Step 2 is skills recognition

Skills recognition as the second step is to ensure a recognition process to make sure that the individuals’ skills and knowledge gained in their service roles are measured and, where possible, converted to the currency of the civilian world. The participants’ descriptions that they could not effectively relate to the employers in the civilian world and that their skills were not recognised by these same employers arise from two behaviours.

The first behaviour is the continued us and them mentality that sets the participants apart, in their minds, from the civilian world. When they start to search for employment in what they perceive to be the civilian world, they fail to understand that they are civilians and that their position is secured in the community by them acting, relating and behaving like civilians. They need to be educated in the process of re-identifying as civilians, understanding that they always have been civilians, and be taught to communicate in an appropriate manner and with language that is common to the civilian labour market.

The second behaviour is the assumption by the participants that presenting at a civilian job interview with police, military or emergency services experience as their ‘go-to’ reference will secure them the position. Contrary to participant beliefs, civilian employers are not versed in the roles of service personnel nor do they ordinarily know what skills and knowledge they have acquired. Like any recruitment process in the labour market, the individual applicant needs to present to a potential employer with experience and skills that are relevant to the job they are applying for and will present them as the best candidate. Applicants in the civilian world do not assume that the employer is aware of their experience or existing skills and knowledge; instead, they inform them of this through the application and interview process. Former service members need to do the same.

The need for this arises from the extensive training that these services offer to prepare their personnel to undertake their service roles, which is recorded in a manner that is not easily understood by civilian employers. This widens the gap between the participants and the civilian world and further facilitates the us and them mentality. The participants have access to their service records before leaving, which are lengthy and hard to decipher.