Forces: Ex-Army
David H - WO1
“Start looking early; have a plan, aspirations and goals, but be prepared to change, adapt and adjust. If at first you don’t get what you want, consider what’s on offer as a stepping stone. Be proud of your background. Use it!”
David H served for 24 years in the Army as a driver in the Royal Logistics Corps, leaving as a WO1 Master Driver in 2009. He says, “I had served a long time and felt the time was right for a change; I felt that at 40 years old I was young enough to have a second career. I was also looking for a new challenge and found it in my new role, which was the second best decision I have ever made. The first was joining the Army.”
When asked about which of his military training and experience is now useful in civilian life, David says, “Where do I begin? Putting formal training courses aside, the soft skills, even the very basic ones such as, but not exhaustively: smartness, good timekeeping, personal discipline, respect for others and teamwork will put an ex-serviceman or woman a step ahead of his/her civilian counterparts.”
“Further to the above, as a former WO, personal attributes such as the ability to gain respect, delegation, command and control skills, diligence, leadership and management skills all set the Service leaver on the path to success.”
David began the resettlement process by attending a Career Transition Workshop, which has says was especially helpful for learning about CV writing and networking. He also used his IRTC grant to complete an ILM Level 7 Award in Executive Management and a Prince2 Practitioner course. He says, “In the end I didn’t need the qualifications I obtained during resettlement for my current job, but the experience was valuable and the courses are on my CV for the future.”
David found his current position by meeting his employer, London Underground Ltd., at a CTP employment fair, and he has now been in the role of Service Controller ever since leaving the forces. He says, “I am in charge of the control room for the whole of the District Line, London Underground. I have several signalman and information personnel who work for me and a manager who oversees what I do. I control incident response and management, implement the service delivery plan, deal with service delays and recover from service disruptions.”
David admits that at first he found the transition from the military to the civilian workplace difficult, with many differences between the working environments along with other more practical factors to get used to, such as commuting to work every morning and learning about a completely new subject matter: trains. He says, “You may feel vulnerable and exposed. There’s no safety net to assist you; the Army provides support in so many ways and you don’t realise until it’s gone.”
David is now very settled into his civilian role, and has plenty of advice for other Service leavers; he says, “Use your soft skills well. Turnout, good timekeeping, a good sick record and professionalism will win people over even if you lack the hard skills of your peers.”
He adds, “Start looking early; have a plan, aspirations and goals, but be prepared to change, adapt and adjust. If at first you don’t get what you want, consider what’s on offer as a stepping stone. Be proud of your background. Use it!”
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