SaluteMyJob, a social enterprise supporting members of the Armed Forces Community into civilian employment, is opening their innovative training programme to serving and retired Police Officers looking to get into the burgeoning field of cybersecurity.

For a decade, SaluteMyJob has been bridging the gap between the skills and experiences of the two-million strong Armed Forces Community to fill business critical gaps facing employers. We are delighted to be able to extend that free support to the talented pool of highly-skilled Police Officers to help them on their journey into cybersecurity.

SMJ offers a range of specialist services. SaluteMyJob Search, where we expertly match talent to opportunities in the public, private and Third sectors, helping employers create a sustainable talent pipeline. Our Pathways Programme provides free-training in cybersecurity, targeted at filling employers’ business critical skills gaps. Our SMJ Consulting Services provide specialist advice to help organisations implement structured sustainable and measurable programmes to deliver their Covenant pledges, build pipelines of talent and realise the social value of their activities to support the Armed Forces community.

We are very proud of our fully-funded Pathways Programme. In collaboration with Abertay University, IBM and the Click Start initiative – a reskilling programme developed by the Institute of Coding (IoC) and funded by Nominet, – SaluteMyJob’s Pathways Programme trains and provides the necessary commercial experience for members of the Armed Forces Community – and now, former and current Police Officers to compete for demanding roles, within cybersecurity and AI. The programme is also supported by employers offering guidance, further training, work placement and employment opportunities.

The transferable skills police officers have honed within their career is well-matched to fulfil roles within the cybersecurity industry, an industry which has boomed over the years and will continue to grow, but is also facing critical skills shortages.

Managing Director of SMJ, Andrew Jackson, said: “We are incredibly proud of our Pathways Programme, which makes the most of veterans’ transferable skills and helps them acquire the requisite skills and experience to succeed in digital, AI and cybersecurity roles where there is the greatest demand.

“Like veterans, police officers are well-equipped to fulfil a wide range of roles within the cybersecurity industry thanks to their unique transferable skills; such as critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making and an in-built security mind-set. We look forward to having them join our next cohorts.”

Our free training courses offer you the opportunity to gain technical skills, certifications and on-the-job training in Ethical Hacking (Penetration Testing), Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), Cybersecurity Governance and Policy and Artificial Intelligence.

Applicants do not necessarily need to have a technical background – as one of our biggest success stories has proven. Former British Gurkha Men Gurung, was part of one of the first cohorts who successfully completed the Penetration Testing course at Abertay University. His inspirational journey shows that even coming from an less technical background, you can still excel in the world of cybersecurity – as Men is doing right now.

“Coming from a non-tech background, I challenged myself to pursue a new career in IT. Initially, it was very challenging, but by embracing those challenges every day, I gained a better understanding of cybersecurity and technology. The Penetration Course has helped me enormously,” said Men. “SaluteMyJob has been the backbone of my cybersecurity journey. Providing valuable resources, guidance, training courses and morale support as well as connecting me with industry professionals, has helped me immensely in reaching where I am today.” Men’s first cyber opportunity was at Wood PLC in Aberdeen, as a Business Information Security Analyst. Now he is in his ‘dream role’ at IBM, as a Cybersecurity Analyst.

What is unique about our programme is our employer partners gain free access to high quality talent, meaning you receive on-the-job training and valuable commercial experience.

One of our employer partners, Securious, has reaped the benefits of our programme, employing two graduates of our Penetration Testing course, who are now trained Cybersecurity Consultants. Rosalind Woodward, co-founder at Securious, said: “We train them, give them on-the-job experience. They work closely with other consultants and we develop them by adding professional qualifications on top of that and helping them on their pathway. This programme has introduced us to some really good candidates and given us an opportunity to have them shadow somebody else and learn without us having to worry about how we can train them, how we can afford that. I feel very confident actually that we would do this again. It really has been a great transition for us because it helped us get qualified members of staff and has made a massive difference on what we can deliver for our clients.”

If you are an employer and would like to become a partner and access our candidates, email Andrew Jackson at andrew@salutemyjob.co.uk.