Symone Marley and Carl Lincoln from BJF Group were delighted to attend the latest BuildForce Insight Day, hosted by Jacobs to discuss Construction Careers with Service Leavers, Veterans, Reservists and Spouses and to encourage them to consider a career at BJF Group.

BuildForce, established in 2011 is a community interest company with the specific aim of supporting Military Personnel who wish to transition into a career in the Construction industry. They have countless success stories and operate nationwide with three core programmes centred around education, employment and mental health.

The Insight Day is a regular fixture in the BuildForce calendar and was well attended with around 100 military personnel attending on the day. Alongside BJF Group were most of the major players in the Construction Industry as well as a number of SME’s.

The day kicked off with an insightful panel discussion, including the Veteran Minister, Leo Docherty, Independent Veterans Advisor to UK Government Ministers, David Richmond, Jacobs VP, Logistics Director and Military Talent lead and two ex-service personnel who have benefitted from and gone on to thrive in civilian life following their engagement with BuildForce.

To conclude, the Insight Day was an excellent opportunity to support those who have given so much to serve our country and to encourage them to join an industry which we are proud to be a part of.

Carl Lincoln, Marketing and Business Development Manager at BJF Group said:

“BuildForce’s insight day was an absolutely brilliant event, both from our perspective but also from the feedback we got from attendees and other employers.

Whilst we have always employed Veterans within the business, we are now really stepping up our support for Service Personnel and their families. We have recently signed the Armed Forces Covenant and events like this are a great opportunity to actively engage with and support those leaving the military.

The skillsets, backgrounds and career aspirations of the people we met were hugely varied, however they all had unique transferrable skills that would make them an excellent fit for a business like BJF Group

Symone and I have gone away with ideas, insights and an even greater appreciation for members of our Armed Forces and what they can bring to the Construction industry and we look forward to working more closely with BuildForce in the future.”

Caroline Logan, BuildForce programme director added:

“Our connection to BJF Group began from one of our previous insight days in Feb 2019, resulting in one of our candidates securing a role with their organisation following engagement with Amey. We have remained connected to the business as this candidate joined our mentoring programme providing support to those following in his footsteps.

We were delighted BJF Group were able to join us as originally on our reserve list and through a last-minute cancellation, quickly seized the opportunity to attend.  Now we have whetted their appetite for the exceptional talent our military personnel bring to the table, we are looking forward to building on our relationship and creating further opportunities for our Armed Forces Community”