Rsr,Firstly networking. I spent a solid few months networking within the consultancies with varying degrees of success. I primarily targeted the Big Four, Acc, Cap, IBM, Capco, CGI and PA. The advice I was given was to target the larger organisations as they would have the capacity to offer more training and I would have a wider exposure to different industries. While I am sure there are differing opinions, it made sense to me so I followed it. I reached a point where, given a suitable role, I had someone at 7/9 of those listed above who would be prepared to refer me. Out of courtesy, I never asked anyone to refer me; I waited to be offered. If I was not offered, then I would keep on networking until I found someone who did offer.In terms of referrals and applying cold, I would recommend trying to find someone to refer you. All bar one of my applications were referred. The application that was not referred (which was for a Big Four firm), was due to my inability to type in my referral's email address correctly! However, I made it through the initial filter and progressed until I received a contract from elsewhere and thus withdrew my application. Yet I also had referred applications that were rejected within 24 hours. So while referrals are important, and the more senior the better, they are not critical. A application for a role suited to your skills (rather than what you think you might be good at) with a well written and sufficiently tailored CV will give you the best chance. In order to achieve a well targeted and tailored application, networking is key to ensure you know what you are applying for! Other people may well have differing opinions so feel free to comment.Secondly CVs. The Army Resettlement Services encourage the use of functional CVs and I initially shared their enthusiasm. However I quickly learned that they are not common and was advised to use a reverse chronological format, which I started to adopt. I actually used a functional CV to apply to the firm that I eventually accepted an offer, as I had not learned my lesson yet! However I believe I made it through the initial filter due to the weight of the referral (Partner equiv) rather than how my CV was structured. When building up your CV, decide what functional areas you want to highlight and then which area each bullet point is selling. You can then group them in a working document to easily check you are covering all parts of the functional area. I found this helped me with clarity and brevity. However when pulling it all together, bring the bullet points together under jobs rather than functional areas of expertise.Particularly for ex-military, you need to spend time trying to understand the industry and where you best fit into it. It is all pretty alien to start with but after a while I started to identify areas where I could add value immediately and others where it would take time to get up to speed. I believe it is better to target the areas where you can add value immediately. You then come across as less of a risk. These areas will depend what part of the Army you served in (i.e. Signals, Logistics, Teeth arm etc) and what you have done in your jobs since leaving the military.There will be others on this forum who have significantly more experience and may be able to offer opinions that may be of more value.Feel free to send further questions over.Harris.Ref the sailing, I do not start until November and thus am trying to cram in as many holidays as possible. A good use of the Afghan op bonus!
