Representatives from more than 80 leading British businesses met with 400 ex-military personnel this week at a national Employment Fair at York Racecourse.

With more than 13,000 people leaving the UK Armed Forces every year, employers, Service leavers and Veterans came together to network and plan for their futures.

With hundreds of job opportunities and career pathways available on the day, the one-day event gave exhibitors the chance to promote their brand and showcase their careers.

The York event marked the final Career Transition Partnership Employment Fair to be delivered by the talent solutions specialists, Right Management.

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Employers in attendance represented a wide range of sectors including engineering, technology, manufacturing and project management.

Adrian Peters, Operations Director, Career Transition Partnership, said: “Our CTP Employment Fairs play a vital role in helping in enabling organisations to fill key job vacancies, whilst providing Service leavers the opportunity to find suitable next careers and exploring other options.

“With excellent transferable skills and experience, Service leavers make valuable additions to any organisation, particularly whilst employers across the country struggle to recruit and retain talent. Our final event as Right Management CTP has been another phenomenal success and as always, special thanks go out to our partner organisations for being on board, without whom none of this important work would be possible.”

Ann McIntosh, Talent Manager, DXC, said: “Attending CTP events allows us to create pathways for military service leavers to careers with DXC. At each event we have the opportunity not only to engage with service leavers to discuss careers but also answer questions and offer guidance. We’re very often joined by our a few of our own DXC Veterans who can offer an insight into Civvy street careers.”

Murray McLeod-Jones, Head of Veterans and Reserves Recruitment Talent Acquisition, BAE Systems, said: “This year, we’ve already hired 208 service leavers/veterans which is great news, it’s around one veteran hired every working day. 

“We attend every CTP employment fair as they are well run, the staff are excellent and there are a diverse set of companies which attend. The service leavers are well served by the breadth of companies and the opportunities on offer. Attendance at the CTP events forms a major leg of our attraction and recruitment strategy which has resulted in BAE recruiting a veteran or service leaver every work day in 2024.”

Travis Perkins has supported such job fairs for ten years.

Jake Woodcock, Demand Planning Manager & General Manager, said: “We pride ourselves in having veterans on the stands who can provide real life experiences and advice. On average we secure between 30 - 50 registrations which allows us to build up a pool of talented forces candidates that our recruitment team can utilize and engage with as they look for opportunities outside of the Armed Forces.”