Investing time into supporting and championing veterans is at the heart of what we do here at SaluteMyJob - and in doing so we hope to help shape the future leaders of tomorrow.
Take the journey of David McDonagh, a former naval warfare specialist. From a rocky start into his transition, to a chance encounter with SaluteMyJob’s Managing Director, Andrew Jackson, who helped steer his focus to Project Management, David has well and truly found his feet - achieving an incredible amount in the eight years since he left the Navy is quite the understatement.
From Senior Project Management positions, to gaining a Masters Degree, to becoming an Associate Director - with ambitions to become a Project Director - he is quite the inspiration. David left the Navy in 2016 and like many transitioning personnel, he felt slightly out of his depth and entered the civilian market not entirely sure what he wanted to do. Following a more targeted approach, thanks to Managing Director of SaluteMyJob, Andrew Jackson’s advice, and after completing several manager training courses including PRINCE2 foundation and practitioner, he landed a job as Project Manager with Turner & Townsend, then Associate Director at Atkins.
When we spoke to him in 2022, he had an ambition to further climb the ladder: “I haven’t stopped pedalling since I left the Navy, gaining quals, growing my experience, building my network, involving and engaging with the Project profession at a greater level, it has been definitely like the swan scenario, graceful on the surface, but under the water mad panic paddling as fast as possible, now I am approaching what I would say is my current career goal of reaching Project Director I need to chill out a bit I think!”
Did he do it? Yes! David is now Project Director at Gleeds, showing what ambition, hard work - and those transferable military skills can do. A leader and inspiration to anyone leaving the military - and we like to think SaluteMyJob had a hand in it all, way back to that chance meeting in 2016. Read the full case study here.
We hope moving forward with our innovative Pathways Programme, delving further into the world of cybersecurity, AI and data analytics - to kickstart a pipeline of ex-military leaders into these in-demand tech roles. Watch this space for further inspirational case studies!
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