Resettlement success

David S - Lieutenant Commander

“Be it management of people, things, money, infrastructure... the experience gained in the military has proved utterly invaluable.”

Background
Ex Lieutenant Commander David Sargent served for almost thirteen years as a Logistics Officer with the Royal Navy, gaining extensive experience in logistics and supply chain management and heading up a number of different departments. In September 2011 David found out that he was being made redundant as part of Tranche 1 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, and therefore started his resettlement process by booking onto a Career Transition Workshop (CTW) at RRC Cottesmore.

Resettlement
David says, “When I attended I was still in shock after being made compulsorily redundant. So, initially I had thought very little about resettlement, and the CTW was a real wakeup call and made me think very long and hard about what I needed to do to get there. It got me into the job seeking mindset.”

Prior to finding out about his redundancy, David had begun an MSc in Logistics Management through the Royal Navy. Through discussions with his Career Consultant, he soon came to the conclusion that continuing with this would not make the best use of his Graduated Resettlement Time (GRT), due to that fact that he could not hope to complete the qualification within the allocated time period, and the amount of work required left little time for further resettlement activities and job hunting. David chose to put his study on hold and, planning to utilise his existing military skill-set, sought work in the field of Logistics, as he says that he felt “if I got a job it would be based on my experience rather than a qualification”.

He admits that this was always his ‘Plan B’, and had also started an Open University Degree in English several years prior to this, with the aim of going into education. He says, “When I was made redundant I searched around during the first week post being told, to try and find a training provider that would allow me to complete my degree in the year I had available to me – of course, one did not exist. I then defaulted, reluctantly, to looking at Plan B – i.e. Logistics – I’m pretty good at it, so the line of thought was that I should play to my strengths.”

David applied for a number of jobs in logistics, saying that, “I found myself referring time and again to CTW and the notes I was provided with. Certainly as my job search continued I found the lessons learned were more and more relevant.” Although focussing on logistics vacancies, by chance, David came across an advert on the Lincolnshire County Council website for the position of School Business Manager at a local school. He says, “I saw the job specification and realised that it was almost identical to that of a Naval Logistics Officer. A little more research showed me that the traditional Naval term for my branch, Purser, shares the same Latin root as Bursar...the case seemed to make itself! So – on the face of it, it was a step change, but it actually saw me playing to my strengths and also looking at education, which is what I really wanted all along.”

David has plenty of advice for others wanting to enter the field of School Business Management (SBM), and says “Any teacher will tell you that you never apply for a job without first visiting the school – I did so and hit it off with the head straight away”. Although lacking formal SBM qualifications, David says “I was convinced of the worth of my CV”, emphasising that experience can play a greater role in securing employment than qualifications: “the key was my management acumen, rather than anything else.”

Outcome
Now settled into the role, David uses his military experience on a daily basis, and says that, “Be it management of people, things, money, infrastructure... the experience gained has proved utterly invaluable.” David says that although some might consider School Business Management a relatively small field, the industry is growing, with nine out of ten secondaries and four out of five primaries now having a business manager. He also says that there is a range of training available, and plans to take the Advanced Diploma in School Business Management in the future.

David’s final advice to other Service leavers is to look in detail at the whole package: “I made the decision that a good job wasn’t solely about the money – locality, time off, environment, etc... they were all equally important.”

Are you interested in becoming a School Business Manager? Take a look at the ten day Potential School Business Manager course, which aims to give an overview of the technical expertise and general management experience appropriate to bursarial or administrative roles in a range of educational establishments.