One man’s resettlement – Steven Roles

Staff Sergeant Steven Roles, 40, left the Royal Army Medical Corps last May after a 22-year career as a combat medical technician. He hadStaff Sergeant Steven Roles, 40, left the Royal Army Medical Corps last May after a 22-year career as a combat medical technician. He had initially joined the Royal Engineers and qualified as a carpenter and joiner. After a posting to Germany and a Northern Ireland tour in a search team, he spent six months attached to the medical centre before transferring to the RAMC in 1990.

After training he was posted to Colchester and went to the Middle East in the First Gulf War as a medic. A 1993 move to Germany led to seven years there – first, in an armoured field ambulance before being posted to the Light Dragoons as a medical trainer and company medic, and deploying on three tours in Bosnia. He moved to Preston in 2000 as a Troop Sergeant before returning to Germany as a Staff Sergeant in 2002 as a Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant and undertaking a tour of Iraq.

Attributes he finds useful in his new career include ‘the ability to stand on your own two feet and make decisions without flapping; working under pressure to very tight deadlines; confidence to cope outside the box so, when something is thrown at you that is not the norm, you are better positioned to cope with it. We change roles and positions much more often than our civilian counterparts and we have a broader range of skills. In the military, people are put in a position of leadership at a much earlier stage than civilians, so are generally better placed to lead teams and cope with individuals’ requirements.’

Roles had attended military health & safety advisers’ training in Germany and had taken his NEBOSH Certificate course. He had also attended a number of RAF environmental management courses, which provided a mix of H&S and environmental management qualifications. He finds this grounding in H&S vital as it is a primary task. It is better still to back it up with related facilities management (FM) courses as both are big areas in civilian companies. ‘Most companies do not have a clue about military qualifications,’ he adds, ‘so it is imperative to spend the time to get the civilian equivalent or convert your current qualifications. It is also important to get ones that are actually recognised by employers.

‘Also people should not leave it until the last six months to get their qualifications. If they are all dated the year you left the military your CV looks like you do not have the experience to fulfil a role. Your last five years of qualifications are important. So if a course is older than this you may need to do a follow-on course to show you are still current. It is a good idea to look at relevant military courses on offer. You must look out for yourself. I found the local education centre a vital tool; there are a lot of courses available free and I wish I’d had more time and forethought to use these at an earlier stage, as well as using my learning credits more.’

A Career Transition Workshop was useful for ‘pointing a CV in the right direction. I also found the housing brief very useful. There is an impression that if you leave the military the council will give you a house because you have gained so many points but that is not the case, especially if you are single.

‘I undertook the FM course at the Resettlement Training Centre and this is a must for anyone trying to get into the FM sector. It is also a great networking tool and puts you in contact with some people in the industry. More importantly, it is the time to get your membership of BIFM in place. This is something that a lot of employers are looking for as it shows prior knowledge and competency.

‘I contacted the RFEA and I think they are really good as a local contact for an area you wish to live in, and personnel should use them at as early a stage as possible. I found my job through a recruitment agency, which contacted me as I put my CV on its database. You need to start putting your CV on to selected sites about six months in advance, and keep it up to date. You also need to keep in touch with the recruitment agency as you become old news quickly.

‘The employer pays the agency a fee for finding the person for the job, and talking with them develops a personal relationship. So you need to approach the agency as a stage in the interview process and impress them as well. If you do not look the part and do not impress they will not push you forward. You have to look like a catch. Agencies rely on their reputation and will only put the best candidates forward for a role.’

Roles believes that Service training is ideal for his current position as a facilities manager. ‘Buildings are buildings and people are people, so it is a similar environment. The only difference is more involvement with contract negotiations and development of service providers. In the military you have a supply chain and you are stuck with it for good and bad. Now I can put service providers under pressure and get best value for money; and if this does not work you can get someone else to supply you.’

Civilian life started with a number of agency driving jobs, and he thinks that it is a good idea to have a fallback job while looking for the one that is really wanted. ‘I also think soldiers in general undervalue themselves. When I told my family and friends I wanted to earn the same amount with my pension that I did as a Staff Sergeant I was warned I was aiming too high.

‘A lot of people seemed to be under the impression that, because they were a senior NCO or warrant officer, they would walk straight into a middle-management position, earning only slightly less than they were being paid in the military, so they did not need to work on their qualifications. This is a bad error: 30 CVs for my job were whittled down to ten people to be interviewed. Of those, four were ex-military. One of the main reasons some never got past the interview was because they were “too military”.

‘As a facilities manager for an engineering consultancy called Scott Wilson, I now look after a number of properties in Glasgow and York. I deal with building issues related to H&S and environmental management. I also deal with normal build environment issues, such as ensuring services work and contractors are carrying out their work correctly. I also manage contract negotiations from the tendering process through to final bid provider.

‘I enjoy knowing what it is I am doing from day to day, and having the time to complete things. I also get paid overtime, which is a novelty. My free time is also my own and I do not have so many crisis phone calls. However, it is sometimes more difficult to get people to do things. There is not always such an easy line to follow about who you have authority over or who can tell you what to do, which sometimes leads to things not getting done in the right time frame. Fortunately, I work for a company that employs a lot of technically qualified people. There is a good sense of humour, but it is much more politically correct and not so dark.

‘You certainly have to stand on your own two feet and the support structure you get from the military is no longer there. Neither is there the same level of job security. My current employer can give me a month’s notice and I am out the door, so you have to keep your ears and eyes open for possible changes.

‘There is also more flexibility for me if I have another job offer as I can give the same notice. There is not the same level of commitment to jobs so staff turnover is higher. My bills are so much higher, but this is offset by the ability to make changes to my property, which you do not have in the military. However, once I walk out of the office there is nothing that says I have to behave and socialise in a certain way. This is a two-edged sword, though, as the mess life is gone so you do not have the functions that you would have had.

‘There are still plenty of opportunities to socialise and make friends from different backgrounds. My salary is on a par with that of a Staff Sergeant in the UK; add my pension and I am on a higher salary than if I was were serving. Also my wife’s salary potential is generally higher as she has the flexibility to get more work than she did when we were in Germany. On average, an assistant facilities manager can earn £18,000 to £25,000, a manager can earn from £25,000 to £35,000 and a consultant could be on £35,000-plus depending on where they live. In general, there are more positions in the south of England than in the north and Scotland. However, there is a massive difference between house prices, which can easily offset this.’