Charles Nkepnang served in The Royal Corps of Signals for 7 years, leaving as a Lance Corporal in 2022. His primary role was as a Communication Systems Engineer, which involved maintaining and operating communication equipment, providing operational support, and leading his subordinates.
A typical day for Charles in the Signals would start with parade, making sure all his peers and subordinates were present and fit for duty. He would then go out on patrol ensuring everything was running smoothly around camp. After this he attended briefing and daily tasks would be delegated. The rest of Charles’ day would be spent identifying, accounting, and reporting any network faults.
When asked about the main skills gleaned during his time in the Signals, Charles would stress a strong emphasis on teamwork, with everyone working together to organise, build and deliver communications systems in a fast-paced environment. He also cites flexibility as an important skill – being able to adapt to changing requirements and circumstances, also problem solving, which he describes as being able to troubleshoot complex communication problems, enabling classified sensitive information to be protected, and finally, strong and inspiring leadership, a large part of which involved successful training of his subordinates and effective briefing and debriefing.
Charles now works as a Site Engineer for Balfour Beatty Vinci. He stresses the importance of being organised and starting to search and bring focus early, he advised “I was lucky to have BuildForce advising to me over two years in advance of my leave date. With their help and support I was able to expand my network and explore the different options available to me. The support I received with interview preparation was invaluable, particularly after spending time in the armed forces and not having this experience.”
As a not-for-profit organisation, BuildForce has a wide and varied partner network which has the benefit of helping all our Service Leavers and Veterans find their niche.
Some of the challenges Charles faced during his transition were unexpected, “One of the biggest obstacles was the complete change of my daily routines. I never appreciated how convenient it was to live in an army camp for these last 7 years. Now everything seems to be miles away. Gone are the days where I could just roll out of bed and show up on time at work. Believe it or not, I’m still unsure on how long I should be wearing the same shirt during the week! I also struggled addressing my project managers and directors by their first name. Finally, I spent time stressing about using my washing machine, turning on the heater, staying in the shower too long because I did not know how much my bills would cost.”
During the transition process Charles would have liked more help reading and understanding his employment contract. He would also like to see more practical support from the CTP on how to transition from barracks single living accommodation to a civilian accommodation and more confidence building using practical examples of the value service leavers bring to the civilian workplace.
In his current role Charles uses a lot of transferrable skills from his time in the armed forces, his key tasks include:
On a typical day, Charles checks his emails and calendar, he will then attend team meetings. He is on site twice daily to make sure everything is running in line with the design brief. Finally, he finishes the day by completing a concise record of notifiable daily events, “From my practical engineering experience to my leadership skills, not to mention my ability to communicate effectively and adapt to a constantly changing environment; the military skills transferable to the civilian workplace are what set us apart.”
Charles’ advice to someone leaving the armed forces would be “Firstly, do not underestimate the experience you have had during your army career, and value yourself, – your discipline, adaptability, leadership, and communication skills are valuable assets in the construction industry.”