The Ex Mil Recruitment Podcast

We've come to the end of Season One of the Ex-Mil Recruitment Podcast and we're rounding up with a recap of the Top 4 Best Tips we've heard from our guests, throughout the season.

Our show host, Rosie Di Lecce, and Ben Shorter, MD of Ex-Mil Recruitment, chat in depth about topics such as planning with purpose, networking, the importance of mindset, and adapting and knowing your skills. 

Tune in now for this final episode of Season One!

Richard Wade has one of the most interesting stories you'll ever hear; he went from being an Army Medic to a civvy life filled with unexpected professional turns, great journeys and entrepreneurship.

Richard shares with Rosie how it all started, the importance of being open to opportunities (no matter when or how they show up), and the role determination and mindset play when a veteran wants to build a successful civilian career.

Today, Richard runs Risk And Safety Compliance Services Ltd, a company that supports rural crime prevention. Plus, he's heavily involved in supporting service leavers and veterans through the Gen Dit Network and other similar initiatives.

His story is one you do not want to miss! Tune in to hear Richard’s incredible journey and discover the key elements that contributed to his career today. 

You can connect with Richard at the following links:

Have you ever wondered how to build a thriving career, no matter where you start?

Are you curious to know what it takes to go from apprentice to operations manager?

These are just a couple of the questions we explore with our latest guest, Steve King, on the Ex-Mil Recruitment Podcast.

After 24 years in the military, Steve made it a priority to grasp what he wanted to do after his leave. He began to plan early, which he says was key to his success, and once he understood what he needed to do he was able to strategically move forward. 

He began as an apprentice, but it wasn't long till he climbed up all the way to the Operations Manager title. 

Tune in to hear our discussion about how Steve built a career, why he, as well as Centrica, actively supports veterans and communities such as the Gen Dit Network.

Have you thought about running your own business after leaving the service? Then this episode is for you.

Becoming a business owner after his transition made Steve Thornton face many tough choices, ups and downs, as well as incredible success - and in this new episode he chats with Rosie to share some great advice that might help any veteran or service leaver aspiring to entrepreneurship.  

We also explore how his business supports veterans and why, despite leaving almost 30 years ago, Steve and his company are still so heavily involved in the veteran community and the Gen Dit Network.

Listen to the episode for the full story!

What's in Store for 2024 if you're leaving the Military or looking for a career change as a Veteran?

In this episode, we discuss it all with Ben Shorter, MD of Ex-Mil Recruitment.

Join us for a yearly recap and future predictions for the job market in 2024, and how that affects you. Hear Ben’s perspective on what industries are expected to keep booming, as well as his number one tip for your job search this new year. 

Episodes mentioned and useful links:

Luke’s career as a Royal Engineer was pretty normal until he started planning his exit strategy from the military - 3 years before it even happened. And not because he necessarily wanted to leave at that moment, but simply because he found himself procrastinating and questioning what was next.

But the wait proved the best decision he could make!

Everyone’s transition story is unique, but from military to a free education for an MBA, Luke’s story is a great example of how your career can really make a 360 with the right mindset and planning.

Hear Luke’s take on the role internal conversations play when putting your own achievements out there for a shift in your career and the importance of marketing yourself.

Connect with Luke here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ACoAAA88eAABvW7jsE5iBGh0TaWZXmMgxEmfPH4?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_miniProfile%3AACoAAA88eAABvW7jsE5iBGh0TaWZXmMgxEmfPH4&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_search_srp_all%3Br1x78yRHT7iyUAEH6WDcWw%3D%3D

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From a kidnap and ransom centre operator to working for Nationwide, after his transition Gary Ruddell had to zoom out to realise his work has always really been about risk management. With this new perspective in mind, he set out to explore all the possibilities this path offered and to shape a new career in civvy street.

Listen to our latest episode to hear all about the world of cyber threat intelligence, the benefits of working in cybersecurity as a veteran and how to leave that old military identity behind in order to move forward.

How much do you think you have in common with a retired professional rugby player?

The answer might surprise you!

After playing for over a decade, Leon Lloyd had to face his retirement, meaning he had to find a new path. Like veterans after they leave the military, he set out to discover a new career and explore the transferable skills a potential employer could take advantage of. 

It wasn't long before he found a new thriving career and his high-performance, elite athlete approach got him to the top.

Hear Leon's story of leaving elite rugby, making his way in civvy street and how he ended up building a business that supports athletes, veterans and service leavers.

Tune in now to hear all the interesting, unexpected similarities between veterans and professional athletes. Enjoy!

Connect with Leon at the following links:

Working for the Rail sector is more than just ensuring a train goes from point A to point B. 

In fact, this field encompasses a variety of positions and it may be more dynamic than you think. With many moving parts, from engineering to security, operations, sales and more, there's always somewhere to fit in within the rail sector!

But hey - don't just take our word for it! Listen to Christopher Pugh's story and experience and learn all about his progress to become a Senior Trainer Assessor at Colas Rail, over the course of his 20-year career in the rail sector.

Connect with Chris and Colas Rail below:

How do you translate your experience from the military for new commercial jobs in the civvy world? 

We talked with Craig Murney, Project Manager with over 10 years of experience, about the gap veterans face when transitioning into commercial roles and how to truly get past it. 

Learning from his mistakes, as well as his current hiring experience, Craig shares valuable tips and talks about the sea of opportunities available to everyone who knows how to translate their military skills the right way.

Craig gives a full breakdown on how to word your CV, what to highlight and how to approach new challenges. 

Listen to this week's episode for all the details and insights from Craig!

Connect with Craig on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-murney-fapm-40b33758/

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When it comes to cybersecurity, how do you choose the right role and know the steps to take to make it happen?

Working in Cyber offers more roles than people might realise, it's not just about SOC Analysis and Pentesting, and in this episode we explore a few of those roles and why veterans are a good fit for the job.

Hear Lindsays advice on how to choose what's best for you, in this week's episode.

SO what's so attractive about Project Management as a career and role?

And what are the steps you need to take to land a project management job?

The answers to these questions in today's episode, where we chat with Ben Jones-Newton.

There were enough reasons for Ben to leave after serving for 20 years and in the middle of a pandemic, so he started to consider the steps he needed to take for his transition.

With a buzzword like project management being thrown around quite a lot in the last few years, he had heard about the role, but at first he did not fully understand all that it could offer to a service leaver. Through courses and connecting with other project managers, he gained the insights and qualifications he needed to start his own project management career. 

Learn how Ben bridged his skills, what his transition was like and the steps he took to build a thriving career as a project manager in the aviation sector at Boeing.

Listen to this episode to hear the full scoop!

You can connect with Ben here:

After evaluating her life and wanting a change from the military, Kaleigh decided to take her leave. 

She jumped on a few online career fairs and felt connected to a new industry… sales. She felt she could learn something new while also applying skills from her past, such as communication, teamwork, and adaptability.

Along the way, she learned that between investigations and sales calls there are more similarities than you think!

Hear all about her story, her resettlement and career change in this new episode!

There's a lot more to the resettlement period than just finding a job.

Driven by the desire to fulfill her potential, Casey knew that leaving the Army was only going to be the first step of a whole new path towards a an exciting civilian career - and she faced the process with determination and resilience! After 10 years in the Army Air Corps she transitioned out and decided to become a Leadership Coach.

Now working as a freelancer, she shares the challenges, discusses what she learned along the way, what to consider when you're going through resettlement and what scared her about the leap to civvy street.

In her interview she also discussed the importance of self-leadership, why it's essential to know yourself as you're transitioning and how to identify what it is that you really want to do after you've left the Forces

Hear Casey's story and advice on resettlement in Episode 20 of the Ex-Mil Recruitment Podcast.

Connect with Casey at the following links:

Are you a veteran looking to work in Scotland, or perhaps looking to relocate? 

Although England often takes a center place in the job market, Scotland is currently flooding with jobs in booming sectors, such as renewable energy, IT, engineering, and more. So if you're in Scotland and you're looking for a job, or you're considering relocating there, you're in luck - the opportunities are many!

In today's episode, our guest, Emma Davies, discusses the Scottish job market, the current top 5 industries in Scotland, the perks of networking within a smaller population, and how COVID-19 changed the way we look for work and what that means for you. 

After years in the Army, Emma now runs her own ex-military recruitment business dedicated to the Scottish jobs market. She saw a need for veteran support in Scotland after seeing how different the market was compared to the rest of the UK. Through her experience, Emma Davis learned how to harness and apply the communication skills acquired in the Army to build a thriving career.

Hear her best tips on how to communicate your skills as a veteran, quantify soft skills from the military, and build a career fast in civvy street.

Connect with Emma and her recruitment agency for the Scottish market here:

Meet Chris Shaw - ex Royal Marine and founder of the Gen Dit network, which is now one of the biggest free military networking groups active today.

When starting this LinkedIn group, his goal was to help other ex-mil personnel feel confident and excited about transitioning out of the military. Before he knew it, the group quickly grew, proving that this type of community was really needed. So far, the impact it's had on its 11,000 members (and counting) has been incredible and many are the success stories that can be traced back to the power of the Gen Dit Network.

In this episode, he talks with Rosie about why the Network was born, how he started his own career as a Proposal Manager and he offers veterans his top 10 tips to make resettlement easier.

It's an episode you sure don't want to miss!

Tune in to hear all 10 of Chris’s key tips for service leavers wanting to thrive in a civilian career. 

Today we're chatting with Warren GD Wright, one of the Ex-Mil Recruitment consultants. Tune in to hear about resettlement, how to make your CV relevant, recruiting as a career and more.

Warren belief is, when you get out, don’t throw all your cards up in the air. As a veteran and recruiter himself, Warren reminds ex-personnel that all the different hats that you wore in the military, still make you qualified for all those jobs in the civilian world, so pick the jobs that you can actually do now and use them as a starting point to thrive further.

Hear more tips and tricks for adjusting your CV for specific roles, how to know if you need to gain further training and finding your route, in episode 16!

Currently, Project Management is one of the most sought-after careers within a wide range of sectors, but is it always the best choice?

In episode 15 we hear the ins and outs of project management and how to know if it's right for you.

Our guest Carrie Allen gives advice on how to become a qualified project manager, prepare for your military leave and keys to finding the right job. She also discusses how adaptability from military experience might just give you the right prerequisites for the job. 

Carrie spent 15 years in the army before transitioning to a civilian career in project management at Engage Technical Solutions. Through her experience, she found that instead of only looking at her acquired skills, she also needed to look at her needs, in a practical way, and chose her career path accordingly. 

Listen to her story and career evolution in today's episode!

Useful links from this episode:

Hear the advice and experience of Neil Fraser, Director of Defence and Space Programmes at NSSL Global, who started a civilian career in the Space industry about 10 years ago, after 26 years of service in the British Army.

In this episode, Rosie and Neil talk about the benefits and real-world experience service leavers bring to a work environment within the Space sector. They discuss why this industry is a great fit for many veteran. They also chat about how to evaluate your own experience, when to start your search and how to identify (and communicate) the value you bring to a team. 

Catch episode 14 now for more details!

Have you ever wondered how to put together an incredible CV that showcases all your experience and gets you your dream job? If yes, this podcast episode is for you!

Mick Flaherty, professional CV writer and consultant, sits down with Rosie to share his best tips to structure a great CV that stands out. He discusses all the do's and don'ts and talks about the most common mistakes veterans make when creating their CV.

Listen to the full episode to learn all the insights from Mick and connect with him at the following links:

After serving 10 years as an Army Officer, Mike, specialising in Training Design and Delivery, left and started to build his own consultancy business, MDA Limited. In just 10 months, he went from running the consultancy on his own to having 17 consultants and a 7-figure business.

Join us as Mike discusses networking, social media, imposter syndrome, learning as you go, and so much more, in a very unfiltered conversation.

“We discover how extraordinary our life is when we talk to other people and really think about what we achieved in our military career.”

That's Will Hairsine observation when it comes to realising your own skills as a veteran venturing into the civilian world.

Hairsine went from 20 years in the military to transitioning (during the pandemic) and working first for Amazon and now as a full time as a consultant at KPMG. 

In our latest episode, Rosie discusses with Will Hairsine a variety of topics, including networking, using LinkedIn as a tool to find your next job, and the importance of getting to know yourself outside of the military. We also touch upon mental health and why everyone should be more open and supportive about it. 

Hear it all in our latest episode now! 

John Stephenson, Managing Director of The Forces Transition Group, joins Rosie to talk about transitioning, the challenges that come from it and the key 3 elements every veteran needs to successfully build a thriving career in the civilian world. 

They also chat about The Forces Transition Group and how they actively help thousands of veterans with job fairs, CV advice, interview support and so much more. 

This week's guest, Jac Hughes, tells us about his journey from leaving the Navy at 25 to becoming part of the civilian workforce and successfully starting his own Agile consultancy business. 

Jac addresses the trouble of figuring out transferable skills and imposter syndrome he faced going from navigating the seas to navigating a brilliant career in civvy street.

He makes important points about humility, finding people with the same values and rebuilding - outside the Forces - that sense of community the military provides.