Military expertise and commitment to getting the job done in the wake of the devastating Cumbria floods has thrown transferable skills of services personnel into the spotlight.
Harry Dean, director of Gemini Forces, said military intervention to build a temporary footbridge spanning the River Derwent in Workington was the perfect illustration of the skills of forces personnel can be transferred seamlessly into the civilian environment.
In Workington, the logistic support bridge will provide a vital connection between the north and south sides of the town. They were cut off from each other after the Workington Bridge was destroyed and the Calva Bridge suffered significant structural damage from the floods.
It involved around 200 soldiers from the Royal Engineers, Royal Logistics Corps, Royal Signals and Royal Military Police to prepare the site, transport the bridge sections and build it.
Mr Dean, who served in the Army for 30 years before moving into the recruitment industry, said: “Ex-services personnel possess a broad spectrum of skills which can be used in both combat and non-combat situations. The work in Workington highlights just how transferable those skills are, from engineering to logistics and project management.”
Leicester-based Gemini Forces, part of Gemini Resourcing UK Ltd, specialises in helping ex-services personnel find employment when they return to civilian life, particularly in the Health & Safety, environmental, aviation, facilities management, project management and defence consultancy sectors.
Mr Dean added employers that have embraced taking on ex-services personnel had reaped the rewards of gaining highly-skilled employees with high levels of commitment and loyalty.
“When we approach civilian organisations, they tend to think ex-forces people will be ideal for security roles, for example,” he said.
“Some also have the initial opinion that while they might look good on paper, they lack commercial experience. They soon realise though that there’s far more to ex-service personnel than they first think and when we have placed a candidate in a role, employers frequently say to us ‘what a difference they’re making’.
“The qualities ex-forces personnel possess include loyalty, commitment and time management which are the cornerstones of any business. They won’t down tools just because it’s the end of their shift. They will finish the job which, in our experience is why civilian employers use them time and again.
“Gemini Forces looks at what a candidate has done and what trades they have before translating it into a CV to use in the civilian world, creating a win, win situation for candidates and employers alike.”
