​Strengths you bring to civilian employers

At all levels, service members are expected to take on some responsibility within their unit and demonstrate leadership. Through your time in the NZ Defence Force, you will have confidently lead teams or projects.

As you know, part of military life is working in teams of all shapes and sizes. This fosters a collaborative environment. You are able to work with varying people in order to achieve different tasks.

Working in teams is an essential aspect of today's work environment and you are already trained and experienced in doing so. You are also readily adaptable to new teams or short-term projects. Employers find that ex-service members work well in teams and know how to contribute to team-based work.

You know the importance of needing to be in the right place at the right time to get the job done. You can take this with you into your civilian employment. Good time management translates into meeting deadlines, turning up on time with the right equipment.

Fitness is an important aspect of military life. Throughout your military career, you will have taken pride in your physical and mental wellbeing.

Service members have the ability to motivate themselves and others to achieve a common goal. Motivated employees perform better, encourage others to perform, and bring a positive attitude to any job they do. You are able to bring this motivation to any job you do.

The NZ Defence Force knows it is important to equip our people with the right skills needed to succeed in their given trade. These include a wide variety of skills that employers find beneficial to their own organisations. Communications, first aid, driver training, personnel management, and NZQA qualifications are only a handful of skills that you may have learned during their service.

Professional skills can take years to develop and cost considerable amounts of money to put staff through training courses. Many service members learn these valuable skills during their service and can bring this value back to you as an employer.

One of the most important aspects of any military operation or training exercise is the ability to plan well and be decisive. You have been taught how to plan for many different situations and make clear decisions in even the most stressful situations.

Employers will find that no matter your backgrounds of service, you will make well-informed decisions and have a particular skill for planning. Projects big and small require significant planning stages and decisive actions to be successful. You can bring that success.