From Clerical Administrator to Service Delivery Manager

Military Background

Having joined the Army straight from school in 1992, Tina completed her Staff and Personnel Support (SPS) training for the Adjutant General’s Corps (AGC), qualifying as a clerical administrator. Once her training was completed, Tina was posted on several Special Operations, including during the troubled period in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, this posting coincided with the Omagh bomb in 1998. As a direct result, Tina asked to return to Green Uniform, joining an infantry battalion.

For the following three years, Tina was posted on numerous exercises or deployments overseas, including Kosovo, Canada and Belize. This non-stop travelling, constantly on exercise, was starting to compromise Tina’s quality of life, and she took the decision to leave the Army in 2002. “Essentially, I was a fully qualified PA, so I knew I could get a job in the travel or banking sector. But I was asking myself whether this is what I really wanted to do, and could this satisfy me?” she reasoned.

Civilian Transition

To prepare for her pending transition from the military, Tina engaged with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) which, back in 2002, was still in its infancy. “At the time, the services offered by CTP were quite limited, although I know the range and quality of support they offer today is much broader.” As well as attending the CTP resettlement workshop which helped with CV writing and interview practice, Tina also attended several courses dedicated to improving her networking skills.

“While the courses I attended gave me valuable qualifications, I was finding that potential employers were also seeking experience, which I just did not have.” Tina then saw a job advert from Fujitsu for which she applied and was successful: “Fujitsu was different in that they could recognise the traits and skills that I was bringing with me from the military, and even though they may not have been directly relevant they knew the value of these.”

Life at Fujitsu

Despite being a qualified PA, Tina actually joined Fujitsu as an engineer. She utilised her people management and leadership skills gained in the Army to quickly become a Team Leader and then Team Manager, working across different accounts within the public and commercial sectors. She then became a service delivery manager on the Home Office account, responsible for many different services.

In 2012, Tina left Fujitsu in search of new opportunities: “For some reason, I thought the grass would be greener, and curiosity got the better of me. But I soon found out that wasn’t the case as the organisation I worked for had a completely different outlook. It made me look at things in a new way.”

Thankfully for Tina, the door at Fujitsu was still open, and she returned to their Defence & National Security Business Unit in 2016 as a service delivery manager. “I really missed Fujitsu, and my time away made me realise what a great company it is to work for. Everybody is treated with a great deal of respect, regardless of where they sit within the organisation. I feel happy here, and I know my contribution is valued.”