Resettlement Success: From Army to Engineer

Category: Success Stories Publish date: 25/07/2018

Background

Andreas Palmer Served four years with the Army, and his final military role was an Artillery Command Systems Operator. His main reason for leaving was that the Army base was so far from his home and he missed his family.

During his Service, he enjoyed the camaraderie, tactical exercises and the physical training that came along with being in the Army. During his career, Andreas also completed a BTEC in Telecommunications and Bowman Radio Training. His experience and training in leadership, communications and technical training have proved useful in his civilian life.

Resettlement

Andreas was entitled to join the CTP Employment Support Programme (ESP) and attended an ESP Workshop in March 2016. The course is designed to teach attendees how to translate the transferable skills they have gained in the military to the civilian job market as well as provide useful and relevant information. Andreas found the CV session and understanding how it should be tailored for each role he applied for very useful and also appreciated the introduction to the CTP website.

Additionally, Andreas attended the CTP's East Midlands Employment Fair in May 2016, where he was able to practice his networking skills with a range of national and local employers including Amazon, Carbon60, Barratt Development and Pertemps Driving.

As part of the support offered within the ESP, Andreas met with his Career Consultant on a 1:1 basis to discuss his career choices. Andreas comments that his Consultant was “always willing to help and kept in contact once I left to make sure everything is going well.”

His Consultant introduced him to CTP’s online job finding service, RightJob, where Andreas found a vacancy for a Security Systems Engineer with IC2 CCTV, which is now his current job.

Outcome

Andreas has been employed since December 2017 by IC2 CCTV, a leading mid-market CCTV provider providing consultancy-led services to specify, install and support a full range of security solutions.

On a day-to-day basis, Andreas installs and services CCTV, access controls, fire alarms, intruder alarms and remote monitors, and although the tasks are essentially the same, he finds that each day is completely different.

When asked what his advice would be to current Service leavers, he said,



Make sure you are adapting your CV to each vacancy you are applying for. Use your Career Consultant as much as needed, it’s what they are there for! Don’t forget to fill in and complete your RightJob profile in full as this is a great way to find new vacancies especially for your interests.