Ben Sharp spent 6 years as a Combat Medical Technician Class 1 from 2012 to 2018, where he began his career with 16 Air assault brigade at 16 Medical Regiment. He was part of 23 Squadron, responsible for being ready to move at short notice as a medical contingency for international aid or operations. Ben completed his service with the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment’s Regimental Aid Post (RAP), responsible for seeing to their basic and urgent medical needs both at home and overseas.
Whilst deployed, Ben would be on the ground with fighting units, acting as an immediate medical response; whilst on camp, he would be medically prepping himself, equipment and the Regiment for their next deployment. During his military career, he developed many skills but his key focus was co-ordinating teams and teaching. These were vital skills to enable him to carry-out any medical procedures and impart his medical knowledge to ensure he was surrounded by a skilled team.
Ben secured his role as Assistant Site Manager for Barratt Developments through an online application administered by BuildForce. Mentors, work placements and networking were instrumental to Ben’s transition to ‘Civvy Street’, supporting his decision on career choice and direction – the connections BuildForce facilitated allowed him to set goals and secure his next chapter.
The main challenge faced during his transition was getting his name out there, although this was resolved via networking and work experience, providing him the confidence to reach out to more people and in return resulting in further opportunities. Ben thinks more placements and site experience are beneficial to the transition process as this provides a starting point which can often be the hardest thing to do on your own.
In Ben’s new role as a residential assistant site manager, he is responsible for the day to day running under the direction of the site manager or project manager. He has responsibility for planning, scheduling, procuring materials for first and second fixing houses and is also responsible for the customer aftercare following property purchase. A typical day for Ben is ensuring complete site safety and continually improving the site and working environment.
Ben’s skills learnt during his military career such as time management, communications and organisation have facilitated his new role enabling him to program work required, assign labour and schedule materials to meet deadlines. Communications being his most vital transferable skill as this is needed to liaise with the customers, other construction agencies, contractors and the need for use in conflict resolution from time to time.
Ben’s advice to those leaving the Armed Forces considering a career in construction is: “to remain persistent, make a constant effort to network and learn from your advice. Get to know people, the industry and the jobs in different construction arenas.”
And finally, in your own words, how would you describe the construction sector: “It’s hard work but very rewarding!”