“Empowering You!” RFEA offers new services to give more employment support to military women, spouses and partners

RFEA – The Forces Employment Charity is now able to offer more support to Military women, as well as the partners and spouses of serving and ex-Forces personnel.

Research shows that female veterans, as well as partners and spouses of those serving in the Armed Forces, face more barriers to finding meaningful employment than most – they often step off their career pathways to take on greater caring responsibilities and, unlike their male counterparts, often undervalue their experience and may deselect themselves from roles they are suitable for. Frequent moves, relatively isolated locations, employer reluctance and the complexities of building a normal career often mean that many military spouses and partners (both male and female) can also often face unique challenges getting back into work.

Led by a team of specialist Employment Advisors, RFEA now has two dedicated programmes committed to providing tailored support to both ex-Servicewomen (Military Women Programme) and Military spouses and partners (Families Programme) with everything they need to be successful in their employment search, whether it be CV advice, interview skills or help with finding suitable employment opportunities.

On 24th November RFEA will be hosting ‘Empowering You’, a unique 2-hour webinar that will be led by a range of business leaders from large ‘household name’ organisations, such as Amazon and Vodafone. During the session they will share tips on: understanding your skills and capabilities; how to stand out and market yourself effectively; resilience in a covid-competitive job market; flexible working; and employment opportunities and initiatives, in order to boost attendees’ employability to help them find meaningful roles.

Claire Gratton served for 22 years in the RAF and sought support from RFEA’s Military Women Programme. She says:

“My Advisor has helped me rediscover my worth again professionally. I felt at ease immediately and our first contact phone call lasted for over an hour. By the end of the call I was in no doubt I had made the right choice by enquiring about the Military Women Programme.  My Advisor has the ability to connect with you in a way no pure civvy advisor ever could, part big sister, part friend, part comrade, she will help you see your value and give you the mentorship to realise your skills set. I thoroughly recommend RFEA to any ex-Servicewoman and hope this programme grows and continues to help out the female veteran.”

Lee Johnston, Families Employment Advisor at RFEA says,

“Whether it’s in terms of welfare, family or deployment, I can completely empathise with the challenges our clients face, because, as the wife of a Royal Marine, I’ve experienced them myself. That’s why I am so passionate about getting our clients to where they want to be.”

Alistair Halliday, Chief Executive of RFEA, adds:

“Times are really tough for a lot of people at the moment, so it’s so important that we are able to reach those who need our help and we simply wouldn’t be able to do this without the incredibly generous support of our donors. We are extremely grateful to the Call of Duty Endowment and Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund, the Lloyd’s market military charity. Thanks to their help, RFEA will now be able to extend its reach across the country, to ensure it can help even more ex-Servicewomen and Military partners/ spouses into meaningful employment, the impact of which can be life changing.”

Anyone seeking employment support or further information about RFEA’s Empowering You event should visit www.rfea.org.uk/empoweringyou

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