Date: Saturday February 2, 2019 at 10:02am
When considering life after service there are a great many
things that pass through the mind of the Service Leaver; the primary concern
for most is employment – can I find and keep a job that will enable me to pay
the rent/mortgage and keep my family in a reasonable state? The answer for most is yes, but this is only
part of the equation. While most of
those who have served in the Armed Forces have the ability and attitude to
secure employment, it is important to consider to what extent the nature of
that employment (and the rest of what makes up one’s existence) can empower good
health and wellbeing rather than just meeting the basic needs shown in Abraham
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shown below.
Many articles about post-service life (including some of
mine) are opinion based, and this is fine if the author is well-read on the
subject and is either objective or states their biases up front. For this one I am taking heavily from a
product produced by the Forces in Mind Trust Research Centre, based within the
Veterans & Families Institute for Military Social Research at Anglia Ruskin
University (I’ll be up front - I am the Centre’s Director). The products are called Snapshots and are
hosted on the Veterans & Families Research Hub www.vfrhub.com; they are lay-friendly
summaries of a variety of themes and topics to do with transition and
post-service life. The Employment
Snapshot a simple to read summary of what is known about the subject and I
recommend it (well I would, wouldn’t I?).
It is estimated that there are 925,000 working age veterans
currently living in the UK. Numbers
leaving each year have reduced from 20,000 in 2015 to under 17,000 in 2017. UK employment has reached its joint highest
level since 1975, with 2018 marking the lowest levels of unemployment at 4.2%,
down from 4.6% in 2017. Data from the
Ministry of Defence suggests that there is no significant difference in
employment status between veterans and the general population. Conversely,
research undertaken by The RBL (link in the Snapshot) suggests that working age
veterans in the UK are nearly twice as likely to be unemployed as their
civilian contemporaries.
The MOD data is a much larger sample size, however, it does
not account for detail included in the RBL report, such as the number of people
in full time employment vs part time employment. This suggests an overall lack
of clarity and understanding of the realities of veteran employment in the UK. Furthermore, there are differences in
opportunities and employment outcomes between the three Armed Services and
their various branches.
Army Service Leavers are 12% more likely to be unemployed
(not including those who are economically inactive) than Naval (7%) and RAF
(7%) Service Leavers. In determining
reasons for differing employment outcomes there are educational and demographic
factors to consider, such as the age, gender, ethnicity and rank of Service
Leavers, their pre-service educational achievements and their qualifications
and skills accrued during service. In addition to personal preference and
opportunities, all of these will impact upon the type of employment secured or
level of economic activity.
Serving personnel have the opportunity to obtain
transferrable skills and further qualifications in order to give themselves the
best chance of securing relevant and fulfilling employment after they leave the
Armed Forces. For the most part these
are related to the trade group of the individual, but there are many
opportunities to undertake elective personal development by accessing the services
of the education branch and using learning credits (note – finding time to use
them after you leave can be problematic, so try to get through them while
serving).
The Career Transition Partnership (CTP) is the official
provider of resettlement services for those leaving any of the Services. CTP provides a range of resettlement services;
including advice, career skills, one-to-one guidance, training and job
opportunities. However, CTP is accessed
on a voluntary basis so, although it is widely available there will be a number
of Service Leavers who do not receive support.
It is widely accepted that the majority of working age
veterans go on to have successful and diverse civilian careers. CTP statistics state that of the Service
personnel who left the UK Armed Forces in 2016/17, and used a CTP service, 82%
were employed six months after leaving. However,
few data sources exist that report on the quality and security of employment,
in terms of whether job roles suit the skill level, interests and experience of
the veteran, the type of job roles that veterans access, or longer-term permanent
employment status post-service.
Whilst there is significant support and advice to assist
Service Leavers in the transition process, there are limitations. For example,
the Veterans’ Transition Review (link in the Snapshot) highlights the
difficulties of veterans with CVs that require an adjustment from the use of specialist,
military terminology in order to make them transferable for the civilian job
market. Communicating military skills to
civilian expectations can be problematic, for example, when a veteran does not
have the civilian equivalent in qualifications.
There
is much more to this subject than can be squeezed into a 900 word article, so I
do recommend that you visit the VFR Hub and look through the research and
summaries on there. If you have
questions or thoughts you wish to share there is a forum for exchange of ideas
and networking https://www.vfrhub.com/forum/.