Learning – why me?

In ‘From the editor’ in the August edition of Quest, Donald Campbell asked this question, and Steve Bentham-Bates FREC Cert RP, Manager of the Sheffield Branch of the Regular Forces Employment Association, offers further advice on this topic

In ‘From the editor’ in the August edition of Quest, Donald Campbell asked this question, and Steve Bentham-Bates FREC Cert RP, Manager of the Sheffield Branch of the Regular Forces Employment Association, offers further advice on this topic

From personal experience I can tell you that the longer you leave learning the more difficult it becomes to start again. In 1995, I sat in my RAF uniform pondering my future. I had had the tea leaves read to me by the Medical Officer and I did not know what to do. My military experience had centred around administration and recruitment, but I was not sure about continuing along the same route as a civilian. So I thought about what training, exams and professional bodies I should consider.

Most of us initially stick to what we know and, hopefully, are good at. I was no exception and ended up working for a bank as an administrator; but I did not settle – not unusual for Service leavers in their early stages.

With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had planned for resettlement a long time before my final year of 1996. It is all too easy to delay taking training courses, particularly after a long working day, but it only gets harder the older you become.

I have done more training and personal development during my last seven years as a civilian than I ever did in 24 years’ military service! I started late and have been playing catch-up ever since. In late 1996 I enrolled for and completed an NVQ Level 4 in Business Administration with Selby College. I completed the portfolio in a record two months of intense activity, submitting it for verification and assessment just as I took my first tentative steps out of the RAF.

I also became a member of both what was then the Institute of Supervision and Management and the Institute of Employment Consultants, based upon my military experience. I enrolled on a 12-month distance learning course, including four Saturday workshops and concluding with three two-hour exams and a practical examination to gain the Certificate in Recruitment Practice in 1999.

Following that, in 2000, I was considered for the position of, and after a lengthy period of consideration became, a fellow of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. More recently I have completed the seven modules of the European Computer Driving Licence, once again by distance learning.

I am now looking at gaining professional qualifications in counselling, which will mean more time, more expense and more strain on someone fast approaching 50 – an age when it is generally considered time to slow down a little.

If you do not plan ahead and find out what you need to achieve before you leave the Armed Forces, then you too, will be ‘cramming’ as a civilian to be in competition with others who have done their homework early. Your own personal development should not take second place to a beer in the Mess or a sports activity. Neglecting it could cost you thousands of pounds in your next career.

A perfect example of someone who planned ahead is one of my registrants in the RFEA’s Sheffield Branch. Her name is Hannah Lee, and she recently left the RN as a Leading Writer. She prepared herself for a new career by studying for and passing the Institute of Legal Executives exams, which allow her to work as a legal secretary for a solicitors’ firm in Sheffield. Her preparation for resettlement was considerable.

She had initially planned to enrol on the Pitman Diploma but was influenced by tutors who said it would not advance her from the qualifications she already held. The Legal Secretary’s Certificate looked interesting and challenging so she checked its prospectus with local colleges and careers advisers. On the enrolment day, she sat copy-typing and audio-typing tests. Her GCSEs in maths and English exempted her from tests in those subjects.

The course ran from September 2002 to July 2003, in the evenings and at weekends, with training costs of about £400 covered by her Individual Resettlement Training Costs grant.

Lee is very pleased with her decision to invest time and effort in her resettlement preparation and planning, which led to her new job. Each day brings different tasks that offer her new mental challenges. Having now developed the taste for qualifications, she would like to continue legal training and become a legal executive or paralegal in due course.

She believes that people leaving the Services should ‘take full advantage of the resettlement system, and try to enhance personal and professional development, plan ahead, speak to as many people as possible and listen to their advice.

Visit the local RFEA office early, and discuss hopes and fears with the employment consultants. They will offer worthwhile guidance and job-finding assistance.