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Employers learn more about the Army Cadets in Nottinghamshire

Conversation with Cadets is an annual event hosted by Nottinghamshire ACF where employers from across the county spend the day speaking to cadets and adult volunteers in order to find out more about what they do in cadets and how it can have a positive impact on both them personally and the civilian organisations they work for.

 The event took place at Nottinghamshire ACF’s HQ in Chilwell. Employers got to try some of the adventurous training cadets do including archery, teambuilding challenges and leadership exercises.

 Attendees also had a chance to learn about the vast range of qualifications both young people and adult volunteers can achieve in the ACF such as Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, BTEC, First Aid qualifications and leadership and management certificates.

 Colonel Alan Burt, a senior adult volunteer and Commandant of Nottinghamshire ACF explained: “Today gives employers an opportunity to engage with cadets and learn more about the important skills children learn in the ACF and how they can be beneficial in a business setting.

 “Although our training is based on military skills and core values these are skills for any career path a person may follow. This is the third event we have run and every year we are seeing new employers represented which means we are achieving our aim”

Employers got the chance to have a go at a range of activities at the event

 Speaking at the event, Michelle Jahina, Head of Operational Governance at Experian Ltd, said: “This has been a fantastic day, it’s lovely to see what the Army Cadets are doing and to speak to them about their career aspirations. Doing a number of the different activities shows where they’re building their teambuilding skills and their competencies and really shows how useful they can be as an apprentice or an employee.”

 John Buckley, Chief Fire Officer at Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “It’s good to see the different types of transferable skills young people learn through the Cadet Force be that leadership, self-confidence and discipline.  It gives us a broader understanding of the actual skills and values cadets develop moving into adulthood, what that means for us as an employer and how it can be transferred into any future career.”

 Michelle Place, Apprentice Lead at Nottingham University Hospitals, said “I think coming to see and speak to cadets is really useful. I spoke to one cadet who was telling me about his leadership skills and things he’d learnt around that and his role mentoring younger cadets. I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t come and spoken to cadets about it. I suppose it’s the same when you’re on the outside of any organisation you don’t understand the breadth of things they do and the skills that they develop.”