FDM’s ex-forces initiative was established to help support the transition period between leaving the military and finding new employment, something which is typically a very difficult thing to do, especially if the candidate has been in the military for a number of years from a young age, as is often the case.
The programme leans on transferable skills learned in the military that can be applied to a civilian career, these skills regularly include leadership, technological proficiency, and analytical skills. In fact, the most popular career placement through this programme is in Project Management, with 68 per cent of alumni moving on to become full time Project Managers.
Additionally, seven per cent of candidates have joined IT service management, including technical support, seven per cent have become business analysts, four per cent are in consulting, and three per cent are working in cyber security. Furthermore, five per cent of alumni were placed in testing, three per cent are in Data Services, one per cent are in information security and less than one per cent are working in infrastructure.
Currently FDM has 169 further consultants on site – 68 per cent of these came through its advanced training programme and 32 per cent through its Mountie programme. To date, 171 consultants have moved on to successfully transition to a client’s business as a full-time employee after completing two years with us.
Three ex-forces FDM alumni and one FDM consultant have been put up for an award at the Ex-Forces in Business awards taking place in June.
FDM’s 1,000th ex-forces placement candidate, Rosslyn Beattie, commented: “Halfway through the Advanced Ex-Forces course with FDM I got the opportunity to successfully interview with a huge name within the financial services sector!
“Thoroughly enjoying the course so far and gaining the confidence that I can take my British Army experience and translate it to become a real asset to future clients. Can’t wait to get my new career on the road and would definitely recommend FDM for any service leavers looking for an assist to life after the Forces.”
Additionally, FDM Alumni and British Army Veteran Jason Woosnam, said this about the FDM scheme: “It all started when I registered for an FDM Insight Day. I always thought I’d fall into a more ‘hands-on’ Network Engineer type of role, but from that day I quickly saw how a role in #IT Service Management would be the better option for career progression.
Having signed up for training, the trainers helped me see how the transferable skills I had obtained in the Army could be applied to the world of Business and when I got the chance to apply those skills during my on-site placement with a national Energy infrastructure organisation, I didn’t hold back.
My advice to new veterans? Believe in your abilities. You have a lot of good experience from the forces that FDM understands and can help you maximise in a civilian career.”
Jason Woosnam is now a Major Incident Manager at JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Rod Flavell, CEO of FDM Group comments: “It’s a great honour to play a role in helping our heroes make the transition into a career in the technology sector, an area which is well matched with existing skills acquired in military service. Ex-forces personnel also possess key qualities like resilience, ambition and a strong work ethic, making them very much in-demand with our clients and a perfect fit for our training programmes.
We’re incredibly proud to have reached the 1,000th placement milestone and would like to offer our congratulations to our existing team members and alumni on this achievement.”
If you’d like to attend an FDM Insight Day, register here: https://bit.ly/3m9z1Sj