Open question · Leaving the forces

What does the first civilian job interview feel like after twenty years in uniform?

Nobody has answered this yet. It is kept here because the question itself is rarely written down, and a question that is written down can at least be found.

Why nothing on the web answers it

Every CV workshop covers translating military experience into civilian language. None of them describes what it is like to sit in a room with someone fifteen years younger who does not know what a warrant officer is, and to be asked about your weaknesses.

Who could

Anyone who did it in the last five years, and anyone who has interviewed service leavers and can say what actually lands.

What they would be asked

• What surprised you most about the first one?
• What did you say that didn't work, and what did?
• How many did it take?
• What do civilian interviewers get wrong about service leavers?

There is no form on this page and no one to write to. If you are one of the people who could answer, the situation page says where people like you already gather. About this site.