Opportunities for a working Mother in Defence

I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up! Fast forward 25 years, more jobs, counties, and countries than I can count, and I have landed in the Civil Service, specifically the Ministry of Defence.

Why join the MOD I hear you ask? Simple answer, I married a soldier. Moving every 18 months plays havoc with ones CV. I had been working within the finance sector, so I applied for a role in Army finance – I quickly concluded that this was not for me and started to look what else the MOD had to offer. I am a people person at heart, and I like being part of a team, getting involved and problem solving (don’t tell anyone but I am rather fond of policy and process!) I stumbled across a role called Civilian Workforce Advisor, the job sounding perfect for me. I applied and started the role within weeks.

New to the HR world I looked through all the Learning and Development pages on the intranet to see what I could do to help me in my new role. I always knew I wanted to do some higher learning and the idea of an apprenticeship sounded perfect. I had not done any formal learning for over a decade and in all honestly it scared the life out of me! I started on the Level 3 which allowed me to learn the basics of HR on a formal learning platform 1 day a week whilst gaining on the job skills working the other 4 days.

At 30 something years old I am not too proud to say I gained my Math GCSE (don’t ask how I worked in finance for over 10 years without it!) alongside my Associate CIPD qualification. I am currently looking at other courses and apprenticeships that the civil service has to offer and have completed many courses to date, from improving my excel skills to line management. 4 years into my Civil Service journey and I can honestly say that I am unlikely to ever leave.

I’m at that age now where you start to think about pensions – not many companies can beat what we offer! I have the flexibility to shape my working life around my home life, when your married to a serving solider things are never easily mapped out. Being married with 2 children and a crazy dog my role allows me to work from home when needed, alongside the flexibility in working hours to do something as simple as the school run, attend Christmas plays and celebration assemblies.

I would highly recommend joining the MOD family, we have all manor of weird and wonderful roles that will intrigue and inspire you whilst encouraging you to learn and grow.