greater diversity in terms of backgrounds, greater diversity in skills, greater diversity in education. The rather small pool talent that traditionally fed the cyber security world is just not enough to meet the demand, nor is it diverse enough in terms of level of skills, experience, knowledge and capability, for the multi-skilled cyber security teams that are needed today.’

SaluteMyJob continues to open up the pipeline of recruits. In early October 2021, the organisation joined IBM in running the UK pilot for the IBM SkillsBuild Cybersecurity Bootcamp. Participants in this initiative gained a security analyst certification.

Find out more

Click here to discover more about opportunities in cyber and free training courses with SaluteMyJob, and to explore what is possible through SkillsBuild click here.