How Mission Automotive is filling the car industry's recruitment gap

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1 April 2022

Imagine a cluster of disciplined and skilled people with expertise in high-tech vehicles, aerospace systems, high-voltage electrics, logistics and management. Now understand that 14,500 highly trained experts like that are available to the UK workforce every year, having left the armed forces. That’s why the car industry gathered at Silverstone last week for the Mission Motorsport National Transition Day.

Regular Autocar readers will probably know Mission Motorsport, founded 10 years ago by former Royal Tank Regiment major James Cameron, as the Forces charity behind the brilliant Race of Remembrance (RoR).

In 2019, it branched out with Mission Automotive, in conjunction with the SMMT, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Royal Foundation and the Ministry of Defence, to open up career paths in the car industry for veterans.

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“There's such an obvious crossover between car makers and SMMT members and the skills of ex-forces personnel,” said Cameron, “and the [annual] Transition Day is a key part of that, not just about recruitment but also networking and seeing what the private sector in automotive can offer.”

Moving on post-pandemic, the Transition Day 2022 was an important opportunity to add new impetus, especially for Caterham, Jaguar Land Rover, Lotus, Morgan and Stellantis, plus many smaller players, totalling more than 30 automotive businesses, who see ex-forces personnel as a fine fit for careers in many automotive disciplines, including engineering, retail, management and logistics.

In a normal year, the UK car industry, which in its broadest definition employs 680,000 people, 180,000 of them in manufacturing alone, has a hungry appetite for new workers. The two biggest sectors are maintenance and repair, which accounts for 29% of the total, and retailing at 27%.

Although the economic ravages of Covid reduced the workforce by 11,349 in 2020, according to the SMMT, 2022 is expected to bring the start of recovery.

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"The automotive industry is changing with an accelerated switch to electrification, digitisation and automated vehicles, requiring new talent to address critical skills gaps," said SMMT CEO Mike Hawes.

“Mission Automotive expands veterans’ opportunities, using their valuable experience in an exciting new career in the automotive sector, while helping the industry overcome challenges with highly trained talent.”

JLR has been described by Cameron as the “exemplar”. Stirred by involvement with the Invictus Games for injured service people, JLR has found 1098 jobs for veterans globally, 730 of them in the UK, since 2014.

“We’ve filled jobs not just in engineering, but legal, PR, manufacturing, logistics... in fact, every single part of the organisation,” said Steve Lees, who juggles running Mission Automotive with his main role as armed forces engagement manager at JLR.

Cameron also sees an emerging opportunity for forces in high-voltage battery electric and hybrid car powertrains, especially as 800V systems move into the mainstream.

“Many forces personnel are very familiar with high voltage,” he says, “and I mean even in the range up to 1100 volts, because military equipment, like tank turrets, jet-aircraft ground-handling units and radars, already use those.”

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Historically, Lotus has employed a trickle of ex-forces staff, because its Norfolk location is shared with many military airbases.

Today, Corinna Fletcher, organisation development director, estimates that around 50 veterans work at Lotus out of a 1700-strong workforce, and that number is set to rise, given that there are 168 open positions, at least 30 of them in engineering plus IT, logistics and computer systems.

“We have great opportunities for veterans and see huge value in recruiting ex-forces personnel with years of the right experience and training already under their belts,” she said.

Morgan has long been a supporter of Mission Motorsport, having built a hand-controlled Morgan Plus 4 for the first RoR, and it's now recruiting as production of the new Super 3 three-wheeler ramps up.

In fact, Mission Motorsport drivers have been piling on the test miles at Millbrook as part of the Super 3 development programme.

In addition to manufacturers' involvement, the Ministry of Defence has a department helping place ex-forces staff in civvy street jobs.

Group captain Daren Moss of the MoD says it filled 600 haulage-driver jobs during the shortage around Christmas by working with the Department for Transport on recognising military qualifications as equivalent to civilian training, while organising courses to fill skills gaps, such as those for petrol-tanker drivers, whose specialist civilian responsibilities include blending additives into standard petrol at distribution depots.

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Stellantis, whose car brands encompass Vauxhall to Jeep and Citroën to Maserati, is making a new play to support forces personnel, including spouses and dependents over the age of 16, by giving free e-learning training courses at its Coventry Performance Academy, where apprentices are trained.

“We're just starting our journey with Mission Automotive, finding our way, but job opportunities are there, and opening the Academy is a big step,” said Louise Gardner, its UK human-resources director.

More than 70 vacancies are currently open to force-leavers in Stellantis dealerships – many in the Robins & Day retail network – in customer service, sales, technical and leadership.

Last year, Stellantis signed the Armed Forces Covenant, which is the first significant step towards a corporate commitment to employing ex-forces personnel.

The Covenant has three levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold), with the top level including a corporate commitment to two weeks paid leave to service personnel in the reserves.

Cameron says nationally that more than 8000 organisations across all industries have signed the covenant, with 492 going all the way with Gold membership, which commits them to the advocacy of the programme.

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The car industry is represented, but Cameron would like more to sign up.

What veterans have to say about transitioning to the car industry

Simon Vaughan, LotusSimon spent 22 years as an RAF ground electrician, also some time fixing Land Rover Defenders. He joined Lotus in September 2021 as an electrical engineer in engine test cells and is now installing test equipment for high-voltage battery electric powertrains. “I was really lucky," he says. "Lotus was the first job I applied for. Now I’m really enjoying my time in the car industry. Lotus is a great place to work.”

Ian Tuckwell, RAF leaverIan is on the lookout for a job in the car industry as he nears the end of a 23-year stint in the RAF in April 2023. “I want to stay in engineering but branch out to another field, and the car industry looks exciting, with plenty of opportunities related to my experience,” he says. Ian started his career on Harrier avionics, moving onto the Tornado, C-17 and more recently the Reaper UAV.

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Pa Njie, StellantisPa is the armed forces engagement manager at Stellantis, a job he moved to after two years at JLR, while being supported by Mission Motorsport. He’s also studying for a degree in business accountancy from Aston University as he develops a new career after being seriously injured and losing both legs in Afghanistan at just 19 years old.

Ian Botham, StellantisIan put his experience as a sergeant major in the Royal Logistics Corps to good use when he joined Stellantis in 2013, setting up a new network of parts warehouses. He says: “Don’t be scared of coming out of the forces, I’d say to anyone about to leave. You’d be surprised how much of your experience and skills are transferable.”