麻豆社

After months of coaching and professional help, Alex is hoping her four unemployed veterans are ready to take their first steps into civilian jobs. All have suffered from post-traumatic stress since leaving the military and have struggled to find work. Alex is hoping that her group, their self-esteem boosted with shiny new CVs and a better understanding of the civilian job market, can at last embark on the civvy street job paths that have so far eluded them.

Stuart is first off the blocks with an assessment for a bricklaying apprenticeship that could offer 18 months of employment and training. Phil, a former sergeant whose military career included being a pall bearer at Princess Diana's funeral, has an interview with a major construction company interested in harnessing his management skills. Shaun, who has only ever been self-employed as a painter and decorator, has a work placement with one of the biggest building developments in Europe which, if successful, could lead to a lucrative long-term contract. However, it would mean leaving the shelter of the veterans housing unit and taking his chances in London. For all three, these are huge opportunities and to succeed they will have to let go of the past and draw on every ounce of the self-confidence that Alex has been trying to drum into them over the past six months. Only Lee has withdrawn from the job market altogether, so he can have fresh treatment for a resurgence of his PTSD.

Meanwhile, Alex continues her ambitions to make a wider impact connecting employers with jobs to veterans seeking work. She wants to pilot a scheme in Plymouth that could roll out across the country to help the 120,000 working age veterans across the UK who find themselves unemployed and unwanted on civvy street.