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Discrimination against ex forces personnel

Thursday March 26, 2009 at 4:09pm

Mike wrote to me saying

''I am hearing vicious rumours and came across this myself last week, some people are barring forces people and not even reading thier CV's, i found this out last week from a friend who used to work for Reeds and also when i went for a local job with Techsearch. They both said that forces people are not flexible in thier attitudes work as thy are too regimented, i even got told i would not work well in a team, from one recruiter, which we all know is crap as the forces work just as good in a team or on thier own. Also at the last interview i went to a guy from the Royal Artillary said he doesn't even bother putting his service on his CV anymore as recruiters bin it straight away.
I have applied for quite a few maintenance jobs here in Hull that i know full well i can do but have a funny feeling my CV is not getting passed the recruiters.
Have you heard this as well? I think it is a form of discrimination if i am been honest and am considering re-wording my CV to reflect i have not been in the services. ''

» Categories: General

4 Comments

NJohn | April 21, 2009, 10:04am

I left the R.A.F in 1990, this situation is not just affecting those leaving now, it has been around for some time. There is a fair deal of bigotry towards Ex Forces Personnel. Personally I have always kept my forces background on my CV it would be difficult to hide my 9 years of service. I have found that employers are scared of us ex forces people, were often better qualified and have a better attitude to the work ethic and environment, I think they are scared for their own jobs/position, but that's just my opinion....

Harry Dean | April 22, 2009, 8:42am

Civvies are without doubt scared of us ex-forces people, but it is through ignorance, they dont know what we can do, most people are oblivious to the unique combination of highly developed skills and qualities possessed by forces people and when they do find out what we can do, they feel threatened, because in most cases we are flexibal, we adapt and we approach most tasks with a different more positive attitude....

David Bullock | May 12, 2009, 5:33pm

I agree to the comments on here to a degree, however i think some people in charge of H.R. or recruiters who have not served in the HM forces do not understand how much of an asset an ex-forces person can be, ex forces dont just get given a job and a riffle, they have to be flexible, commited and proffesional and sure enough due to shortages in the armed forces, multi task or multi job if you like! If I had a business I would employ ex-forces mainly because I know I will 100% effort, punctuality and enthusiasm. I think there is also a shortage in cross skills recognition e.g. doing the same job or skill in the forces and being recognised outside and i think this needs to be addressed....

Jonathan McGee | May 14, 2009, 1:08pm

I left the R.A.F back in April 2008 and I do believe there are a lot of unhappy, (maybe even angry) people to the way the ex-service personnel are treated. I have found through my own experience that people are afraid of us. Ex-service personnel come out with a very good work ethic and understanding that a job must be done. I do believe though, leaving your forces background out on your CV is not the answer. If you do then when it comes to an interview what are you going to say to fill that period of time. Its not right in any form that forces are being prejudiced against but unfortunately that's what we have to cope with for the moment. This certainly needs to be addressed with the organisations and companies that employ....

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