Mark Allen served with the Royal Logistic Corps from May 1992 to Feb 2024, leaving with the rank of Major “I joined as a private soldier in 1992, within the Supply Controller trade and had a rewarding career up to WO1 where I was able to support the MOD’s main efforts throughout this time. Serving initially in Germany, before spending the bulk of my career with Airborne Forces. Upon commissioning in 2010 I again spent a large portion of time with 13 Air Assault Regiment in the traditional LE roles of RTO, RCMO & QM(T).
In my last 6 years I was delivering supply chain operations and logistics enablement. Firstly, with HQ Northwood providing Humanitarian Aid & Disaster Relief support attributed to Hurricane Irma in 2017 and then planning and delivering the logistics wrap to SAIF SARREA 3 (Oman) in 2018, part of this was the responsibility to provide a multi-million pound fuel contract to support all aircraft, vehicles and equipment, an experience which I have found useful for the tendering process within my current role (Mace).
My last two appointments were with 13 Air Assault Support Regiment firstly as the Quartermaster focussing on enabling operations and managing ESH through a Covid19 lens which again I have found useful for my current role. My final appointment was as a Sub-Unit Commander focussing on soldier development and providing an airfield clearance capability.
I was fortunate to finish my time off as a Sub-Unit Commander looking after 120 Officers and soldiers. Aside from the first 3 years I spent in Germany as a private soldier (which were the most fun!) my final appointment was the most rewarding time of my career. A typical day was usually varied but could often include chasing the pack on PT, soldier interviews, and keeping ahead of the game on any related J1-J9 activity to maintain the deployability requirements of the organisation.
I have the army to thank for the development of leadership and management skills which are an obvious one – the MOD is unique within this environment and has a leadership model which gives those at the junior level the opportunity to lead. I found particularly at Regimental duty there is the opportunity to manage and oversee several projects and tasks, all need progressing and are generally resource intensive. For me the acceptance of responsibility is crucial, not just about following through on a task to its conclusion but delivering this to a high standard as well. This is a common trait of those serving.
I now work for Mace within the consultancy engine as a Senior Project Manager. I currently focus on planning and integrating logistics services supporting construction workforces’ tenure on an infrastructure programme. There are a dozen separate areas to develop whether this be planning and delivering office or overnight accommodation options or providing short- & long-term park & ride requirements. My starting point involved developing concepts and commissioning feasibility studies to better understand any unknowns. Without a doubt my experiences within the army, whether it be articulating a requirement in a business case to secure funding or planning and delivering an overseas deployment has assisted me in delivering some of my responsibilities now.
I am fortunate to be able to adopt a hybrid approach at present which sees me on site two to three days a week attending and contributing to programme updates and logistics/ supply chain operations or construction themed workshops. There is the weekly rhythm of meetings to progress work strands. Being able to work from home a couple of days a week enables me to balance meetings with progressing any written work and tying up loose ends.
During my transition I had some excellent support from my network which allowed me to participate in several virtual coffees with those already in the construction industry, often service leavers, and some within Mace which developed my understanding of the various roles available and the corporate identity and culture of the various organisations. The BuildForce Virtual Career Chats are also an excellent resource to help in this area. This without doubt helped me in my preparation. I also recommend spending time on a company’s website to learn about what their focus is and what the business’s future holds. Within this environment you will also get a feel for the culture and behaviours – which resonated with me as a service leaver.
I was ready to leave the military and I found the support on offer very accessible. I was fortunate to spend block of time with BuildForce, to help me prepare for job interviews, polish CVs (Angela) and put me in touch with other service leavers established within construction (Kathleen) and connections with employers (Caroline). I had also had some earlier engagement with the Forces Employment Charity who I also found to be excellent. I had used two of my ELCs a few years ago to gain an MBA (through the MOD) so only did one additional formal resettlement course – APMQ. I found this very useful as a handrail for the work I am doing now. I hear the PM terminology used on the course within my role and I try and adopt it replacing any of the military planning terminology. The principles are similar just a personal discipline required adopting the industry language (I found it useful to write down all the phases and sub phases of the linear project lifecycle within my notebook and I find this a useful handrail during meetings etc).
My biggest challenge was understanding where I might fit into the vastness of the UK job market, there is considerable choice with the inevitable qualifications and experience necessary to jump across to. I consider myself to be a bit of an introvert and did not initially fathom the concept of networking but with a little early prompting I found this a crucial part to progressing within the job market and I enjoyed this part of the process as it is easier than first thought. Part of networking may be reaching out to someone with a job role you like the look of or an organisation you would like to be a part of and then progressing from there. I found those I reached out to on LinkedIn more than happy to engage and they provided ‘gold dust’ advice – invariably they were friends of friends, often with either a military or construction connection.
My personal experience was very positive, and I cannot fault the support I received. I was fully supported by my Regiment and was able to leave my appointment with a few months left to focus properly on fulltime resettlement minus the distractions. The wider support provided by the RRC I used was very positive especially the ‘one on ones’ with the staff. There are of course the charitable organisations that offer fantastic support offering the opportunity to provide guidance on transitioning from the military to respective industries. BuildForce of course being one of them.
Research the roles and understand what is within your reach with the necessary qualifications. The key is then to attain those qualifications within an achievable timeframe. For a generalist there are various project manager roles on offer and military will transition well into these functions with their training and experiences. ESH is another field where I have noticed quite a few ex-military succeed well in, as within site management.
The likelihood is if you have completed a lengthy career in the military you have the organisational skills to pull together meetings at short notice and progress areas that need some attention. The construction Industry needs responsible, disciplined, and self-sufficient people and the military offers this in abundance. The military environment often involves completing multiple tasks quickly and effectively before moving on to the next job and the construction industry is no different. A career in construction is both structured and rewarding making it a great fit for military veterans and service leavers.”