Forces: Army
Jonathan M - WO1
"The BNY Mellon Returning Military Programme allowed me to develop an understanding of what area of financial services my skills transfered best, develop a network of contacts and recruiters that have helped me understand, apply and secure a role, and helped confirm for me that the choice of sector I thought I might fit best into was the right one."
Jonathan Miller, former Warrant Officer 1, served in the Army for 22
years before deciding to leave. During his resettlement, he applied for
the BNY Mellon Returning Military Programme via CTP RightJob. Here,
Jonathan tells his story on what the programme was like."Leaving
the Services is a tough choice in itself, deciding which sector you
want to tackle was even more difficult for me! I spent a lot of time
meeting people in the city and scoping out the pros and cons of a
consultancy career with the big four, compared to one in financial
services. Throughout my research I had attended lots of insight days
for ex-military personnel across both sectors and they all took the time
to mention how great an asset we were to their companies – with skills
like self-discipline and motivation, people management, high standards
and our ability to ‘get things done’.
"At the BNY Mellon
Insight Day, they said similar things regarding the benefits of
employing military personnel but what caught my eye was ‘who’ and ‘how’
that message was delivered. The then Chairman of EMEA took time out of
his day to open the proceedings and speak with us. I don’t think that
he has a military background but he spoke of us, and the value he felt
we added to organisations outside of the public sector, as if he was one
of our own – he spoke with confidence in our ability, appreciation for
what we had given in the past, and gratitude for what those ex-military
personnel already employed at BNY Mellon had, and were continuing, to
bring to the party. That’s what sold the BNY Mellon group to me and
cemented my decision to apply for the Returning Military Programme.
"The
programme itself and the team supporting it were fantastic too. I’m
pretty sure I took up most of one member of staff’s maternity leave with
questions, but they never failed to get back to me with advice and/or
information. The programme manager, military ‘buddy’s’, and mentors
were all exactly the same… always there to help me and understanding of
my needs in trying to make sense of a world outside of the MoD and in a
new sector.
"The actual programme consisted of 6 weeks' work in a
business line within the company. We also had a speaker series and
training programme outside of the day-to-day work that helped us broaden
the knowledge of BNY Mellon and Financial services as a whole.
Interactive sessions were provided to discuss CVs, interviewing,
networking and how to maintain these post programme, and panel
discussions with ex-military still working at BNY Mellon where nothing
was off limits!
"The BNY Mellon Returning Military Programme
allowed me to develop an understanding of what area of financial
services my skills transfered best, develop a network of contacts and
recruiters that have helped me understand, apply and secure a role, and
helped confirm for me that the choice of sector I thought I might fit
best into was the right one.
"I am, and continue to be, forever
grateful to the programme staff and employees for their support, at a
time when I needed to make important career decisions in order to
support my family. I hope that one day I am able to return the favour!"
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