Officers’ Association: Specialists in executive vacancies.....

… is how Colonel Hugh Sandars, Director of the Officers’ Association Employment Department describes its role within the Career Transition Partnership. Although its charter is to look after officers only, it responds to the realities of 21st-century employment by seeking to fill the jobs sent in by employers – and they care more about competences than rank...

… is how Colonel Hugh Sandars, Director of the Officers’ Association Employment Department describes its role within the Career Transition Partnership. Although its charter is to look after officers only, it responds to the realities of 21st-century employment by seeking to fill the jobs sent in by employers – and they care more about competences than rank.

Before the Great War, it was assumed that officers leaving the Services could look after themselves. For the landed gentry who had purchased their commissions this was probably a fair assessment, but one result of total war was the commissioning of tens of thousands of men who would never normally have spent time in uniform. It was the sight of these holders of DSOs and other gallantry awards living on the streets, selling matches to survive, that led Earl Haig and others to form the Officers’ Association and found the Poppy Appeal to help finance its work.

Soon afterwards, the Royal British Legion was formed, with a coming-together of a number of Service charities, and the Officers’ Association became its ‘Officers Benevolent Department’, widening the Poppy Appeal to the entire ex-Service community. As such, it owns a 30-room residential home in Devon for single ex-officers who do not need nursing care and a 12-bungalow estate in Hertfordshire for disabled ex-officers and their families.

The Employment Department has around 1,200 ex-officers on its books at any one time, split between Service leavers and returners (people who have been out of the Forces for some time but still want some help with employment). It generates over 1,500 vacancies a year from a list of nearly 1,000 personal relationships in an extensive network.

The result is over 300 annual placements where the client is directly helped into a job by an employment consultant, and another 600 in which the Association helped in the employment process. One recent success was the placing of a Service leaver as a public-sector chief executive on a £160,000 package. However, it is equally proud of helping a homeless returner with clinical depression and a mountain of debt into a £27,000-a-year appointment as a charity operations manager.

An average profile would be around 200 people in each decade of life – twenties, thirties and forties – with the figure jumping to 600 in the 50 and over bracket. Some of the latter will be looking for new full-time employment, while others will happily settle for voluntary work or part-time jobs. So its clients are a very mixed bunch in terms of age, experience, skills and expectation; and all must be catered for.

Each of its seven consultants – five with civilian experience in a variety of sectors at anything from board to junior level – deals on a personal basis with over 100 contacts in commercial companies, government departments, the not-for-profit sector and recruitment agencies. One-third of its successes are placed directly through the Association and the rest gain from advice, support, interviewing, research and access to one of its honorary advisers, who can provide insight into their particular employment niche.

Its vacancy list is distributed weekly in hard copy and is available in its most currently updated form the website at www.officersassociation.org.uk. It also publishes guides on industries, market sectors and even types of employment, which are a must for the serious job-seeker. It is most actively engaged with organisations’ head offices, but Sandars maintains that it still covers the country, with the RFEA talking with regional and local employers – often in the same organisations. It also covers some areas abroad – most notably Germany, France, Spain and the Middle East – with some vacancies in the rest of Europe, Africa and the former Soviet Union.

The Officers’ Association ‘is an integral part of the MoD’s Career Transition Partnership; not just a member in name,’ according to its Employment Director. It decided not to become a sub-contractor to the commercial partner because it already had ‘an IT system optimised for its recruitment needs and had its own ISO 9002’. So it went down a different route to that chosen by the RFEA. Nevertheless it sends many of its vacancies to the wider resettlement system to be filled by anyone with the necessary competences.

Like any other employment organisation, the Association offers employers a one-stop-shop that can fulfil normal employment needs. For specialist employment – senior, highly technical or sensitive posts – it carries out its own discreet trawl through the people on its books to find likely starters. There is no doubt that one of its major selling points to its long list of contacts is the simple fact that so many of its placements do so well in a new environment and rapidly bring value to their employer. Satisfied customers come back for more of the same.

If you are a commissioned Service leaver, call the Association on 020 7389 5217 or visit www.officersassociation.org.uk