The Blue Light Leavers Podcast

Welcome to Episode 74 of the Blue Light Leavers Podcast

So today I'm talking with Lewis Willcox.

Lewis is a consultant with a really highly sought after, well known recruitment company called Investigo and deals predominantly with change and transformation programmes in policing, public sector and government organisations.

He's really highly respected and a really good guy. I've known him for a number of years now and I've had a relationship with Investigo for a few years because of the type of work that I've been doing.

Now, in this interview, we discuss a recruiter's perspective and we talk about the type of organisations and types of roles he recruits for.

We also talk about Change Management and Transformation programmes, and the opportunities and skill sets that he's looking for, and we talk about the challenges some of these organisations have in finding the right staff and how you, with your experience and your background, regardless of your level of service or rank, could be a really good fit.

It's a brilliant interview and I'm really grateful to him for his time.

This episode is sponsored by Motor Source Group. They offer genuine, new car discounts to serving and retired emergency services personnel, including Police, NHS, Fire and Rescue, and the Prison Service. They're completely independent, offering a full range of makes and models, and are rated excellent by their customers on Trustpilot. To find out more, go to www.bluelightleavers.com

You can join the private Facebook Group via www.facebook.com/groups/bluelightleavers

The Academy Membership from Blue Light Leavers is a low cost, no tie-in monthly subscription that gives you all the help you need to find your new role or career, including weekly live sessions with Andy and others who've been where you are, along with subject matter experts talking CVs, LinkedIn, interviews and much more, so if you're looking for a bit more support and want to find out more, go to www.bluelightleavers.com

Not sure what roles you can do after the police, check this out: 'What jobs can I do after the Police?' Scorecard (scoreapp.com)

You can listen to the podcast on shift, walking the dog, pottering about, and do it on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet, anywhere and whenever suits you, pause and play and they're all completely free!

Welcome to Episode 73 of the Blue Light Leavers Podcast

Now, what we wanted to do was give you a bit of an insight into the type of live interviews we do within The Academy from Blue Light Leavers.

The Academy is a no tie in, really low fee monthly membership, and we have loads of guest speakers, including lots of cops that have moved into new roles and we talk about why and how they've gone about doing it.

We also have conversations with CV and LinkedIn experts and subject matter experts from different organisations, recruiters and all sorts and I really wanted to give you just an insight into the type of calls that we do, that are live Q and A type sessions within The Academy.

So this is a bit different to our usual podcast episode.

Laura McKeeman is a former police officer, who left policing after training through our collaboration with WithYouWithMe and is now working as a consultant in Leonardo, for WYWM.

WithYouWithMe are an organisation that were previously only open to Military Leavers, but are now open to Blue Light Leavers and they offer you a complete career path into the tech industry, that includes placements and their training is completely free.

This was an opportunity for The Academy Members to join the call and to listen to Laura's story, and then an opportunity to ask her some questions at the end, which you'll hear.

I really hope you enjoy this, and like I said, I just wanted to give you a bit of a taster as to the type of calls and the type of things that we do within The Academy that are very different from the normal Blue Light Leavers group.

Now, within this episode, we talk about what she was doing in her career in the police, and we talk about why she left and how she felt about leaving as well, and we talk about her experience of the training, and the type of training that she did with WithYouWithMe and her last day in the police service and we talk about the new environment and then she's asked a couple of questions from Academy members at the end.

I really hope you enjoy this, and like I say, if you want to join us in The Academy, then you can just go to www.bluelightleavers.com, click on Work With Me, and you'll see The Academy drop down from there.

We've had so many success stories through The Academy and I'm really proud of what we're doing, so hopefully we'll see you there.

This episode is sponsored by Motor Source Group. They offer genuine, new car discounts to serving and retired emergency services personnel, including Police, NHS, Fire and Rescue, and the Prison Service. They're completely independent, offering a full range of makes and models, and are rated excellent by their customers on Trustpilot. To find out more, go to www.bluelightleavers.com

You can join the private Facebook Group via www.facebook.com/groups/bluelightleavers

The Academy Membership from Blue Light Leavers gives you all the help you need to find your new role or career, including weekly live sessions with Andy and others who've been where you are, along with subject matter experts talking CVs, LinkedIn, interviews and much more, so if you're looking for support and want to find out more, go to www.bluelightleavers.com

Not sure what roles you can do after the police, check this out: 'What jobs can I do after the Police?' Scorecard (scoreapp.com)

You can listen to the podcast on shift, walking the dog, pottering about, and do it on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet, anywhere and whenever suits you, pause and play and they're all completely free!

I'm incredibly proud to be able to announce another collaboration with a partner offering employment opportunities to Blue Light Leavers.  

Career Forces are a socially responsible recruitment organisation, and a certified social enterprise, which means they donate at least 20% of their profits to charity, and they truly believe in helping and supporting those who have bravely supported our country and society, whether military or blue light.

Andy Howe and Career Forces have fantastic relationships with amazing organisations and some exceptional employment opportunities, and he helps those organisations understand the benefits and character traits of military and blue light professionals.

You can find out more by following this link : Career Forces and make sure you connect with Andy. He's so keen to help you find that next role, and this really is an incredible opportunity and I'm so pleased to be able to offer this to you.

This episode is sponsored by Motor Source Group. They offer genuine, new car discounts to serving and retired emergency services personnel, including Police, NHS, Fire and Rescue, and the Prison Service. They're completely independent, offering a full range of makes and models, and are rated excellent by their customers on Trustpilot. To find out more, go to www.bluelightleavers.com

You can join the private Facebook Group via www.facebook.com/groups/bluelightleavers

The Academy Membership from Blue Light Leavers gives you all the help you need to find your new role or career, including weekly live sessions with Andy and others who've been where you are, along with subject matter experts talking CVs, LinkedIn, interviews and much more, so if you're looking for support and want to find out more, go to www.bluelightleavers.com

Not sure what roles you can do after the police, check this out: 'What jobs can I do after the Police?' Scorecard (scoreapp.com)

You can listen to the podcast on shift, walking the dog, pottering about, and do it on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet, anywhere and whenever suits you, pause and play and they're all completely free!

Welcome to Episode 71 of the Blue Light Leavers podcast.

Luke Chadwick is a former professional footballer who made his mark as a talented midfielder during his time at Manchester United, going on to play for numerous clubs, including West Ham, Norwich City, MK Dons, Cambridge Utd and others. Known for his dedication and perseverance, he was hugely admired for his work ethic, versatility, and ability to create scoring opportunities.

In this episode we talk about Luke's football career, from grassroots schoolboy to his debut for Manchester United and beyond, and the lessons he learned from his time under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Luke also talks really openly about his career highs and lows and how difficult he found it coming to terms with the end of his career and loss of identity, and how he ultimately had to seek help and learn to be vulnerable and grieve.

There are so many similarities between a lifelong career in sport and a career as a first responder.

Post-retirement, Luke has become a respected figure in football analysis and commentary, sharing his valuable insights and experiences, and is a Director of The Football Fun Factory where their mission is to use the nation’s passion for football as a vehicle for child development, and where the focus isn't simply on development or progression… they focus on having fun, and you can find out more, and potentially own your own Football Fun Factory franchise, by contacting Luke on [email protected] and mention the podcast!

Luke's mindset throughout his career and post football, is so inspiring and I'm incredibly grateful for his time and honesty.

This episode is sponsored by Motor Source Group. MSG offer genuine new car discounts to serving and retired emergency services personnel, including Police, NHS, Fire and Rescue, and the Prison Service. They're completely independent, offering a full range of makes and models, and are rated excellent by their customers on Trustpilot. I promise you; you will make savings. To find out more, go to https://www.bluelightleavers.com

Don't forget, you can join the private Facebook Group via www.facebook.com/groups/bluelightleavers

The Academy Membership from Blue Light Leavers gives you all the help you need to find your new role or career, including live sessions with Andy and others who've been there and done it along with subject matter experts, talking CVs, LinkedIn, interviews and so much more, so if you're looking for a little more help and support and want to find out more, you can go to https://www.bluelightleavers.com/

You can listen to the podcast on shift, walking the dog, pottering about, and do it on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet, anywhere and whenever suits you, pause and play and they're all completely free!

Welcome to episode 70 of the Blue Light Leavers Podcast

In this episode, I've the absolute pleasure of talking with Amanda Whittaker.

Amanda is the founder of Super Simple Sleep and the Baby Sleep Support Facebook Community.

In the episode, she talks us through her policing career history and some of the challenges she had being, balancing being a new mum and a police officer.

She goes on to explain how she invested in herself and her knowledge, and how she's gone on to create a business, out of something that many new parents go through. She said 'It got to a point where I wasn’t coping, I was so sleep deprived I couldn’t function, it made my anxiety soar through the roof, I wasn’t able to keep up with household chores as much as I wanted. But more than anything, I wasn’t being the mother I thought I would be. Lack of patience, moody, snappy, didn’t want to go anywhere, didn’t have the energy to play with my son, I ended up resenting my husband for going to work as he got a break from it all. That’s when I knew something had to change.'

Amanda tells us how she built her business alongside her policing role, with the job's permission, and got to the point where she's been able to leave policing completely and focus on her, her family and her business.

This is such an inspirational interview! Let me know what you think!

This episode is sponsored by Motor Source Group. MSG offer genuine new car discounts to serving and retired emergency services personnel, including Police, NHS, Fire and Rescue, and the Prison Service. They're completely independent, offering a full range of makes and models, and are rated excellent by their customers on Trustpilot. I promise you; you will make savings. To find out more, go to https://www.bluelightleavers.com

Don't forget, you can join the private Facebook Group via www.facebook.com/groups/bluelightleavers

The Academy Membership from Blue Light Leavers gives you all the help you need to find your new role or career, including live sessions with Andy and others who've been there and done it along with subject matter experts, talking CVs, LinkedIn, interviews and so much more, so if you're looking for a little more help and support and want to find out more, you can go to https://www.bluelightleavers.com/

You can listen to the podcast on shift, walking the dog, pottering about, and do it on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet, anywhere and whenever suits you, pause and play and they're all completely free!

Welcome to episode 69 of the Blue Light Leavers Podcast

In this episode, I'm incredibly honoured to be speaking with Donna Ohdedar.

She's the Managing Director of Review Consulting, she's a keynote public speaker, she's previously been the Head of Law for a large Metropolitan Authority, she's a safeguarding advisor and mentor, and she delivers a University Accredited programme called SILP School and you can find out more HERE.

In this interview, she talks about how to become an independent consultant, delivering safeguarding and domestic homicide reviews. She explains why this is a fantastic career path for cops and we discuss all of the the sought after skills and behaviours. We also talk about the SILP programme itself and the support you'll get through the programme.

This episode is sponsored by Motor Source Group. MSG offer genuine new car discounts to serving and retired emergency services personnel, including Police, NHS, Fire and Rescue, and the Prison Service. They're completely independent, offering a full range of makes and models, and are rated excellent by their customers on Trustpilot. I promise you; you will make savings. To find out more, go to https://www.bluelightleavers.com

Don't forget, you can join the private Facebook Group via www.facebook.com/groups/bluelightleavers

The Academy Membership from Blue Light Leavers gives you all the help you need to find your new role or career, including live sessions with Andy and others who've been there and done it along with subject matter experts, talking CVs, LinkedIn, interviews and so much more, so if you're looking for a little more help and support and want to find out more, you can go to https://www.bluelightleavers.com/

You can listen to the podcast on shift, walking the dog, pottering about, and do it on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet, anywhere and whenever suits you, pause and play and they're all completely free!

Welcome to episode 68 of the Blue Light Leavers Podcast

Today, I've got the absolute pleasure of talking with Gareth Keyte. Gareth is a former Police Officer and Royal Marine Commando, and in this episode he talks us through his policing career where he reached the rank of Detective Inspector.

Whilst serving, Gareth had identified a particular process within his organisation that resulted in him having to report the issue to, and subsequently challenge a senior officer, who then made it his mission to do all he could to make Gareth's life as difficult as possible, in every possible way.

It's an extraordinary and heart breaking story, and Gareth goes on to explain the impact on his mental health and the signs and symptoms that manifested themselves, as a result of the behaviour of the individual and the lack of support of the organisation.

This resulted in him having to leave on ill-health retirement after 21 years service, and he talks us through his struggle with the loss of identity, his ongoing recovery and treatment, and how he's since gone on to re-train and create Oxygen Coaching Company in partnership with his wife, Dawn.

He talks about the importance of being proactive in supporting your own mental health, and he talks about the importance of not relying on an overwhelmed organisation to provide the right support and how damaging the 'big boys don't cry' culture is. He also shows us that there really is life after policing and that it's a mindset shift, by learning to reject 'learned helplessness.'

We also go on to talk about reactive versus proactive mental health support and what can and should be in place? This is an extraordinary interview and Gareth is so honest and open about his struggles and the challenges he's had, but it's so inspiring and he's gone on to do some amazing things, including being asked to deliver a keynote speech by senior police leaders, to the National Police Chiefs'​ Council and the Disabled Police Association about his experience and challenging and changing the toxic culture in policing.

Tickets are on sale for 'Out Of The Blue' Police and Emergency Services Career Transition event on Sat 29th April 2023 at the Millennium Point, Birmingham and you can view and purchase your tickets HERE

Join our one-day event for Police and Emergency Services leavers and be ready to make the change!

This episode is sponsored by Motor Source Group. MSG offer genuine new car discounts to serving and retired emergency services personnel, including Police, NHS, Fire and Rescue, and the Prison Service. They're completely independent, offering a full range of makes and models, and are rated excellent by their customers on Trustpilot. I promise you; you will make savings. To find out more, go to https://www.bluelightleavers.com

Don't forget, you can join the private Facebook Group via www.facebook.com/groups/bluelightleavers

The Academy Membership from Blue Light Leavers gives you all the help you need to find your new role or career, including live sessions with Andy and others who've been there and done it along with subject matter experts, talking CVs, LinkedIn, interviews and so much more, so if you're looking for a little more help and support and want to find out more, you can go to https://www.bluelightleavers.com/

You can listen to the podcast on shift, walking the dog, pottering about, and do it on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet, anywhere and whenever suits you, pause and play and they're all completely free!

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bluelightleavers/message

In this episode I'm talking with Jo Morris. Jo is a Blue Light Leavers community member and also a member of The Academy and she's a real success story.

In the last episode we spoke to Jo, Jules and James with regards to our amazing collaboration with FDM Group and Jo is a former police officer who has been through their selection process and successfully passed the training, and she's recently started a fantastic new role consulting in a Project Manager role within the Finance sector.

If you're thinking of leaving policing or other emergency service and unsure of your options, your transferable skills, the careers you can move to, the impact on your mental health, losing your identity, how to write a CV or use LinkedIn, then this event is for you.

Tickets are on sale for 'Out Of The Blue' Police and Emergency Services Career Transition event on Sat 29th April 2023 at the Millennium Point, Birmingham and you can find out more by clicking HERE

Join our one-day event for Police and Emergency Services leavers and be ready to make the change!

This episode is sponsored by Motor Source Group. They offer genuine, new car discounts to serving and retired emergency services personnel, including Police, NHS, Fire and Rescue, and the Prison Service. They're completely independent, offering a full range of makes and models, and are rated excellent by their customers on Trustpilot. To find out more, go to www.bluelightleavers.com

You can join the private Facebook Group via www.facebook.com/groups/bluelightleavers

The Academy Membership from Blue Light Leavers gives you all the help you need to find your new role or career, including weekly live sessions with Andy and others who've been where you are, along with subject matter experts talking CVs, LinkedIn, interviews and much more, so if you're looking for support and want to find out more, go to www.bluelightleavers.com

Not sure what roles you can do after the police, check this out: 'What jobs can I do after the Police?' Scorecard (scoreapp.com)

You can listen to the podcast on shift, walking the dog, pottering about, and do it on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet, anywhere and whenever suits you, pause and play and they're all completely free!

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bluelightleavers/message

I'm incredibly proud to be able announce another collaboration with a partner offering a complete career path from policing into roles which include roles within the tech industry, Project Management, project support, business and data analysts and much more, alongside consultancy careers including sectors such as finance, education, media and entertainment, life sciences, local and national government, and the beauty of this collaboration is that you actually get paid while you train!

So, I'm very proud to announce that Blue Light Leavers have formed a collaboration with FDM Group, who are committed to supporting your transition. alongside fully funded training, industry-recognised qualifications, ongoing support and commercial experience, with placements into leading global companies.

In this episode we talk about the application/selection process, the training that's involved and the courses provided, the salary and earning potential and loads more, including identifying your key skills that map across into numerous careers.

This is an incredible opportunity and I'm so pleased to be able to offer this to Police and other Emergency Service Professionals.

Tickets are on sale for 'Out Of The Blue' Police and Emergency Services Career Transition event on Sat 29th April 2023 at the Millennium Point, Birmingham and you can view and purchase your tickets HERE

Join our one-day event for Police and Emergency Services leavers and be ready to make the change!

This episode is sponsored by Motor Source Group. They offer genuine, new car discounts to serving and retired emergency services personnel, including Police, NHS, Fire and Rescue, and the Prison Service. They're completely independent, offering a full range of makes and models, and are rated excellent by their customers on Trustpilot. To find out more, go to www.bluelightleavers.com
You can join the private Facebook Group via www.facebook.com/groups/bluelightleavers
The Academy Membership from Blue Light Leavers gives you all the help you need to find your new role or career, including weekly live sessions with Andy and others who've been where you are, along with subject matter experts talking CVs, LinkedIn, interviews and much more, so if you're looking for support and want to find out more, go to www.bluelightleavers.com
Not sure what roles you can do after the police, check this out: 'What jobs can I do after the Police?' Scorecard (scoreapp.com)
You can listen to the podcast on shift, walking the dog, pottering about, and do it on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet, anywhere and whenever suits you, pause and play and they're all completely free!

Phil is the National Conduct and Performance Lead for the Police Federation of England and Wales

In this episode, Phil talks us through the whole Misconduct and Gross Misconduct end to end processes.

We cover all sorts of topics and answer a load of questions from members of the Blue Light Leavers Facebook group, covering everything from, what is Misconduct and Gross Misconduct, we talk about Fed Reps and the different types of training they have.

We talk through the suspension criteria, we discuss the #IOPC and why investigations can take so long and a huge range of other topics, including the recent survey results, current Pol Fed priorities, retention and the impact of the mental heath and PTSD, along with the impact of a 20% cut in salaries in real terms under this Government, and the fact that some forces are having to open food banks to support officers.

Phil also raises the shocking statistic that on average, there are 110 officers assaulted EVERY single day! That's absolutely staggering!

I'm incredibly grateful to Phil for his time and expert knowledge, as he's exceptionally busy and he was incredibly open, honest and helpful.

Early Bird tickets are now on sale for 'Out Of The Blue' event on Sat 29th April 2023 at the Millennium Point, Birmingham and you can view and purchase your tickets HERE

Join our one-day event for Police and Emergency Services leavers and be ready to make the change!

This episode is sponsored by Motor Source Group. They offer genuine, new car discounts to serving and retired emergency services personnel, including Police, NHS, Fire and Rescue, and the Prison Service. They're completely independent, offering a full range of makes and models, and are rated excellent by their customers on Trustpilot. To find out more, go to www.bluelightleavers.com