PraiseBacon
Sergeant
- 740
- 2
- 18
A few thoughts from a hiring manager’s perspective:
The civvy word is not a place to be scared of – it actually has more opportunity than the RAF seems to have these days – that said, the rules of the game are different. Such as some behaviors that might be acceptable in a crew room are probably not going to be acceptable in the civvy workplace (This is covered in multiple other posts though).
The civvy world is not structured like the RAF – you may well not be doing the same line of work. I would guess the bulk of ex-RAF types on here are now doing something completely different. Find what you want to do and prepare for it.
Being ex-forces actually has many benefits, use them to your advantage! It also can have some drawbacks, and recruiters often know the pitfalls to look for. That is to say, the can-do attitude, non-union mindset, will to things done are positives that can be taken forward. That said, some people cannot let go of the forces and that can actually hold you back at some companies – I look for people who really enjoyed their time in the service, kept the positive behaviors – but realize it is now over and fully embrace the new reality of civvy life rather (rather than be a total ‘when I’ and get all whiney about the lack of respect they get shown)
Over the last year I have had to rebuild a number of teams that report into me, and recruited at all levels from entry to senior manager (30K to 120K), for jobs at the 30 – 50K level competition is tight, very tight in fact. We generally has over 60 CV sent in, and after first round screening – about 30 were sent to me as viable. Point being a good CV is vital these days, without it you won’t get an interview (remember, the CV does not get you a job, it gets a hiring manager to talk to you about a job – but if your CV doesn’t make them want to talk to you , you are not going to even get the chance to show how good you are: These links are actually quite helpful:
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres...mpaign=careers
Trust me on this me, I reviewed all 30 resumes, and selected 5 candidates in less than 25 minutes – most of them I didn’t read past the first page. The links to what not to include in a c.v. on the page above are worth a read as well.
For jobs in the 70-100K range, the competition is tougher, I would get about 10 CV’s - all very well written!
Get yourself on LinkedIn – but remember it is a professional networking site, not a social one!. Make sure the highlights of your CV are there, and the match what you sent in!. Don’t write smack about former companies or their staff. Don’t boast about drunken antics!. Also, don’t forget to look up the person who will be interviewing you – if there is a common interest, use it as small talk (no more than 2 mins) at the start of the interview – or at the end.
Take a look at www. glassdoor.com – it will give you opinions on a company (forget best and worst comments, just like you would on a hotel site), but it has insights on what different jobs pay, as well as the interview process. Going in knowing what to expect does help!.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebr...iew-questions/
The above article tells you all you need to know about an interview! – there are only 3 actual questions anyone hiring cares about, but multiple ways to ask them. The ones who is the best fit for those 3 will usually get the job. (They are really obvious, I know that, but knowing it can help shape answers.)
For those pinning their hopes on getting an extension of service – although ask yourself this : will that extension just be delaying the inevitable? At some point you need to come to peace with the fact that, for all us, our time in the forces comes to an and. Post service life something to embraced, and the better prepared you are, the easier is becomes.
The civvy word is not a place to be scared of – it actually has more opportunity than the RAF seems to have these days – that said, the rules of the game are different. Such as some behaviors that might be acceptable in a crew room are probably not going to be acceptable in the civvy workplace (This is covered in multiple other posts though).
The civvy world is not structured like the RAF – you may well not be doing the same line of work. I would guess the bulk of ex-RAF types on here are now doing something completely different. Find what you want to do and prepare for it.
Being ex-forces actually has many benefits, use them to your advantage! It also can have some drawbacks, and recruiters often know the pitfalls to look for. That is to say, the can-do attitude, non-union mindset, will to things done are positives that can be taken forward. That said, some people cannot let go of the forces and that can actually hold you back at some companies – I look for people who really enjoyed their time in the service, kept the positive behaviors – but realize it is now over and fully embrace the new reality of civvy life rather (rather than be a total ‘when I’ and get all whiney about the lack of respect they get shown)
Over the last year I have had to rebuild a number of teams that report into me, and recruited at all levels from entry to senior manager (30K to 120K), for jobs at the 30 – 50K level competition is tight, very tight in fact. We generally has over 60 CV sent in, and after first round screening – about 30 were sent to me as viable. Point being a good CV is vital these days, without it you won’t get an interview (remember, the CV does not get you a job, it gets a hiring manager to talk to you about a job – but if your CV doesn’t make them want to talk to you , you are not going to even get the chance to show how good you are: These links are actually quite helpful:
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres...mpaign=careers
Trust me on this me, I reviewed all 30 resumes, and selected 5 candidates in less than 25 minutes – most of them I didn’t read past the first page. The links to what not to include in a c.v. on the page above are worth a read as well.
For jobs in the 70-100K range, the competition is tougher, I would get about 10 CV’s - all very well written!
Get yourself on LinkedIn – but remember it is a professional networking site, not a social one!. Make sure the highlights of your CV are there, and the match what you sent in!. Don’t write smack about former companies or their staff. Don’t boast about drunken antics!. Also, don’t forget to look up the person who will be interviewing you – if there is a common interest, use it as small talk (no more than 2 mins) at the start of the interview – or at the end.
Take a look at www. glassdoor.com – it will give you opinions on a company (forget best and worst comments, just like you would on a hotel site), but it has insights on what different jobs pay, as well as the interview process. Going in knowing what to expect does help!.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebr...iew-questions/
The above article tells you all you need to know about an interview! – there are only 3 actual questions anyone hiring cares about, but multiple ways to ask them. The ones who is the best fit for those 3 will usually get the job. (They are really obvious, I know that, but knowing it can help shape answers.)
For those pinning their hopes on getting an extension of service – although ask yourself this : will that extension just be delaying the inevitable? At some point you need to come to peace with the fact that, for all us, our time in the forces comes to an and. Post service life something to embraced, and the better prepared you are, the easier is becomes.
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