Transitioning from the military to civilian life can be a daunting journey, filled with unique challenges and opportunities. At Hirecracker, a leading multi-sector recruitment company, our Military Division plays a crucial role in placing Veterans into their first roles on civvy street and making this transition as smooth as possible.
As The University of Manchester partnered with Hirecracker in 2024, our Head of Military Division, Tom Fulton, sat down with their Talent Acquisition team to answer some questions on his military background, the journey to civilian employment, and the invaluable strengths veterans bring to the job market.
Read on to delve into his experiences, the founding of Hirecracker’s Military Division, and a success story that highlights the impact of our work.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your military background?
Of course! So I run the Military Division at a recruitment company called Hirecracker. I joined the military in 2005, and spent 9 years as a Royal Military Police Officer. I deployed to Iraq in 2008, Afghanistan in 2012, and then left in 2014.
How was your transition into civilian life after leaving the Armed Forces in 2014?
Really difficult actually! When you leave the military, it’s a big step into the unknown, and you don’t really know where you fit when you leave. I actually went travelling for a year to delay any kind of decision, and then I ended up graduating from the University of Manchester in 2019.
You mentioned that you graduated from the University of Manchester. What made you decide on higher education for your next step?
When I initially left the military, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life! I started doing a bit of research, and actually found out that if you’ve served longer than 8 years, the government will pay for you to go back to university full time, and I just thought this opportunity is too good to pass up. I wanted to immerse myself in a new culture and meet new people!
I absolutely loved studying at the University of Manchester. I loved all my lectures, my tutors, and every single second of the university experience.
What would you say are the strengths that Veterans can bring to roles here at the University of Manchester?
I think the main strength is just the determination to succeed. Any Veteran in any kind of role just wants to do the best for not only themselves, but the organisation they represent as well.
They want to do development, they want to do training, they want progression. The University of Manchester is such a great organisation, and they can offer these things to Veterans. With this, they’ll just thrive in this environment.
What’s the biggest challenge that Veterans face in today’s job market?
I think it’s the understanding of how the civilian sector works, how job titles and job descriptions etc, actually work. Veterans are very black and white. So when they read a job description and they don’t tick every single box on that list, they sometimes they just won’t even apply for a role!
So taking a step into the unknown is moving into the civilian sector and not really knowing where they fit. They’ve got so many transferable skills, but it’s just then applying it to something that they understand in the civilian sector.
Moving on to Hirecracker, what was your motivation for bringing in a Military Division?
So I was working in recruitment, just doing regular roles, when one of my best friends who’s coming to the end of his 22 years career in the in the British army rang me. I’ve known this guy for 15 years, he’s done 6 tours of Afghanistan, he’s got a Queen’s gallantry medal for bravery, and he’s looked after 3 of the last 4 prime ministers in Afghanistan.
For the first time in 15 years of knowing him, he had a little bit of panic in his voice, and he just said, “what am I going do when I leave?”. At the time, I thought you can you can do anything you want! He said “no, what exactly am I going to do?”. I just felt awful because I couldn’t really advise him.
I knew that there were some organisations that recruit heavily from the military, and I then came across the Armed Forces Covenant, which has been signed by over 10,000 organisations in this country, which is phenomenal! From there I just start reaching out to a couple of them and saying, “I’m a veteran and I work in recruitment – would you consider a Veteran for your vacancies?” Then the idea exploded from there!
So, since you set this up, what is the most rewarding success story you have had whilst working with Veterans?
It depends how you measure success. Every day is a success! Some of these successes can be small and some of them can be massive. Hirecracker genuinely care about the talent pool that we represent, plus all my team are from the service community, so we’ve all been in their shoes.
Success can be something as simple as guiding somebody on a CV, giving them interview prep, and then hearing good feedback. Then obviously the most rewarding thing is taking somebody who doesn’t know what they want do with their lives, presenting them an opportunity, prepping them, and then getting that opportunity!
There’s been a number of candidates that we’ve worked with, but one always stands out. I worked with a guy called Craig who went for a Project Manager role. He was invited for a 1st stage Microsoft Teams interview, and then the 2nd stage was a face to face interview. He did his 1st stage interview and it only lasted about 20 minutes, and then he rang me and said 20 minutes isn’t long enough. I said don’t worry, it’s just an introduction!
The client then rang me straight away, and I thought this was strange, but then they they wanted to offer him the role and didn’t feel the need to see him face to face! They said Craig just blew them away in those 20 minutes. We were absolutely made up for him!
Lastly Tom, do you have any advice that you would like to give to our Hiring Managers?
Absolutely – just a little bit of educational piece really!
Some of these candidates have never written a CV in their life, they’ve never interviewed for a job in their life, so I’d advise to see past the CV and realise that there’s a very good person at the other end of it.
I always recommend to Hiring Managers to just to pick up the phone and have a 5 minute conversation with some of these candidates, because they will genuinely blow you away when you speak to them and you realise how capable they are. They’ve most likely never done an interview before, but they’ll go into it and explain this, so it’s important to give them a little bit of patience when you’re speaking to them!
Hirecracker x UoM Partnership
UoM are looking for members of the service community to join their ranks, and we’re here to support them! Both Hirecracker and UoM are part of the Armed Forces Covenant and are dedicated to finding a role for you as you transition to civvy street. With a variety of vacancies available in different departments, there is something for everyone.
Get in touch with our team on 01244 739 300 if you want to hear about these opportunities today!📞
