Army Engineer to IT Security: Forfusion's CWA Programme

A Civilian Work Attachment (CWA) is a placement where you spend some of your GRT (graduated resettled time) within a civilian company to gain work experience. We’ve been running our CWA scheme here at Forfusion for almost a year and in that time, we’ve had two participants. One of which – Simon Marshall - was offered a full time role as he displayed all of the qualities we look for and now works for our Government Secure Services team.

The second participant – Molly Stone - is coming to the end of her placement this week. Molly’s personality, technical skills and work ethic have impressed all of the team at Newcastle HQ. This is what she had to say about her time at Forfusion:

Civvy street

For me, my CWA at Forfusion was by far the most beneficial part of my resettlement.

From the age of 16, I moved from my family home and joined the army. Seven years later after many operational deployments in highly structured and disciplined work routines, and a lot of training, I decided that the time had come for me to move on into the world outside the Armed Forces, known as ‘Civvy Street’.

The day that I completed my notice of termination, I was filled with a lot of apprehension and questions:

Will I get a job? Are my skills transferrable? Where will I live? How will I cope with all this change?

This was a perfectly normal response to such a life changing decision. Fortunately, a friend pointed me in the direction of Forfusion and I applied to join their CWA.

I spent a total of two weeks with the company and I wanted to share my experiences to try and encourage other people in my situation to take up this opportunity, as I found it invaluable.

Forfusion is a professional services and IT consultancy that create customised technology solutions to suit business needs. As I wanted to start my new career as a Network Engineer, Forfusion seemed like a good place to go for me. But what was beneficial is that I learnt about several of the departments from project management to sales.

In good company

Over a third of the team at Forfusion are ex-military themselves and are therefore accustomed to the transformations which those leaving the Armed Forces will experience. I obtained lots of advice regarding differences I would notice and how some of the team personally dealt with the process, not just relating to work but also civilian life generally.

From day one, I felt very comfortable being shown around by one of the ex-military employees and on arrival, I was introduced to the team and taken through the induction process. This really helped to embed in my mind how a civilian company runs. I spent time with someone from each section so that I could see how all departments link together and understand the bigger picture.

Within the first few days, one of the consultants (Marc) took me through a small test to see what stage I was at technically. From the results, he made a plan of areas that I may need to improve in and technologies that I could learn in more depth to help me progress. He was genuinely interested in what I wanted to achieve from my placement and also where I wanted to go with my career. I found the time spent with Marc invaluable, he explained different directions I could take in my career and this helped me in my decisions. Marc spent a lot of time teaching me new things and also showing me great ways to see these in practice.

As a company, I think that Forfusion has a fantastic ethos and genuinely care about the experience the customer receives. They are not a company who are financially driven, this shows when you talk to any employee. Forfusion’s main goal is to help the customer understand everything which is being put in place and why. The company is full of friendly, motivated people who are brilliant at their jobs and if that is not a good enough reason to want to work or carry out a CWA here, then I don’t know what is!

If you are going through the resettlement process and are worried about your transition into civilian life, I highly recommend going to Forfusion for a CWA. Every single person cares about what you want to achieve from the attachment and are interested in your feedback and making improvements to the programme. Your mind will be put at ease and it will help you start transitioning before you enter your new life.

Find out more about our Civilian Work Attachment.