Telford hosted employment fair for armed forces to meet British business

Representatives from 100 leading British businesses met with over 300 military personnel, on Thursday 9th May, at a national Employment Fair hosted by the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), in Telford.

The CTP is a partnering agreement between the Ministry of Defence and Right Management Ltd, the global career and talent development expert within ManpowerGroup. This was the fifth CTP Employment Fair this year and part of a full programme of 11 events throughout the UK in 2024. Employers attending the Telford event represented a wide range of sectors including retail, manufacturing, renewables, and engineering. 

Leavers of the Armed Forces are highly driven, skilled and ‘work-ready’, but need support in weighing up their options to find the next suitable career pathway. Service leavers and veterans typically offer businesses exceptional technical skills along with key power skills such as communication, commitment, problem solving and teamwork.

Adrian Peters, Operations Director at CTP, says: “With excellent transferable skills and experience, Service leavers bring many valuable characteristics to the wider business community. Their contribution is particularly needed right now, with employers across the country struggling to recruit and retain talent – a consequence of skills shortfalls reported across all sectors in the UK, which have reached an 18-year high of 80%. 

“CTP Employment Fairs play a vital role in helping with this nationwide struggle, enabling organisations to fill key skills gaps and job vacancies while providing new futures for thousands of Service leavers each year.”

One of the businesses that had a presence at the event is C3IA Solutions, a leading provider of secure ICT, technical programme management, information security services and solutions for small to medium businesses.

Mark Tivey, Principal Consultant Resourcing at C3IA Solutions Ltd said: “C3IA Solutions Ltd have been working with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) for a number of years which has significantly grown our profile to those technical Service leavers who fit our evolving demand signal. Through superbly professional and extremely well planned and orchestrated CTP Employment Fairs, and the hosting of our vacancies on their live Jobs Board, this has helped us to source talent into the company we may not have otherwise had the reach to do so. 

“As a company who have traditionally recruited from the Armed Forces since the company was formed in 2006, with approximately 90% of the company being veterans, the importance of the CTP cannot be underestimated and in part has resulted in our recent Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award.”

The hiring appetite remains strong and consistent across the West Midlands, at +21%, according to ManpowerGroup’s latest employment outlook survey (MEOS). This is line with the national average of +23%.

Another business in attendance at the event was Telent, a solutions company for the UK’s Road Network.

Tim O’Shea, Senior Talent Acquisition, at Telent said: “Telent is a proud supporter of the Armed Forces and is a positive employer of Service Leavers, Veterans, Reservists and family members too.  We have worked with the CTP for a number of years now and have an excellent working relationship with them.  Attending CTP Employment Fairs is key to the success of attracting and retaining talent from this key area for the company and a unique way of engaging with the armed forces community who may be looking for their next career move.  

“We got to meet in person, discuss their skills and attributes and map that with them to potential roles both here at Telent and elsewhere if we feel there are better opportunities for them with other employers. We have people operating from the grass roots level right through to our senior leadership team who have a military background and Telent wouldn’t be the company it is now without them playing such a key role.”

The CTP provides resettlement services for those leaving the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines regardless of time served, it has been the official provider of Armed Forces resettlement for 25 years, helping 280,000 Service leavers make their move into civilian life.

If you were not able to make the Telford event, make sure to visit the CTP website to find out dates for all upcoming CTP Employment Fairs and similar events, with a combination of in-person and online offerings.