Returning heroes get specialised job agency

Published on Saturday 7 November 2009 19:03

THE UK's first private recruitment agency specialising in finding work for service personnel leaving the armed forces with physical and psychological problems has begun operating in Scotland.

Nicholas Harrison, who runs Soldier On!, said service personnel need to be able to "market" themselves better to conquer the "double whammy" of prejudice and lack of self-confidence.

The comments came as a retired officer who campaigns on behalf of Scotland's veterans warned that a gap in provision by the Ministry of Defence is leaving some personnel who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq with very little resettlement help in the toughest employment market in decades.

Latest figures for last year show more than 24,000 people leave the services every year and over 28,000 veterans of working age in Scotland are looking for work. Of those, 41 per cent have an injury or illness.

Harrison, a former Territorial Army volunteer who previously worked as a recruitment consultant, said: "These men and women need to be given their dignity back and a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

"I used to read CVs coming in from service people but when I talked to employers I became aware of a great deal of 'casual' prejudice.

"Service leavers struggling to cope can also underplay their abilities and leave out past achievements."

Major Jim Panton, chief executive of Erskine, the Scottish veterans' charity, said services offered by Soldier On! and a few others dealing with able-bodied personnel coincided with a "highly worrying" situation of gaps in provision, leaving personnel with little retraining support.