Supporting Michael Bielby on his resettlement journey
Category: Success Stories
Publish date: 01/06/2023
Michael left the RAF in 2022 having served for more than 33 years, due to a medical discharge. It was at this point that the CTP stepped in to support Michael in any way possible:
“I attended both a Career Transition Workshop and a Recovery Transition Workshop, supported by the CTP Assist team, throughout my resettlement; both of which helped me gain a better understanding of what was needed to enter the civilian job market.”
As a key component of his support, Michael was assigned a Specialist Employment Consultant to help him in his resettlement planning and preparation:
“Although I was decided on what I wanted to do when I left, my Consultant Nicole helped me focus on what else I needed to do in order to achieve my goal. She also reminded me to keep me an open mind in case my initial goal didn’t work out as planned.”
To help Michael achieve the qualifications needed to pursue his career of choice, he attended the CTP’s IMI L3 Certificate in Cycle Maintenance Training course:
“The bike maintenance course was excellent. Even though I had previous experience of working with bikes I still manged to learn a lot, and they were very happy to let me use my mountain bike knowledge to help the other trainees.
Before the course started, there was a little confusion about what work needed to be completed prior to attending, but this was all clarified very quickly by the tutors through a number of emails and online sessions.
"I struggled a little with the computer-based work, but every morning the course tutors helped everyone that needed assistance, so this didn’t become a major problem.
An excellent course that I would recommend to others.”
What next?
After leaving the RAF, Michael has landed the job he wanted:
“Since leaving the military, I’ve been lucky enough to get the job I wanted as a Bike Technician at Bike Scene.”
Advice
As a final piece of advice to fellow Service leavers, Michael says:
“While you should focus on what you want to do when you leave, keep your options open and try to add as many strings to your bow as possible.”
If you’d like to find out more about the wealth of training courses available through the CTP, please click here.