Military personnel find civilian engineering jobs

The Tees Valley Engineering Partnership (TVEP) is helping ex-armed forces personnel to find new civilian careers on Teesside, in an effort to fill the growing need for highly skilled workers.

The Tees Valley Engineering Partnership (TVEP) is helping ex-armed forces personnel to find new civilian careers on Teesside, in an effort to fill the growing need for highly skilled workers.

The Wynyard-based partnership is made up of engineering companies from across the Tees Valley.

Its specialist training initiative, which will be partly subsidised by the TVEP, will help ease the career transition process.

According to experts there are around 1500 skilled engineers who leave the armed forces every year, at least 150 of whom seek new careers locally.

In late 2006, the TVEP held a special recruitment conference at the Career Transition Partnership's (CTP) Regional Resettlement Centre (RRC) at Catterick Garrison to help show a number of these individuals the wide range of opportunities that are available to them.

The CTP is the name given to a partnership between the Ministry of Defence and Right Management, part of the Manpower Group.

The CTP is contracted by the MoD to provide resettlement services which consist of guidance, advice and information for eligible service leavers regarding life after the military.

They also advise service leavers about the competitive job market to prepare them for careers outside of the armed forces.

The conference, attended by more than 40 soldiers and other forces personnel, offered an opportunity for those seeking new careers to meet face-to-face with a range of employers and training providers and find out more about the options that are available to them.

The event was met with enthusiasm from both the armed forces and TVEP members and following its success the TVEP hosted a second recruitment fair at RRC Catterick earlier this year.

During this latest event, attendees were able to discuss their qualifications with industry representatives together with those from engineering training providers NETA and TTE.

Employers in attendance were Corus, Amec, R Blackett Charlton and Hertel.

All left the event with a collection of CVs and will shortly proceed in following up on the contacts that were made.

Malcolm Potter, Manager of the Tees Valley Engineering Partnership, said: "There is a national labour deficit within the engineering sector, which is expected to worsen unless the issue is addressed soon".

"Personnel leaving the armed forces often have a range of transferable skills and practical engineering experience, which makes them ideal candidates to alleviate these shortages".

"The recent recruitment event at Catterick Garrison was all about getting this message across and showing service personnel that there are real career prospects within the engineering sector here on Teesside".

"Already a number of people have been offered employment as a result of these events".

"This number will increase over the next month or two".

"Overall, the event was a real success for all involved and hopefully it will help lead individuals who are leaving the armed forces into a new and beneficial career".

Back to top