J1 Consulting is relatively new to TEAM, and our membership is
proving very productive. However, it has
become apparent that there is a lot of misunderstanding amongst other members
about ex-military, and thus how we can help fill your roles. That’s certainly no criticism in a country
where an estimated 70% have never met a member of the Armed Forces, and the
purpose of this short article is to dispel such misunderstanding.
What springs to mind when you think of the Armed Forces?
Probably that sweating, overloaded Infantryman in
Afghanistan. But......
- How did he get there? Someone organises the rotation of everybody within the 9500 strong force at their 6 month point, arranges transportation and ensures the availability of trained replacements.
- How is he fed and watered? He (also of course in many roles she – though not the Infantry) must have fuel, food, ammunition and water to survive. That’s a critical Supply Chain commitment, with local Procurement / Purchasing of some needs.
- What about Vehicles, Weapons & Aircraft? They lead a tough life – spares must be held, issued and accounted for, whilst Preventive & Repair Maintenance is ongoing.
- Who tells him what to do? Planners and Project Managers assist senior Officers in devising operational plans and ensuring these are resourced, with direction flowing down through a hierarchy of highly trained Team Leaders.
- How does he Communicate? Via state of the art IT / Telecoms Systems that need to function 24 / 7.
- Where is he based? Possibly at Camp Bastion, which can accommodate up to 28000 people and handles 600 flights a week. All the necessary infrastructure was constructed by the military, including roads, bridges, runways and water facilities.
- How is he looked after? The necessary HR, Pay and Administrative functions are conducted in country – plus there are first class medical facilities should he be injured.
- The overlap of many of these specific skills with parallel civilian roles is obvious.
- At J1 Consulting, whilst we can source Operatives we tend to focus on Executives, Managers and Supervisors. There’s a good reason: from Learn Direct’s ‘Work Ready’ report of May 2012, explaining £270m of wasted UK recruitment costs. ‘Advertisements are often too job specific, focusing too much on qualifications and experience rather than transferable skills such as time management, people skills and problem solving’
These are exactly the attributes that experienced, professionally
vetted ex military offer – and it takes TIME to evolve them: much longer
than to acquire sufficient experience to begin functioning effectively in a new
sector. We can also access candidates
who have established successful commercial careers since leaving the military.
The Armed Forces are a much misunderstood (and thus
under-utilised) Talent Pool – and real Talent is scarce. At J1 we have both the military and the
business experience to help Clients (and TEAM members) find a genuine Candidate
fit from amongst what is also a very deserving community. We operate on a purely Contingent basis.
Let us try and help you with your next problematic role – you
might be very surprised! Russ Tudge has
specific responsibility within J1 for liaising with TEAM members, so do get in
contact if you feel he can help or advise.
Russ is on 07412 542019 or r.tudge@j1consulting.co.uk.
Nick
Everard is Managing Director of J1 Consulting
Ltd. He is a former Army Lieutenant Colonel, Managing Director within the FTSE 100
Capita Group and member of the Board which sold the well known Adventure Travel
business ‘World Challenge’ to the TUI Group in 2008.
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