Military Transition With Anglian Water

 

Here we have an interview with Army veteran Rab who left the Royal Tank Regiment to become a Logistic Programme Manager with BFRS member, Anglian Water. Rab delves into the reasons why he left the military and what about Anglian Water appealed to him to work there.

 

 

Which part of the armed forces did you work within and for how long?

Army - Royal Tank Regiment for 39 Years.

 

What role/s did you undertake within the armed forces?

Early career – Main Battle Tank Commander

                       Commander UK CBRN Response Unit

 

Later career – Staff Officer

                       Military Advisor to Dstl laboratories Porton Down

                       Chief Of Staff Land Warfare Centre

                       Chief Planning Officer British Forces South Atlantic

 

Operations – Op Banner - N Ireland

                      Op Tosca – UN Peacekeeping

                     Op Telic – Iraq

                     Op Herrick – Afghanistan

 

How long have you worked for Anglian Water?

It will be 2 Years in November 2022.

 

What attracted you to Anglian Water?

I liked that if offered a challenging role.

 

What made you apply for your role?

The offer of a challenging post and the ability to use the skillset I had built up throughout my Army career.

 

What does your job involve?

• Transforming the logistic operation within Anglian Water
• Planning and evaluating the options available.
• Building up the capability required.
• Bringing into service a new inhouse logistic solution for AW.

 

What do you enjoy most about your role?

Variety of the tasks that I have to undertake, being able to use the skills built up during my military career to good effect.

 

What are the things you enjoy most about working for Anglian Water?

The people I work with and the collective high regard that the company is held in by the employees.

 

Would you recommend Anglian Water to others?

Yes definitely.

 

Can you think of any other avenues to attract people from the forces?

Proactive engagements at military recruitment events.

 

What is most important to you within work? - i.e. progression, supportive manager,  autonomy etc.

Being given the responsibility and authority required to complete the role effectively and the great teamwork

 

Is there anything we could be doing better?

Proactive engagement with potential military employees, there is a vast resource available which contain highly skilled individuals able to work at a variety of levels to a high standard.

 

Please tell us in your own words about your experience of Anglian Water

employment:

 

The challenges which I have faced include: (applicable to many ex-forces I suspect)

“Understanding and adapting to the company structure and work ethos. Compared to the Forces it’s a very loose structure and decision making can take longer than expected. However, I have found that this can be an opportunity to use the analysis and decision[1]making skills and tools taught within the military to the benefit of the organisation and in my case keep the momentum going within my programme”

 

“Adapting to a new organisational culture can take time, understanding why things happen in a particular way is key. The biggest change I have noticed is probably a combination of being in a civilian environment and each company being unique, the military was a way of life not a job, everyone worked hard to support and look after each other. Anglian Water’s culture seems to be based upon the will to do a good job and to provide a great service. I like that”

 

The things I have enjoyed:

“The level of responsibility allocated has given me a great deal of focus and the will to get things done to a high standard. I have been able to pass this focus and a degree of the responsibility on to a newly recruited team. We’ve built this new team by being given the freedom to bring in the talent needed, the future looks exciting”

 

“Learning and understanding a new company and working environment. I love the fact that after spending so long with one employer I am now having to learn a whole new service; I’ll add to that I wish I knew what I know now when I started! I suspect that will be the case for a few years yet, but it is enjoyable to be out my comfort zone at times”

 

 

An inspiring transition from Rab and we see this as the perfect template for how all military people to be able to transition into civilian life.

 

For more stories like this be sure to keep up to date with our blogs page or even go back through our catalogue to read previous stories we have shared.

 

Interested in the positions available at Anglian Water?

 

Follow this link to their online stand…