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Test

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Welcome home to members of 1st Battalion The Welsh Guards who marched through the London Borough of Hounslow yesterday, following their recent return from Afghanistan. 

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Around 800 jobs in the UK maritime sector have been safeguarded after the MOD extended five maintenance contracts worth a total of £349m.

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HMS Monmouth & HMS Diamond (Back), Royal Navy

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A gigantic plume of water and mud was thrown up by a huge German mine, safely blown up by Royal Navy bomb disposal experts off the Kent coast after a delicate operation to remove it from a dredger.

Royal Navy divers blow up WWII mine

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The Afghan National Army has narrowly beaten the British Army by ten runs in a Twenty 20 cricket match played in Helmand Province on Sunday.

The match – which took place on the helicopter landing site of the Afghan Army’s Camp Shorabak – saw the home side set a score of 216-5 which the troops from Catterick’s 4th Mechanized Brigade, known as The Black Rats, were unable to catch, finishing on 206-6.

The ‘international’ cricket tournament coincided with England’s test match against India in Mumbai – and, just like the national team, the British Army were close to pulling off an unlikely victory against their hosts.

The tight match was interrupted not by rain on this occasion, but by a helicopter needing to land. 

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Calling all Service Leavers… It’s FREE to register with ForceSelect for help finding civilian employment. Go on, what have you got to lose!

Calling all Service Leavers… It’s FREE to register with ForceSelect for help finding civilian employment.  Go on, what have you got to lose!  www.forceselect.com

Speak with Craig McIntyre, Greg Harmer or Jeremy Lash – all ex-forces themselves – so you can be assured we understand the transition back to civilian life.

Connect with on our social network channels – and keep up-to-date with news and jobs within the market place - LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Wordpress.

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Cruise shuts down Trafalgar Square - In RAF Helicopter for new film

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Always Remembering

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British infantry in Afghanistan armed with the SA80A2. The A2 was a vast improvement on the A1, bringing in a picantinny rail which allows for a much more modular system and just generally improving every aspect of the rifle. The SA80A1 was known for being an unreliable rifle, but the A2 version has fixed all the problems of the older model. 

He also has his blood type written on the front of a magazine pouch on his chest. This allows for medics to start a blood transfusion quickly should he be injured.

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Good luck to the Race 2 Recovery team who have met the media ahead of their departure for Peru in a bid to become the first disabled team to complete the Dakar rally.

The gruelling 9,000km challenge covers three countries over 15 days, taking drivers up to 4,800m at its highest altitude as they cross through Peru, Argentina and Chile. Only 40 per cent of teams that start the race are able to complete it.

Injured troops set for Dakar rally

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Recruitment Consultant Permanent OTE 35K+

Recruitment Consultant Permanent OTE 35K+ LONDON

FORCESELECT : 'MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE'

ForceSelect is a leading provider of military service leavers to UK industry and is supported by both government and the Ministry of Defence. The company was officially launched in 2010 with extensive support from News International and in particular The Sun as part of the Jobs for Heroes campaign with the aim of assisting the large number of service leavers exiting the Army, Navy and Air Force to find meaningful employment. In addition we support their families; as they make the transition from military to civilian life.

With a high profile Board that includes General Sir Mike Jackson and Andy McNab, we continue to build on the positive response that we have had from companies seeking to hire service leavers. The value that ForceSelect brings to the recruitment sector was recognised in 2011 when the company was voted 'Best Newcomer' at the Recruiter Industry Awards.

We seek enthusiastic and motivated recruitment consultants to join our team; you will have a demonstrable track record delivering recruitment solutions in addition to developing new client relationships. At ForceSelect we focus on engineering, logistics, transport, retail, oil/gas, security, defence, IT and telecommunications, consultancy and financial services companies; primarily because they all employ service leavers. There are still many other sectors that need developing including utilities, government agencies, aeronautical, shipping, healthcare, FMCG and automotive to mention but a few. If you have experience recruiting within these sectors or would like to develop new business streams, we'd certainly like to have an initial conversation with you.

As an experienced consultant your role will be to manage and build new client relationships, finding suitable vacancies for service leavers and veterans with commercial experience.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing business.

Apply by either emailing a CV to dcarter@forceselect.com or visiting - http://www.forceselect.com/jobseekers/job_search.ctx?org_ref=12472

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Don’t treat our heroes like zeroes

By ANDY MCNAB - Director of ForceSelect

It seems particularly difficult for Forces leavers to find work at present and it is not simply down to the recession.

While most of our country stands by “Our Boys and Girls”, there is still a lot of confusion about the day-to-day roles of our servicemen and women within the Army, Navy and RAF.

And a lack of understanding as to what skills they might bring to the table once they have left the services.

Some smart businesses get it. But the majority still view service leavers merely as employees who are good at taking orders, even to the point of being robotic.

They don’t see beyond the camouflage-covered face of the infantry soldier or the old black and white war films they used to watch when they were younger.

They don’t see how the experience of leading men and women or working as part of a strong team translates to a “real world” job. The two most frequently asked interview questions are: “What makes you think running around a desert qualifies you for this job?” or the popular “So, did you kill anyone?”

The problem is bosses in civvy street massively under-estimate the work and leadership skills which make ex-servicemen and women a great recruit.

When I was out in Afghanistan I saw our Forces making hard choices every day. They had to deal with angry, frightened and confused people. The Afghan civilians, police and army.

They took the lead, risked their lives, to try to make things better.

They worked together, building relationships and trust, showing leadership, initiative and common sense. That is in addition to the man-management and logistical skills these people have.

A 28-year old sergeant cannot only lead men in combat, he is responsible for their welfare. This covers anything from making sure his men have equipment or supplies when they need it, to helping them with personal problems back at home.

This same sergeant is also responsible for millions of pounds of military hardware. Our forces also learn trades with skills that must have applications elsewhere. Aircraft mechanics, IT operators, logistic personnel, chefs, drivers, you name it, the Forces have it.

In Afghanistan I met a young woman who commanded a supply truck convoy. Her team made their way through the desert — as the Taliban tried to stop them — to supply the troops in the green zone.

That takes guts, leadership and, just as importantly, excellent administrative and logistic skills.

Let’s not forget that all of these qualities are bound together by the core military values. Selfless commitment. Courage. Discipline. Loyalty. Integrity. Respect for others. How many workers from other walks of life put together a CV like that?

It might sound as if they belong to the Victorian era, But these values make a 19-year-old soldier take off his body armour and helmet so he can run faster through enemy fire to rescue another soldier he doesn’t even know.

These values make a wounded soldier refuse medical aid so that he can stay on to fight alongside his mates.

Of course, it’s difficult for many people to find a job right now.

But for our Armed Forces, who are now seeing widespread cuts across the board, it is particularly hard.

When they are made redundant, their whole world shifts. They suddenly find themselves having to move elsewhere in the UK, find their children a school and of course find a job where all of their previous skills and experience seem to count for nothing. But our service leavers also need to switch on and present themselves more positively when applying for jobs.

They have got to sell themselves better and the MoD needs to help more. For example, teaching them interview skills and how to write their CVs, ripping out all the military jargon, so that an employer can understand far better what abilities they have.

In 2009, I teamed up with ex-Army officer Hugh Andree, who had struggled to find a job in civilian life after leaving the military.

He founded Force Select, a recruitment company that finds service leavers full time jobs.

We have made a great start in getting our message across and have started to see an impact.

In two years we’ve helped place hundreds of ex-servicemen and women in full time employment across all sorts of industry.

Service leavers are not victims. They do not want charity. They just want fair access to work

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/4391639/.html#ixzz2CrWfnj4s

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Armed with talent: Employing ex-military personnel

More ex-military personnel are entering the job market and managers need to understand the potential skills on offer. Sue Weekes asks what employers should be looking for

Former infantry officer Hugh Andrée was incredulous at the question he was asked at the end of his first civilian job interview after leaving the British Army.

“The two young recruiters looked at me and said, ‘Can you get out of bed in the morning?’,” he recalls.

To someone from the disciplined world of the military, it seemed shocking. “Then, four years later, I was managing a recruitment business and dealing with young graduates. They were on the razz at night and I realised what they had meant,” he says.

It would be quite wrong to say UK employers don’t respect or appreciate the talent that exists in the military, but they haven’t been as good at tapping into it as the US, which is highly proactive when it comes to recruiting veterans.

Some prejudices and misconceptions still exist, such as fearing that individuals will be too task-oriented and only able to follow orders.

But there is also a huge lack of understanding about the package of benefits and intrinsic value that ex-military and reservist personnel can bring to the workplace.

Andrée founded ForceSelect, a specialist recruitment consultancy for ex-service personnel, which acts as a bridge between the military and civilian worlds. When looking at recruiting ex-service personnel, he encourages employers to base their decision on values rather than just skills and experience.

“I tell employers that while they might not get the exact skills they are looking for, nor commercial experience, they will get people who are disciplined, who bring a certain rigour, are tenacious, who look for solutions, have a good team ethos, are loyal and who are pretty selfless individuals,” he says. “From that perspective, you know exactly what you are getting.”

In June this year, 4,000 more Armed Forces personnel were sent redundancy notices as part of the government’s defence cuts.

The Ministry of Defence has also announced its intention to cut 29,000 military and 25,000 civilian posts by 2015. As a result, large numbers of ex-service personnel are finding themselves entering an already difficult job market.

On the flipside, contraction of the regular Army means far more dependence on the reserve forces, which will have to roughly double in size to 30,000 members.

To make the most of the valuable ex-military talent pool that will exist and to enable the reservists to recruit, train and retain sufficient numbers, employers must become more aware of and receptive to the benefits of having serving and ex-military personnel on their payroll.

Read more: http://www.i-lm.com/edge/Armed_with_talent_Employing_ex_military_personnel.aspx

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Our grandparents were literally just like us.

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Great Picture from HM Armed Forces Tumblr - they're doing a competition for the best caption.

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To all military heroes, past, present, and future,

Thank you.