Before you leave: resettlement, accommodation and family life
Maximise your resettlement time
Before leaving the military, you will be allocated a Service Resettlement Advisor (SRA), who will arrange a meeting with you to discuss your options for before and after you leave. Most personnel, regardless of rank and length of service, are entitled to resettlement support, which includes financial advice, training and upskilling and career advice for your future.
Learn more here
Find accommodation that suits your circumstances
With military life comes the advantage of housing in many roles, taking away the stress of finding private accommodation. Leaving the military means you’ll need to find your own housing, whether that’s privately renting until you have certainty in your future location and career or buying a house yourself.
The army offers its own advice on renting or buying accommodation. Written by HQ Regional Command, the useful material is laid out in a way that is familiar to service personnel and gives a wealth of information on planning your next move into civilian accommodation. You can find guides on their website, which covers a variety of themes as well as housing.
Get more details
Support your family through the changes
Any decisions you make should be discussed thoroughly as a family, so you can weigh up the pros and cons together. Only you know what is right for your family, but it’s worth noting that the Army Families Federation has a wealth of experience in helping with family matters and can provide free and impartial advice should you need it.
Discover the AFF
Leaving the military: finances, mental health and moving on
Get your finances in order early
During your transition period, before you even make a start on your aviation, technician or mechanic CV or applications for other military roles, it’s a good idea to get your finances in order. You may want to enlist the help of a financial planner to get your affairs in order, but there’s a lot you can do yourself to set yourself up for success...
Find out more
Assess your mental health needs
Mental health and wellbeing is a huge part of overall health and just as important as physical health. Regrettably, it is often not discussed until service personnel or their families are forced to confront it, but it’s important that if you feel low or in need of help that you seek it as soon as possible.
Discover the SSAFA helpline
Make sure your record is up to date
Before you leave the military, ensure that you have ticked off all the steps needed as part of your service leavers’ timeline. This includes having a final medical, dental exam and resettlement officer interview.
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After the military: writing a CV, new employment, new challenges
Write a stellar CV
To apply for roles outside the military, you will need to write a CV that outlines your experience, qualifications and personal attributes. This is probably something you haven’t needed to write for a long time, as with the military all of your employment details are stored on JPA.
If you are considering a mechanic role, you might want to take a look at another of our downloads on writing the perfect mechanic CV:
Get the free guide
Seek new employment
With a whole new world of civilian employment at your feet, it can be hard to know where to look. You will have had the opportunity to discuss potential career paths during your resettlement, but it’s a whole different experience when actually applying for your first roles post military service...
Explore different roles
Relish the new challenge
Whether you choose to take a contract role overseas in a familiar military environment as a civilian or head off on an entirely new career path, you should see this transition as a positive!
Your military service will always be regarded well by future employers – so it’s up to you to show off your skills, experience and personal attributes to your best advantage...
Find out how
Want to get the full know-how on transitioning into civilian employment?
Download the full guide above
