As Remembrance Day draws near, we continue our blog series focused on veterans who transferred their armed forces skills to a civilian career with the Churchill Group.
Davey Watson, a regional director for Amulet, was a corporal in the Staff and Personnel Support Branch, which is a large part of the Adjutant General’s Corps. His service saw him travel all over the world.
Davey spent 9.5 years in the army and after departing was able to put all his planning, administrative and people, project, and operational management skills into practice in the business world.
He said: “The British Army requires a huge amount of administrative support and the skills and experiences that soldiers gain from being part of the Adjutant General’s Corps are directly transferrable to business.
“Though my years serving put me in a good place as I transitioned to civilian life, more fortunate than many with less obviously relevant business orientated experiences, there were still a lot of things that I had to learn, or in certain circumstances, unlearn. For example, the army has its own hierarchy, language, behaviours, sense of humour and ways of doing things that don’t always align with the corporate world.
“I quickly learned that rank didn’t mean ordering people around and that mickey-taking and gallows humour didn’t create comradery in the workplace in the same way it used to in the military. Where I tripped up the most were not the task orientated activities, but rather the softer side of managing outcomes.“
Davey joined Amulet in 2022 as the regional director for Scotland. His role has seen him helping others in the forces move into the business world by attending forces transition days at various military establishments.
His advice: “I always ask people about what they actually want to do. I actively encourage them to take the courses that might help them in the civilian world while they are still in the military. For example, project management qualifications like Prince2 are valued by business but expensive to gain. If you want to be a project manager and the army will pay for your course as part of your resettlement, you should go for it.
“One of the things I valued when I left the army, and I always suggest to new leavers is get a mentor that will help you. I had one that helped me demilitarise if you like, and I help others in the same way.
“Within the Churchill Group, there is a real appreciation that skills gained in the armed forces, like personal discipline, presentation, timeliness, task focus and resilience are readily transferable to our business. We have a mentoring programme that can see veterans paired up with other veterans so that they can be supported by someone that knows the world they came from.
“For me, civvy street has been every bit as rewarding as the military and I can recommend the facilities management industry as a worthwhile follow-on employer.”
If you enjoyed this post, maybe you’d like to meet some more of our veterans: