29 replies to this topic

[Black.Ghost]

I thought when I joined the Army, I was getting one of the safest jobs in the world. Turns out that isn't the case, and I am eligible for redundancy in the latest tranche.

In weird circumstances, its my own fault so I can't really complain. Because of the way it works, however, I find myself in an interesting position - I can either put myself for voluntary redundancy, in which case I would be out and free by Christmas, with a nice lump sum and my pension when I turn 65. Alternatively, I can just ignore it and I can't be made redundant because I am currently on ops. However, there will be another tranche and unless I get promoted, could be in that, and then I wouldn't be exempt from it. Its a complicated system but the short of it is, the ball is completely in my court for this tranche.

So based on that, and the fact I was thinking of signing off as well, I'm now considering new career options, or setting up a business of some description.

There are a few options, but a couple of things I like the sound of are Police (with the intention of becoming a detective or working in criminal intelligence), fire brigade or like above, my own business. If I were to set up my own business, I'm thinking something adventure training based. I will have 6 months to do courses (I already have experience in many of the things I would offer but no formal quails). In addition, I can claim 3 years of funding for courses, which can be used for anything that is degree level or equivalent (including practical courses). Many options and decisions to be made.

I'm still young (ish - 30) so there is plenty of time for another career. So what interesting jobs do people have/wish they had, preferably something outside at least half the time because being sat behind a desk all day is quite boring. I'm on 2 weeks leave very soon so will no doubt do a fair bit of research.

So people, ideas.

[kieranjt]

That's a pretty nice position to be in then! lots of options.
Question though, whats with the NOW HIRING adverts, how can they do that and be making people redundant?

Personally i'd love to organise events like these guys: http://www.theadventurists.com - loads of traveling, think you need to be slightly crazy to do that sort of thing though!

[Ethel]

Weigh up the difference it'd make to your pension, and any financial differences between jumping ship or being pushed. The real money in the adventure sports/leisure industry is in the education and training sector - professional teaching qualifications would help. If you wanted to try being your own boss, having the school holidays free when the market is at its peak could give you the opportunity to get a toe in the door without the risk of jacking everything in for a fresh start. You could also supplement your income with supply teaching, and have a career path for when you're too old and knackered to play Grill Bears, Bare Gorillas (summet like that).

[sonikk4]

Although i was not made redundant from the RAF i was not signed on again and so had to take advantage of any resettlement courses that were available to me.

I took a HGV1 and forklift course and this saved my skin. At the time civil aviation was in a slump so work was hard to find so having these courses kept us going.

It took a while but in the end i got a permie job and now all is good. What do you do in the army? can you use that skill set to start with?? If the redundancy package is good seriously consider taking it because even if you don't go now then there is another tranche later this year and who knows what next year.

Once you are out see what the economic climate is like for starting up your own business. Don't go diving in the deep end as we are not out of the slump yet by a long shot.

[minimaxie]

Well all I can say is join the Police if you get the chance Black.Ghost! I used to be a Met Special Constable and I loved it! Met some great people in there and the job is never the same any day! Did it for a year odd, thoroughly enjoyed it, thinking about joining again sometime this year as when I first joined I was only 18 and naive. Only need basic training to pass the fitness (a man of your experience in the forces I'm sure is a walk over) and 18 consecutive weekends of training. You learn so much there and such an eye opener, it's sometimes a nerve racking job and some days its very quiet.

Sorry to hear about your job by the way, never nice to hear you could be up for redundancy, hope you find something you like

Max

[Ethel]

My main "if I knew now" lesson from life is to use current trends to predict the future. The property price boom was glaringly obvious if you put together the 60's & 70's baby boomers with working women on equal wages - well, better if not always equal. There's another boom happening right now, anything related to children will be a growth area over the next decade & a half.

[Black.Ghost]

The pension is such that I don't think I would reach past SSgt now anyway, which in my corps is not a great achievement.

As for the next tranche, and possibly even another one after that, if I get promoted before then the chances are I would be safe from redundancy although not guaranteed. However, I'm not averse to jumping ship now and starting out.

The resettlement figure is pretty good really, I'm quite happy with it. A large part of my job at the moment is security advice and investigations. There are many options in that line of work, and they pay quite well, however I don't want a career in risk management. I couldn't face it.

The police is a high option at the moment to be honest, but that will obviously depend upon the recruiting policy and how many people from each ethnic group they are hiring. You are right, I'm really not worried about the required fitness levels though. I had a mate go for it, and he blitzed that part with no problem at all.

One other thing I did consider was learning a language. If you know the right people, there is some serious money to be made. I happen to know that some of the terms who are working with us in Afghanistan at the moment (who are from Afghan originally but live in England) are not all that far off a 5 figure salary….per month!! Doing similar work to that could be rather lucrative…and I also happen to know the military system already so that would be of benefit.

Much to think about and two weeks of alcohol fuelled leave coming up. This could be interesting!

[AVV IT]

Unfortunately getting into the three other safest jobs in the world (Police, Fire & Ambulance) is no easy task these days. Austerity measures have bitten hard into the budgets of the emergency services and therefore the actual numbers being recruited tend to be much lower than they were a few years ago. Plus there are a great many people looking for secondary careers with job security following redundancy in their own professions, making huge competition for the already limited places available.

Of course the situation will differ from service to service/ region to region, but having spoken to colleagues in both Police and Fire, it would seem that locally there is now a tendency for regular officers to be recruited from existing special constables, and similarly in the fire service full time firefighters tend to now be recruited from the retained service. In short it would seem that you need to prove yourself on a volunteer/part time basis first, before joining either service full time.

That aside though, having worked closely with both services over the years, from what I've seen they are both rewarding and decent careers that seem ideally suited to ex forces personnel.

Good Luck with whatever you choose to do though.

[minimaxie]

One other thing I did consider was learning a language. If you know the right people, there is some serious money to be made. I happen to know that some of the terms who are working with us in Afghanistan at the moment (who are from Afghan originally but live in England) are not all that far off a 5 figure salary….per month!! Doing similar work to that could be rather lucrative…and I also happen to know the military system already so that would be of benefit.

Are you talking about mercenary work? My dad got offered to do this years ago when he left the army, I think it was privatised armed security?

[Black.Ghost]

No not mercenary work, although there is big money in that. There is a company that works out here in Afghanistan that provides people simply for translation work, on camp (which is comparatively safe work) and they are on mega money. They are what is called SC cleared (Security Checked) which can only be achieved because they have lived in England or America a certain amount of time. It is because of the security clearance that they can earn so much money. I have a security clearance that is a level higher than that. The future language to learn, IMO, is Arabic.

There is decent money is private security work as well, especially the Close Protection side of life, and there were a lot of Infantry Corporals who left to do that, and now earn so pretty high amounts - more than they would have earn in the infantry.

Yeah I know there are some serious cut backs with the emergency services, I would hope that the forces experience might be a sweetener, but like you say there are likely people from all walks of life that have different experiences to bring to the party. The good thing is I do have a year left to decide what to apply for, and save money on top of the redundancy in case things don't work out straight away. I don't really want to dip into the redundancy money unless it is for starting a business or a deposit on a house.

Also, to answer someone's question near the start about why are the army still recruiting. It is because there is natural wastage in the army as well. People get to natural retirement age, some sign off etc, and others get promoted. You need to keep the balance right (i.e. you have a lot more privates than you do Sgt Majs for example). If you don't keep the structure right all the time, it will seriously bugger it up in the future. However, the recruitment numbers are drastically lower than they were a few years ago.

[MaxAndPaddy]

I cant offer advice on which route is best to take, but if I was you ...I'd be a ski instructor!!!

Kidding!!!!!....depending on how long you have before you have to make a decision cant you approach your local area police force/fire department and get an idea of what chance you stand of getting a position?

Talk to them and explain the situation you're in, I'm sure with a bit of digging and finding the right person to talk to, you could get a pretty accurate idea of whats available - or not - for someone like yourself?

Good luck matey!

[Black.Ghost]

HAHA funny you should say ski instructor…I was thinking of doing AT based stuff…hill walking, rock climbing, abseiling, mountain biking and some snowboarding. I think I have time to get quals in at least half of them. In addition, a mate has informed me of some course you can do at a college in Scotland thats AT based and is about 4 months long. That sounds pretty cool to me!

But as for approaching them, thats not a bad idea. I think the police would be the route I would want more. I know they do surveillance work and the like, which would be really interesting but working as an intelligence officer for them could be really interesting, especially working on organised crime and the like.

A friend of mine joined SOCA from the army, although he did have more experience than me.

I also love the idea of going travelling for a while, maybe a year, using savings only not the redundancy money. Not sure how the gf would feel about that idea though. So much to decide.

[MaxAndPaddy]

Check out http://www.bluedome.co.uk/

If I wasnt over 40, with kids, and a hefty mortgage .............sighhhhhhhh!!

[iMurray]

hey:) you'll be fine :) go enjoy people as apposed to being a figure that may kill:]

[Black.Ghost]

There's a lot more to being in the army than killing people. Despite the image that might come across, that really is a last resort for people operating in some pretty shitty places throughout the world to help other people. Don't be too quick to judge.

M&P, thanks for that link. I'll have a proper look around it.