From Logistics Officer to Project & Programme Management Capability Lead

Military Background

After 16 years in the RAF, Lee Davey enjoyed his career as a logistics officer enormously. Not only did Lee enjoy what he did, but the overseas travel was also highly rewarding, with operations and exercises leading to time spent in Canada, the US, Iraq and Afghanistan, to name just a few. But now with a young family, the prospect of overseas travel was far less appealing to Lee, so he decided the time was right to leave the RAF and seek new opportunities that would provide more stability.

Lee started his search for new opportunities, but it was quite by chance that he received a cold call to invite him to one of Fujitsu’s industry recruitment days: “I think I must have inadvertently clicked on a LinkedIn job advert that triggered the call. I didn’t really know a great deal about Fujitsu. All I knew was that they were an IT company, as it was their helpdesk that I would call if I ever had a problem with my laptop when I was in the RAF.”

Civilian Transition

To prepare for his pending transition from the military, Lee was allocated a Career Transition Partnership (CTP) recruitment adviser following his attendance at the CTP career transition workshop. This provided Lee with ongoing career guidance and job searching skills, including CV writing and interview practice. Following the industry recruitment day, Lee was able to put these skills to good use sooner than he expected as he was invited for what turned out to be a final interview for a role within Fujitsu’s Defence & National Security Business Unit, based in Basingstoke.

“The interview went very well, although it took a short while for me to hear I’d been successful. But at the time I was still employed by the RAF, so had to plan my exit strategy very carefully. Thankfully, Fujitsu was very tolerant and kept my job offer open for 6 months which worked out ideally for all concerned.”

Life at Fujitsu

Lee’s new role as project & programme management capability lead is very much people- and skills-based. It’s his team’s responsibility to ensure that the right people with the right skills are in the right place at the right time to fulfil pending project commitments. Training, development and upskilling of existing team members is a key aspect for forward planning. The recruitment of new blood is equally important as the number of projects and programmes is expanding all the time. “The military is an excellent place to recruit from as so many of the skills are transferrable to the commercial sector, particularly leadership skills. And Fujitsu recognises this,” explains Lee.

Given Fujitsu’s close relationship with the Ministry of Defence, Lee describes his transition into Fujitsu as a soft landing. “Despite being relatively new to the company, it’s great to feel that your opinions are still valued so highly. There’s a real strong recognition that you understand the military environment, and the level of trust that is placed in you is incredible.”

Lee is also impressed with the supportive culture that he has witnessed, not just within his immediate working environment: “If you have a question, or you’re searching for information nothing seems to be too much trouble for anyone. This ethos of openness and support seems to run deep throughout the organisation.”