There are numerous reasons for leaving the armed forces, from injury to retirement or health reasons to redundancy, what ever the reason you need to ensure you are ready and prepared for life after the armed forces as best you can be.
It’s no secret that holding a career in the armed forces is a specialist field and your options when you leave tend to be in the security sector or policing, but what if you don’t want to go into those fields? Is there a way you can prepare yourself for an alternate career before you leave? An obvious solution to this would be to study part time on an online distance learning course. This will allow for you to train and gain qualifications before you leave the forces.
What Qualifications should I Study?
Depending on your skillset when you joined the armed forces, you may only have GCSEs, which in today’s employment world isn’t sufficient to gain well paid jobs, so you’re going to need to add to your education to make yourself more appealing to potential employers. A good place to start would be with A-Levels or Level 3 Diplomas.
The best way to ensure you have the right qualifications for the new career you want to hold is to do a quick Google search, this will quickly inform you of what qualifications most employers look for in that particular sector and then it’s just a case of getting yourself onto the right courses.
How Expensive are Online Courses to study?
Depending on the courses you want to study, online courses can cost anything from a few hundred pounds through to a few thousand (if looking at degree level courses). Which sounds expensive, but compared to attending an actual school or college (where you wouldn’t be able to work at the same time), it’s actually very affordable.
Most online colleges (like Open College), offer discounts and also instalment plans to armed forces members to help make studying and preparation for life after the armed forces more achievable. So when looking for a college to study with, make sure you enquire about what options are available to you. Also make sure you speak with your employers to see if they are willing to help and assist you with your course fees.