BuildForce is a community interest company offering a unique wraparound career service, supported by hundreds of UK-wide employers across the construction, engineering and wider built environment collaborating together to support you, our ex-military community and your family, into professional and trade careers in industry. This is our way of thanking you for the sacrifices you have made in serving and defending our great country; we are supporting our government in making the UK the best place in the world to be a veteran. BuildForce is proudly a Gold ERS holder, with the majority of our employers signatories of the Armed Forces covenant.
BuildForce is completely free-of-charge, offering our 5 key programmes to support you through your transition:
As the original pioneers, BuildForce is the industry’s largest and most successful nationwide programme supporting thousands of our ex-military community. We are the ex-military partner for employers up and down the UK across consultants, contractors, homebuilders, subcontractors, federations and we are the ex-military partner for the UK largest infrastructure, nuclear and defence projects.
BuildForce offers a compliment of services focused on bringing you closer to industry:
BuildForce is proudly the ex-military partner of the University of the Built Environment, who created our pre-employment learning modules based on employer and veteran research, a first for industry and the military community.
These online and certified learning modules upskill on key careers in industry in taking the first step towards becoming site and employment ready. Our modules include:
Upon completion of the modules, certification will be gained with this accreditation guaranteeing a place on a relevant university course for onward learning.
Our Aftercare programme is structured support designed to help our ex-military community transition successfully into industry. BuildForce will always be here for you beyond securing employment, ensuring a soft landing and the ability to thrive in your second career in the construction, engineering and wider built environment.
Our whole team are on-call whenever you need us, we can provide all guidance across HR issues, career planning and all general queries that may arise – this is a new sector for you, no question is too small.
There will be structured engagement during your first year of employment: initially at the end of your 3-month probationary period to ensure you are prepared for your review with your line manager. We check in again offering support around the 12-month point as your annual performance review and career development plan are in progress.
BuildForce doesn’t just bring you into the construction industry, we support you for the many years to support you to navigate and progress your rewarding and sustainable career in industry.
In our mental health and suicide prevention programme, we provide a valuable opportunity to enhance the wellbeing of all those we support. Our Psychologist leads our Transition Wellbeing seminars, open to the whole ex-military community, to provide support during transition from the Armed Forces to civilian life, providing coping mechanisms for the stresses and unknowns during this period. This is followed up with a Reach-In call to all of our candidates, for a one-to-one session to talk through any specific concerns, or sometimes a friendly chat as a problem shared is a problem halved, and we are here to listen and provide support and sign-posting.
We provide bespoke support for our diverse communities, those with neurodiversity and LGBT+ community, amongst others.
BuildForce is a Disability Confident Committed Employer and does all it can for both our staff, the ex-military and construction community we support, with every member of the BuildForce team being Mental Health First Aid trained or a Mental Health First Aid Trainer.
Please click here for more information about our Mental Health programme and the sessions we frequently run.
Our Sports & Wellbeing programme runs outdoor activities to bring our ex-military community closer to our industry employers, in various team and sporting events. By creating a sense of unity, this can aid the integration of our service leavers within the construction industry.
Within this programme we run half-marathons, marathons, ultra marathons, rugby competitions, Armed Forces Day treks, through to our annual sponsorship of the Inter-Corps Boxing competition. We are open to sponsoring all sporting events, in a bid to bridge the construction industry and our Armed Forces.
Over the years, our Service Leavers and Veterans we have supported, have pledged their support to BuildForce in many ways. In response, we have launched Project Give Back (click here to donate), to allow you to raise money for BuildForce on your next adventure or sporting challenge. Thank you to all those who support the programme and raise money for us, we are honoured to be your military partner of choice. If you’re interested in taking part in our sports programme, please email: info@buildforce.org.uk.
