Thread by @seanleicester1

My RFA Recruitment Experience
A thread 🧵

1/ BACKGROUND
I’m a healthy 57 yr old, with previous RAF HMC&E maritime service back in the new romantic 80s

I've just exited my own SIGINT company after 30 yrs, and handed this over to a colleague

We specialised in UK/NATO/RoW Government-only grade, niche SIGINT & processing technology; predominantly LEO/GEO satellites. I’m not a hallowed graduate, as I was commissioned into the RAF when I was 19, without going to Uni

I’m therefore predominantly self-taught, A Level educated, with the odd third-party cse here and there

I initially thought about the RN, and particularly the Submarine Service, as I am perfectly suited to sitting quietly for extended periods without internet, seeking needles in haystacks

The RN though, is wise to chancers like me – noting that I was born in 1966, and, probably under-weight😎

The RFA though, as MoD employer, has no age discrimination policies. So, I thought I’d give it a crack, not particularly expecting to get very far, and expecting to fail at every step of the journey

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2/ INITIAL CONTACT
I completed the RFA online enquiry form on 5th July 23, which asked me if I had previous military experience. I answered that I had, which sent me to the Rejoiners Team

Two days later they e-mailed me suggesting I apply through the RN Recruitment Portal (Capita? I don't know), where the RFA Team would deal with my enquiry. This was taking me in a loop back to where I started, so I emailed the RFA team directly on the provided group e-mail box

Three weeks passed, and I sent a polite chaser which elicited a response that my Recruiter was on leave. Eventually, it was determined that I had to answer ‘no’ to the 'previous service' question in order to progress

This added over a month of delay to the process, and a few other communication challenges meant that we eventually got on track on the 21st Sep, after I received a very friendly call from Mary

After this, the Portal seemed to be slowly abandoned, and everything reverted to personalised email/telephone calls, and was substantially better for doing so

I never crawled past 10% on my Portal 'progress dial', which was a piece of pointless junk tbh

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3/ THE JOB ROLE AND OFFER
Whilst I had varied comms experience, I wasn’t able to apply for the ‘qualified roles’ which are governed by Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) rules

Therefore, I could apply to be an Officer through a 3 year sponsored university cadet course at £19-21k p.a (didn’t appeal) or, jump straight into an 18 month Comms Apprentice course on about £17,200, which I chose to do

Whilst these salary levels might seem (questionable though..) marginally acceptable for younger, low-qualified applicants, they are certainly a barrier to older sweats like me. Clearly I’m not doing this for the money

After about 18 months (depends on who you talk to and future ship availability for the sea-time training), the salary increases to a more liveable level - £30k+ with increments and promotions based on performance, qualifications and vacancy availability😃

Another consideration for me, is the cost of travelling to/from home. Whilst working at the RFA, accommodation is provided on/offshore, but leave periods are entirely my own expense. As I am based presently in the ME and in future further afield into Asia, my flight costs will be considerable, but of course that’s my choice. Nevertheless, at £17k, this quickly becomes charitable work, for the initial period 😆

The work pattern, post-qualification, seems to be around 4 months at sea/aboard ship, with 3 months’ leave, though there are shorter deployment periods - ~1 month - being used/trialled on the newer UK centric vessels, I understand

Finally, the 18 month Apprentice contract does NOT automatically lead to an offer of employment at the end of it😐, though I believe satisfactory performance all but ensures it

Nevertheless, the overall initial offer is not geared towards stimulating high recruitment demand, particularly amongst the more mature population😉

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4/ TESTS AND INTERVIEW
Having elected to play with Morse and valves again, the process sped up

I was diligent and responded to all requests as fast as possible – usually the same day or within 24 hours

The next step was to take the online Defence Aptitude Assessment (DAA). I found these relatively easy but well designed. I actually got quite stressed doing mock tests, as it brought out my competitive side.

In particular, the ‘work rate’ tests were REALLY hard. I think they are designed to be virtually impossible to complete in the time, to be honest.

I passed, but ballsed up the verbal reasoning, which I put down to having been my own boss for 30 years, with no need to be verbally reasonable 😊

This step led to a ‘sift’ in October, which I progressed through, to an interview on 20th November.

This was a VERY professional, virtually-held, interview. As well as putting on my suit AND trousers, I actually bulled my best Church Oxfords – old school you see 😊 I was actually worried that they might ask me to stand up to see how seriously I was taking it |(I would have…🤷‍♂️)

I was greatly uplifted after the interview, especially having chatted with my interviewing Subject Matter Expert (SME) Gary – you always feel an affinity when you agree on the efficacy and value of HF and Aldis lamps....

Certainly, there was conveyance of some sense of an RFA ‘family’ at this interview, although we all know the challenges of recruitment, retention, pay dissatisfaction etc.

But it was refreshing to experience clearly good and motivated people doing their best against considerable headwinds
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5/ DOCUMENTATION
Within 3 days I was told that I'd passed the interview, and the pace ticked up significantly. I had to submit a lot of docs explaining what I had been doing overseas for 20 years and why it wasn't moral turpitude

This was required to obtain a ‘Residency Waiver’ which I was warned could take months, together with the SC security vetting. Maybe a year, if you believed the bulletin posts. I submitted everything required, on 11th December

Vaccination requirements and bloody grouping required an armful of jabs and I managed to get my ENG1 medical done by the lovely old MVA-approved doctor here in Dubai. Not a particularly onerous challenge – just general health and hearing, bloods, urine test etc.

By this stage, I was starting to believe that I might actually go all the way with this…. I HAD been taking it seriously, but always expected to trip at some hurdle. Now, it started to feel real

In Jan this year, I received my MCA Seaman’s Discharge Book. And another shout-out here to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency @MCA_media

I posted my Discharge Book application form original copy from the UK on Tues 16th Jan, with them receiving it on Weds 17th. I received the issued Discharge Book, left outside my apartment front Door, in Dubai, on Friday 26th – so 8 working days, including 2 or 3 courier time. Excellent customer service

They use huge envelopes though...🙄

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6/ JILTED RN
Clearly the RN is miffed at me dancing with the RFA

Having jilted me, they now send me monthly chasers from [e-mail] thanking me for my enthusiasm! What’s to do? I was spurned…

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7/ FINAL OFFER
My Residency Waiver came through remarkably quickly, and this was needed before I could receive my SC security vetting which then also arrived rapidly, against expectations. I have held two previous PV(TS) and DV clearances which probably eased the process

Nonetheless, given my need for a RW, I was only given a 5 year SC vetting😬

I received my final job offer and contract on 31st Jan

So, that’s it

From start to finish it took just short of 7 months, though I think ‘Portal’ bureaucracies and the RN Rejoiner confusion set me up to fail on a few occasions – they probably added 2 months to the process

To be honest, it was considerably shorter than the time it took the RAF to process my application from the Manchester, Fountain Street Careers Information Office in 1984

It’s vogue to slam recruitment processes these days, and we know that ‘recollections may vary’ between applicants….. but I need to slide in a shout-out here to all the RFA recruitment staff, but particularly Paula, Kate and Jackie with whom I interacted the most

I’m old and a little cynical at times, and not easily impressed, if I’m honest. But I have to say that the tone, manner and the balance of friendliness with proper official communications was about as good as I’ve experienced in 30 years. Genuinely impressed with the handling

The follow-ups, the efficiency, the clear and concise written communication was all highly commendable. I know everybody has a different experience with differing people, but mine was very good

Next, I await joining instructions for my course in early April. I don’t know if I get accommodation for the Sunday night before the Monday course yet, as I have to fly in from Dubai the day before. I think I'll book a hotel!

From media portrayals, I have low expectations for the accommodation at HMS Collingwood, but..... let’s take as I find. All character building stuff, no doubt!

END

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