Forces: RAF
Michael H - Chief Technician
“My advice for Service leavers going through, or about to enter their resettlement period is to decide quickly what it is you want to do when you leave the Forces. Act on any training requirements as soon as you can – don’t leave it too late.”
Ex-Chief Technician Michael Harney left the RAF in September 2016 after
serving for over 28 years. During his Service he enjoyed working as a
Technician and decided this is what he wanted to do in civilian life.
Tell me about your time in the RAF.
“I
enjoyed the deployments and overseas travel the most. I enjoyed being
part of a proud and highly respected organisation and I was extremely
proud to wear the uniform. The opportunities to keep fit and further my
education was a bonus. I did a HNC in Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, which enabled me to be highly competitive in the
engineering sector.”
Why did you want to leave the Armed Forces?
“I
decided to leave the Armed Forces as I wanted to give my family more
stability in life. I wanted my children to have a decent education in an
area of our choice and not have to move. As a married airman and
father, I didn’t enjoy being away from my family for long periods of
time during deployments. Leaving the RAF gave me the chance to advance
my engineering experience and become more hands on.”
How did CTP help you in your resettlement transition?
“As
part of my resettlement transition, I attended a Career Transition
Workshop (CTW) with CTP. At the workshop, we focused on identifying our
transferrable skills and how to enhance our own personal brand to the
civilian job market. I found the CV writing aspect was the most helpful
to me.”
“I also undertook the ‘FAR’ and ‘Networking and Interview
Techniques’ follow-on workshops. The Interview Techniques workshop was
very useful at helping prepare for job interviews and gave lots of tips
to be successful. I had not practised any interview techniques for 28
years so it was really refreshing.”
“I kept in regular contact with my Career Consultant, who helped me with several CV reviews and job searching.”
So what do you do now?
“Since
August 2015, I have been a Service Technician for Amazon Engineering. I
am part of an engineering team responsible for the pre-planned
maintenance, fault finding, repair commissioning, and modification of a
wide variety of complex warehouse machinery, such as conveyor systems,
labelling and scanning machines, robotics and Building Management
Systems.”
“As a General Technician Electrical, I have had the
opportunity to work on a variety of different electro-mechanical systems
and I have developed a strong ability to fault find and work under
pressure. Amazon is a fast moving consumer group, whose customers are
their number one priority; this fast paced environment expects any
equipment break downs to be dealt with swiftly, so as to meet customer
expectations. Having faced this kind of pressure in the RAF, I feel
confident and able to deal with it. Working as a team member or alone is
important; Amazon expects high integrity from its employees and this
has been second nature with my time in the RAF.”
“Working for No1
ERA Sgn, Sealand/Leeming in the RAF gave me experience in project
management, working alongside other agencies/nations, commissioning new
equipment, and working in the field, which are all highly relevant to my
current role.”
What advice would you give other Service leavers?
“My
advice for Service leavers going through, or about to enter their
resettlement period is to decide quickly what it is you want to do when
you leave the Forces. Act on any training requirements as soon as you
can – don’t leave it too late.”
More success stories