In Focus: Use of the Reserve Forces during the Olympics This article is featured in the latest In Focus.
Nigel McILwane is Group Finance & HR Director at the Foyle Food Group which employs 820 people, several of whom are Reservists. The key skills Nigel has seen in the Reservists he employs include project management and leadership.
Their training is second to none
Nigel recently went to Afghanistan as part of SaBRE’s Employers Abroad programme to experience for himself how Reservists contribute to our Armed Forces’ efforts there.
These trips are fascinating, because you get to spend time with the Reservists and see them serving side-by-side with Regulars. They do a fantastic job out there under very challenging circumstances. Now I know why they come back with such great decision-making and leadership skills. But it’s not just mobilisation that gives them such valuable skills. The training they receive is second-to-none and helps them develop a real can-do attitude. I’d definitely recommend working with Reservists. Not just because they make great employees but because I think that employing Reservists is a great way of showing your support for the Forces.”
Excellent communication skills
Nigel believes both Reservists and employers have a responsibility to recognise the extra value Reservist training brings – particularly to management roles – and to make full use of it.
Once you start getting into Non-Commissioned Officers, Lieutenants, Majors, they’re the sort of people who make decisions, they have people reporting to them and I would align those with departmental managers, middle managers, that type of level. Certainly from what I saw, their ability to clearly explain a task and get it across in a very clear and concise manner is a skill which, as an employer, I would be crying out to have.”