Resettlement success
Forces: Ex-Army
Quentin N - Lieutenant Colonel
“Network, network, network – get non-military people to act as your sponsors – once they ‘buy your brand’ you will be more likely to get beyond the ‘he’s a military type’ to ‘he’s a useful buy for this firm’.”
Background
Ex-Lieutenant Colonel Quentin N left the Army in October 2011, having served for 20 years in various Infantry roles, including Regimental Duty and at Staff. Quentin was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel at the age of 35, had completed the Masters in Defence Administration and as such held an impressive CV upon leaving the Forces.
Resettlement
As part of his resettlement, Quentin attended a one-to-one meeting with his CTP Career Consultant and also used some of his Graduated Resettlement Time (GRT) to complete a Prince 2 Practitioner project management course, which he says was a very intensive course and useful to add to his CV.
Prior to leaving the Army, Quentin had decided to seek a strategic management role in Financial Services, and met with a number of companies. He advises other Service leavers, “Network, network, network – get non-military people to act as your sponsors – once they ‘buy your brand’ you will be more likely to get beyond the ‘he’s a military type’ to ‘he’s a useful buy for this firm’.” Quentin also stresses the importance of thorough interview preparation and research on the company beforehand: “At interview the employer has to know that you think they are a unique organization with which you will rapidly gel – that the firm employs the sort of people you want to work with – they don’t want the broad ‘I’m interested in the sector’ – this won’t buy friends.”
Outcome
After a number of interviews with Goldman Sachs, which Quentin describes as “an intensive process requiring research, energy and more research” he was offered the position of Executive Director in the Operations Division. The role involves running an operations team providing Valuations for Over the Counter Derivatives, and Quentin initially found that there were – naturally – gaps in his product and market knowledge. He says, “I felt entirely impotent for the first couple of months, wanting to be impactful but being unable. Be patient and put in the hard yards to demonstrate that you will do the detail to climb the steep curve.”
Having been in the position for several months, Quentin is now well settled, and offers the following advice to other Service leavers: “Start broad in your job search, but then focus early, focus on finding people you want to work with and not necessarily the first role you go into. Your first role is just an opening start and an opportunity to demonstrate broad competence from which the firm can then develop your further.”
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