Email to close Sqn’s???
No need to be touchy. I can also tell you from first hand experience those type of qualifications ARE worth their weight.
So what now eh?
You fell for the sales pitch.
I didn’t. The persons who obtained them and used them for successful gain did? Well clearly not as they gained over others. I can see this is beyond your comprehension. Sit down, have a brew, think about it overnight then come back and let us know what you think. Don’t be so hasty
Cost savings measure apparently. Scoping exercise to identify.
accoss the board or certain wings/ regions?
Straying off topic here, but national.
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They can start by saving cost by punting some of the heirarchy.
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Won’t find me arguing with you on this
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DofE is the only thing we do that the majority employers will have some knowledge and experience of, everything else we do is far too niche. Things like QUAIC and JL, you’d spend most of the interview explaining it. But even the DofE is an additional and it is still GCSEs and other school / college / uni qualifications that take priority. I dispute the knocking of BTECs. I have had a number of cadets do BTECs, move into employment and do well, one is currently a magazine editor and worked on a number of publications. Our children all started jobs and the employers put them on BTECs and they have all done well so far. The ATCs aviation BTEC is not worth the paper it’s written on, as it’s too diverse.
Soft skills can be picked up by all cadets but are only evidenced by doing things. They can be referenced, but this leads onto a problem I’ve seen which is cadets being unable to articulate what they do / they’ve done in the Corps either in writing or verbally. I’ve advised on supporting / personal statements for CVs and applications. The one soft skill we try and instil is confidence and it’s the one that many parents, especially, relate to and comment on.
What we can do, given that there are I imagine many of us who have experience in application / CV sifting and interviewing at work, is provide pointers as to how to word things and approach a job interview and hope it makes the cadets stand out.
However RAS is right on the money WRT the ATC and cadet and staff motivation and desire.
Many cadets just want to join, do some things and leave, they have no grand designs or plans. If they get promoted that’s an extra. I’ve known more like this than any other group. Those that do want to do things pester you to let them know when it comes up. Similarly staff, some want to come in and just do things with the sqn and no other desires. Others come in and think they’re going to change the world and make appropriate noises. I know one bloke, he’s been a CI for 26 years and does a lot more than the ones who just want to get promoted and or on Wing Staff as quickly as possible.
I’ve got a schoolmate who joined the police at 17 and left after 30 years as Constable as that was what they wanted, as they got to work with the local community, which is why he joined the police. He said his Inspectors got frustrated as he didn’t want Sgt. He was the police liaison for several schools and out in the community where he lived and loved it, rather than “being behind a desk”. In his words, luckily I like tea and coffee, as people would always make him one.
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Seriously? I know of plenty of people who have got into jobs without any meaningful non-vocational qualifications thanks to BTECs/NVQs and they’ve been from across the spectrum not just from cadets.
Not necessarily. From personal experience telling someone in an interview you’ve delivered a 40-minute presentation to industry leaders and senior military figures at the age of 17 is fairly easy to understand. Just because the courses themselves may not be easy to explain to the layman that doesn’t mean what the cadets get out of it isn’t.
There’s so much the ATC offers which is massively helpful for the cadets’ futures and I think the best way to get cadets to achieve their potential is to know what they want to get out of their cadet experience by actually speaking to them and then pointing them in the direction that would be most helpful to them.
I wish someone had made me aware of NGB qualifications as a cadet as trying to get them done now as a member of staff is proving challenging due to the huge investment of time.
For my latest job i spent most of my interview talking about my RMQ/SAAI qualifications and the implications of this qualifications in terms of organising wing wide activities.
No one in the room knew what the qualification was at that point though.
I’ve had 2 interviews and talked about cadets for most of them and got both jobs.
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I doesn’t matter what the cadet wants out of their ATC career or what the corps can offer them but until you have talked with them you will never know. That is the point.
I do not mean a formal hats on board in front of all of the uniformed staff on the sqn but an informal chat while waiting for their slot while flying or stopped for lunch while expedition training. I learn more about any cadets hopes and aspirations while Nijmegen training than any other member of their own sqn will in a sit down formal interview.
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I struggle to see how spending a large chunk of interview time explaining what you do on courses such as JL or QAIC would be a bad thing, to be honest.
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When I go back to my cadet days, things went up on the noticeboard or we were told about it and said we wanted to do it or put our names down, no one ever asked in any circumstance what I wanted to do, probably given I was doing it anyway.
I was approached when I was nearly 22 about being staff and it was OK I’ll do it, as was my WO and then Commission. I’ve only been asked once about my plans in 5 yrs and my answer was be alive.
We need to get it out of our heads that we are something special. We are a youth organisation first and last, and no more.
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Our interviews at work are scripted and last no more than 20 minutes. But the decision is made in the first few seconds or even before the interview.
I’ve done mock interviews in schools and had 20 minutes inc feedback. TBH I’ve spent more time on feedback than the actual interview.
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Because there is more to be discussed than a token course you did once, that probably hasn’t got any relevance to the job.
Great you can jump around and fire blanks? Ok but can you work this till/lathe/mop/computer?
Yea it’s good for personal development, and we should push it for that reason but it’s hardly something that’s going to jump out at employers.
I spent a lot of time having to explain pretty simple stuff from my military background which in the end they never understood. and I always tried and try to answer questions with a plethora of different examples, I tried and still try not to pigeon hole myself and constantly bang on about the military.
I don’t want a potential employer to think I have tunnel vision or still clinging onto it.
I think you’ll find the ILM L3 does jump out to employers
Depends entirely on the employer. The candidate. The job, the progression and if the employer even knows what it is.
As an employer, if there is a qualification I don’t understand, its a talking point for the interview to help me understand their experience/background and suitability for the role.
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