Jasmine Eyers served in the British Army as a Communications Systems Specialist in the 21 Signal Regiment. After 13 distinguished years in the military, Jasmine left the Forces to pursue a career in the cyber sector. After hearing about IBM’s i2 training course with SaluteMyJob, through her network she completed several cyber courses before securing a job as Cyber Consultant for CGI.
Jasmine recalls one of her biggest achievements as being early on in her career when she was a Lance Corporal and was sent to Morocco as a Detachment Commander. Leading a team of five, she was in charge of all the communications out there. It was huge achievement for Jasmine as it was her first experience of leadership with external agencies.
Before Jasmine started resettlement she had two plans – to look at both Project Management and Cyber with a particular focus on Information Assurance roles as she felt these two areas drew on the transferable skills that she had acquired in the Forces. Being in the IT sector within the Royal Signals, Jasmine already had some of the skill set needed for an Information Assurance role but identified that she would need to complete several management qualifications as well as and a range of cyber certifications in order to land a job. “When you leave it’s about developing those skills and learning ‘civilian’ qualifications in that area,” explains Jasmine.
It was through this process of education that Jasmine realised that she was more interested in pursuing a career in cyber. Unlike some Service leavers, Jasmine admits to fining resettlement “quite easy” as she approached it with a plan and was incredibly organised from the start. “I think being organised is a big part of it. Knowing what I wanted to go into, looking at the different areas within that field, as well as thinking about future promotion.”
“TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE COMBINED WITH THE DIVERSITY OF MY SKILLS, DEFINITELY HELPED ME TO GET INTO CYBER.”
Before Jasmine even signed off, she made herself a 12-month planner and researched all the training she would need to complete in order to get into the sector she wanted to go into. She applied for courses that were relevant and filled her year up. Some of the courses Jasmine completed included the Cyber Network Foundation and Practitioner, Crucial Academy Information Assurance Course, Certificate in Management of Risk and AGILE. All that hard work paid off and she now works as a Consultant for CGI.
Jasmine believes that it was thanks to the huge number of valuable skills that she managed to learn – as well as her military experience – that helped her to land a job in the cyber industry. “I had a background in IT, security and with cryptomaterial that I had to make secure,” says Jasmine. “This technical experience combined with the diversity of my skills, definitely helped me to get into cyber. In the Signals I also got a lot of training on a wide variety of equipment - so I had diverse experience on various systems. This helped me to quickly adapt and learn new things in the cyber sphere.”
Although hard skills and the ability to work complex systems were crucial to the success of her transition into cyber, her soft skills also helped her to achieve her career goals. “It’s also about the diversity of working with people. Throughout my career, I got to work with different people from different organisations, different sectors, different levels and different backgrounds. I have learnt quite a lot through diversity,” she adds.
Jasmine heard about SaluteMyJob, IBM and the Corsham Institute's i2 training course, through word of mouth. Individuals who successfully passed the course were accredited by IBM as a certified i2 Analyst. She is full of praise for the course and would recommend it to other Service Leavers: “It was really, really good! I would highly recommend it to anyone. The instructor was amazing – she made it really down to earth and really enjoyable to learn. The content and the whole course itself was pitched amazingly. It was just really interesting.”
Jasmine recommends that other Service leavers also make use of their networks to hear about courses and to ask for careers advice or for help gaining commercial experience. She said: “Half my time was about doing qualifications and the other half was working on networking, speaking to the right people within that environment as well as organising work placements and insight days.” She advocates attending Barclays Military Insight Day for Service Leavers, which she found incredibly interesting and insightful.
She also offers this advice to other Service Leavers going through resettlement who want to forge a career in cyber: “Look into cyber itself as there are various roles within that sector. Once you’ve seen a role that appeals to you, start networking, speak to people within that industry and get the qualifications you need. I connected with people who had left the Army and had gone into that industry. I networked a lot through LinkedIn but also through Project Fortis – I noticed some really good links there. It’s all about being proactive. Even though you have 12-months – it’s not a long time really, so make sure you make a plan for the year and stick to it.”
And finally, when asked what value Service Leavers add to businesses, Jasmine said: “They are always striving for more. So not only looking to do what their job tells them to do, they are so much more proactive, they will seek out more opportunities to make an impact. We are adaptable and always trying to improve.”
If you’re interested in pursuing a career in cyber why not read our guide to getting into cyber after the military? It’s packed full of information on how to get into the sector, what training you’ll need as well as information on which of your skills make you a good candidate for cyber roles. You can also start learning some new cyber skills by signing up to our free online training platform - Skillsbuild.
Written: July 2021