Options after the military

[Osinjak]

mph1977 said:

sokmething doesn;t quite sit right there unless doctor / vet / lawyer ...

Oh for God's sake go away. You're a pain in the arse on ARRSE and you clearly haven't read this thread properly either.

[Hoofy]

frodo_monkey said:

sit in the back of Tornado jets... I could 'press the button' tomorrow and be out in slightly less than six months

Is it just me who thinks you need to service your ejection seat?

I'd write down a list of skills you've developed eg managing a team, managing a project, and see what jobs are relevant outside the RAF. I am sure your skills are very applicable so it won't be difficult to start a new career. (I know someone who was in the army and is now a fund manager.)

[mph1977]

Hoofy said:

frodo_monkey said:

sit in the back of Tornado jets... I could 'press the button' tomorrow and be out in slightly less than six months

Is it just me who thinks you need to service your ejection seat?

I'd write down a list of skills you've developed eg managing a team, managing a project, and see what jobs are relevant outside the RAF. I am sure your skills are very applicable so it won't be difficult to start a new career. (I know someone who was in the army and is now a fund manager.)

by pressing the button one would hope he means the 'seven clicks to freedom' that are reportedly all that is required in the self service JPA age ...

[ruff'n'smov]

Grumfutock said:

I did 22 in the Army and left as a SNCO, I love my pension every month. 5 figure may not seem much to you but it goes a long way each month!

Oh and you are in the RAF? So some sort of work in the hotel and leisure industry should be perfect for you.

Deck chair attendant should suit your operational lifestyle if not your skill set.

Kindest regards.
The Senior Service

[Asterix]

Osinjak said:

mph1977 said:

sokmething doesn;t quite sit right there unless doctor / vet / lawyer ...

Oh for God's sake go away. You're a pain in the arse on ARRSE and you clearly haven't read this thread properly either.

[Grumfutock]

ruff'n'smov said:

Grumfutock said:

I did 22 in the Army and left as a SNCO, I love my pension every month. 5 figure may not seem much to you but it goes a long way each month!

Oh and you are in the RAF? So some sort of work in the hotel and leisure industry should be perfect for you.

Deck chair attendant should suit your operational lifestyle if not your skill set.

Kindest regards.
The Senior Service

Shuffle Board anyone? Senior Service my arse! OOPS sorry, I shouldn't mention bums around you nautical chaps.

Humans were fighting on land long before we could bob (read swan) about on the ocean wave!

[TLandCruiser]

6 years is nothing, you would be silly to leave now.....I know you must be fed up of using all that Brylcreem but its only for 6 more years...and as its only the RAF, its a piece of piss anyway :P

[ecsrobin]

Osinjak said:

CTW will show you how to translate your skill set to Civvy St and how to speak their language in terms of saying, 'I was a Flt Lt in a two-man fast jet so I can work well within small teams under intense pressure as demonstrated by X.' I was hurtling towards my IPP when I decided to do an MSc paid for by ELCs, your rank, experience and Staff education should qualify you for this through Portsmouth Uni (I say should, I'm Army and our ICSC is considerably longer than yours!). THere's a DIN on this but I can't remember the number, sorry. As it happens I stayed in and did another MSc but that's another story! Good luck with whatever you decide.

I'd agree with the CTW part, they made me look at what I had achieved over the years and turned it into civilian speak so that I could create a good CV (not that most places do CV's anymore it's all online applications) however the rest of the support from CTW was rubbish and a complete waste of time.

I would suggest staying in for them last few years but is their any option of becoming a UAV pilot? I know when I was in they were qualifying crewman on being operators, that would also start lining you up for being an operator in the civilian market and it's going to get HUGE in the next few years.

[jkh112]

ecsrobin said:

I'd agree with the CTW part, they made me look at what I had achieved over the years and turned it into civilian speak so that I could create a good CV (not that most places do CV's anymore it's all online applications) however the rest of the support from CTW was rubbish and a complete waste of time.

A word of warning, I employ ex military people for their military skills and I see too many CVs which have been civilianised by the CTP and have become very generic. "Able to work under pressure" "managed a team of xx" etc. which may be fine if you do not have specific skill from the military, but many people do and all too often this is lost in the pseudo management speak the CTP recommend for CVs.

Edited for typos

Edited by jkh112 on Thursday 5th March 13:11

[Osinjak]

I found the The CTW fascinating for lots of reasons, the Sqn Ldr who was literally leaving the service in weeks few and had done nothing to the stroppy LE who refused to play by the rules and reckoned that managing soldiers would be the ticket to success in Civvy St. He was pretty much ignored by the end of the course. Anyway, I thought the workshop was useful, the interview much less so. For example I have PM quals but find the whole PM process extraordinarily boring and not something that I wanted to get involved with when I finally left. The other thing is wine, it's a hobby of mine and I have a couple of quals in that as well and teach part time through a company that I'm sub-contracted to but again, it's a hobby and I don't want to do it full time. So my opening gambit with the CTP bloke was along the lines of; 'I have no interest in PM and although I have wine quals, I don't want to work in the industry, it's a hobby.' Fast forward 45 mins and the clown suggests that I look for a career in the wine industry with PM involvement.

Nice one.

[PaulG40]

I pvr'd in November last year and i've now 6months left with the intention of going into the wind turbine industry. It's definitely a very big and scary decision. I've 8yrs until my 22 but with us having a new baby, and me posted down south away from my family, it's put so much pressure on us so it made the decision an easy one, especially when i'm so disheartened with being in at the moment. I keep thinking i'd be losing so much, not doing the 22 and 'bagging' that pension income but I pretty worked out that i'd more than compensate myself in having 8yrs experience already and hopefully have a higher earning potential.

That said, yours would be an officer pension so worth alot more than my cpl/sgt one. It's certainly a tough one and you have my sympathies with your missus away on her IPT tour now (I assume... i was on 12 with her)? Could you try a compassionate posting nearer her, instructor duties at cranwell etc, S02 41sqn?

[citizensm1th]

Why not do your 6 and then enrol at uni doing a degree you find interesting?

[Siko]

Hi Frodo,

I retired as a Sqn Ldr in 2013 after 17 years flying SH....as others have said the pension is absolutely priceless and whilst I do not know your personal circumstances, if at all possible stay till your IPP. I fly offshore now with several chaps who PVR'd at a similar age to you and they are pumping huge amounts of cash into their pension pots to try and make up the deficit. It's a big mistake IMO to lose a final salary pension, however modest, in this day and age.

You've got a good few years to prepare and there's lots of flying related jobs that you could align yourself to. If moving to the OEU is an option for you, it would get you a lot of close links to the defence industry and several of my chums used their OEU contacts to get jobs outside. Selex, Bae, AgustaWestland, etc etc all very keen on ex-mil with recent op experience. Also got companies like Inzpire that do some really interesting military related activities and employ ex-mil aircrew of all varieties.

The CTP are pretty good IMO and I learnt loads on the course....I was genuinely shocked how little prep some/most of the others there had done. I'd say at least half had no clue what they wanted to do....a half colonel told me he wouldn't consider anything less than a directorship and £120k....but had no idea where, what and how. They show you a video with an F3 Sqn Cdr extolling the virtues of life outside and his highly paid, high-powered city job....I sat next to a GR4 Nav Wg Cdr who knew said F3 chap and he apparently totally burnt out in 6 months.....so don't believe all the hype

Courses that you may have paid lip service to in the RAF, eg CRM and Human Factors, are highly valued outside and there is really good money to be made if you're a confident speaker and can manage a group of the two winged master race Our CRM training is run by a lovely ex-RAF pilot who travels all over the world teaching every variety of pilot and he charges a small fortune, but is very good. I'd investigate getting some formal CRM/HF qualifications and build some links to civilian companies.

Enough blah....best of luck with your choices.

[Osinjak]

citizensm1th said:

Why not do your 6 and then enrol at uni doing a degree you find interesting?

Better yet, he could do an in-service degree with only three years ROS. Choices are a little limited though although OU is always an option, I know quite a few who have done this.

[Oi U]

As others have suggested, you could have time on your side in which to up-skill. Not knowing your strengths outside a fast jet, I can only add my own experience and that of a colleague. We were both C130 Navs who took an interest in IT. We took courses in project management, a skill that enables you to be very flexible on location. After a few years project managing in a software environment, I ended my working career working in a bank!
Just an idea.

[Asterix]

That's a good point actually - my Uncle was an armourer, worked on Buccanneers and Harriers IIRC (was a while back). he too took an interest in IT. Walked out of the RAF after a full career and started as a Project manager for a big programming house and quadrupled his salary.

[petop]

I did 24 years in the Army and as others have said the extra time building up that pension is worthwhile as well as spending more time being "paid well" to decide what you want to do.
I could point you in some contracting directions abroad but from what you say thats not what you want. Im now KAF where you probably spent a little time keeping me awake at night taking off......which was pretty good at night watching pairs of Tonkas with afterburners lit.
Again as others have said the CV online or not needs to be civilianised which i got pretty good at over the last 2 years sorting out lads who have been leaving. "works under pressure" etc is fine but its not what will get you noticed which the CTW tends to pull out when you attend it.

[ecsrobin]

jkh112 said:

ecsrobin said:

I'd agree with the CTW part, they made me look at what I had achieved over the years and turned it into civilian speak so that I could create a good CV (not that most places do CV's anymore it's all online applications) however the rest of the support from CTW was rubbish and a complete waste of time.

A word of warning, I employ ex military people for their military skills and I see too many CVs which have been civilianised by the CTP and have become very generic. "Able to work under pressure" "managed a team of xx" etc. which may be fine if you do not have specific skill from the military, but many people do and all too often this is lost in the pseudo management speak the CTP recommend for CVs.

Edited for typos

Edited by jkh112 on Thursday 5th March 13:11

Agree with this also, my CV I created before and after my CTW and sent it to CTP for their once over and they came back saying it was rubbish and to change the look to their format, showed it to a friend who is a big player within a major manufacturing business who does the companies recruiting and his wife is a European companies head of HR both came back with excellent CV so I kept it my way.

As for 41sqn it stopped being an OEU about 5/6 years ago now! It's now got the rubbish name of being a TES (Test and Evaluation Squadron)

[98elise]

Just to put your pension into some perspective. Take the annual sum, multiply it by 20, and thats the sort of cash lump sum you would need to generate that amount of income for life.