Do you know your transferable skills?

So you’ve been serving in one of the most challenging and demanding jobs, exposed to hostile and volatile environments, risking your life to protect Queen and Country and for whatever reason, you’ve decided the time is right to transition out.

You’ll probably experience many different emotions even before starting the actual transition, excitement, anticipation, scared, anxious, worried, concerned, panic.  You’ll probably not want to admit most of these – but what do I know I’m just a civilian.

For the last couple of years, I’ve been working with the Career Transition Partnership, an organisation that work with the MOD to support veterans on their journey from army life to becoming a civilian.

It’s a group of individuals I thoroughly enjoy working with and it’s incredibly rewarding and a little humbling at times.

Here are just a few of the generic transferable skills a service leaver can bring to a business.

Transferable Skills:

• Leadership
• People Management
• Project Management
• Observational Skills
• Health & Safety Awareness
• First Aid
• Problem Solving
• Communication
• Planning & Organising
• Trade skills (Engineering)
• Teaching
• Coaching & Mentoring
• Personal Development
• Cultural Awareness & Respect
• Interpersonal Skills
• Resilience
• Relationship Building
• Adherence to policies & procedures
• Auditing & Compliance and much more

Values & Standards:

• Courage
• Discipline
• Respect
• Integrity
• Loyalty
• Selfless Commitment

This is what you’re likely to get as standard when you hire a service leaver, although I think most will agree these skills are exceptional.

Forgot to mention their great sense of humour and they like a bit of banter too.

For truly insightful and understanding opinions and views, you may wish to visit Soldier to Civilian a website written by and dedicated to Soldiers and their inspiring stories of transition.  Founder Mr Jamie R. Kennedy. 

Additional Resources available for our veterans:

The infographic focuses on facts about how PTSD affects servicemen and women.

Some of the highlights of this infographic include:

• 65,000 WWI veterans were still being treated for ‘shell shock’ 10 years later
• PTSD in the US affects 31% of veterans
• 1 in 3 people develop PTSD after a traumatic experience
• Under 18s are significantly more likely to suffer PTSD when leaving the forces
• 93% of veterans are ashamed or embarrassed about their mental health problems
• 62% of PTSD sufferers also have current or past alcohol or drug problems
• 3/4 of veterans on average resolve symptoms with counselling

Without further ado, here’s the infographic: