Consider your goals
When leaving the Police Service and preparing for resettlement, one of the key decisions you’ll make is choosing the right training course to enable you to achieve your future career goals. Remember there is no single path to take, as each person’s career situation is unique. Nonetheless, professional training for any career path is crucial. The training you choose is not an end in itself but part of the route to resettlement transition. It requires careful planning and consideration before committing your time and funding to it. You should do your own research but also use the knowledge and expertise of your peers, ex-colleagues and professional network.
Anything you can do to set yourself apart from others or better direct your career path is worthwhile. When you are thinking about your next career, you might as well put your best foot forward and enhance your CV and also your own knowledge by adding useful qualifications.
Often the question is whether you should learn new skills in your current area or move in a totally different direction and learn something entirely new. Decisions also need to be made as to whether the focus should be on business, people, financial or non-labour skills.

How do I decide what training to undertake?
There are many training organisations in the UK, offering a wide range of courses, which you can find advertised in newspapers, online and at various events. When you enrol on a course, you are usually investing significant time and money, so ensuring a good return on your investment is vital.
Begin by identifying the qualifications and training organisations you are looking for, as the learning you undertake must be appropriate to the sector you are aiming to work in. This information can be easily obtained by looking at employment vacancies on the internet and seeing what the required qualifications and training are.
You will already have valuable soft skills from your police career that will be transferable to a new employer. These include leadership, teamwork, reliability and time management. Whilst employers greatly value these ‘soft skills’, it will be to the overall advantage of your offering to team them with vocational training to prove that you also have practical or commercial knowledge.
If you’re looking to continue in a similar field to your job in the police, concentrate on the vocational accreditation that proves your existing knowledge and skills, and that can be applied in a commercial environment. For example, if you’re aiming to work in Project Management (average UK salary circa £45,000) and have a police background in that area, then you will need the commercial vocabulary and a recognised qualification, such as the APM’s Project Management Qualification, PRINCE2® or AgilePM®.
A key consideration is whether a course has formal accreditation. If a course is accredited it will be recognised by government, training organisations and industry. This formal recognition is very important if you are completing a course in the hope of gaining employment in a particular industry – it also provides assurance as to quality. If you do a course which is not recognised, it may not be accepted by employers.

General
considerations
Some other points to consider when deciding on a training provider:

• Shop around to see if the course represents value for money. As well as fees, does the training provider offer value added services such as careers advice?

• Is the training provider recommended by major industry associations?

• Request testimonials or details of delegate feedback – these could include past delegates, or their employers – check out websites for recent reviews.

• Find out about their cancellation policy, or appealing if you disagree with an assessment decision.

• You can also ask to view their facilities or attend an event to get more information.

BMC
BMC has over 40 years’ experience in providing high quality management training, including in service and resettlement training. We are a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Approved Centre and as a quality assured provider, accredited by APMG International, GCHQ, AXELOS and the Association for Project Management, we have worked with over 13,500 service personnel in the last 20 years. We offer a range of courses including an Executive Management Programme, Cyber, recognised Project, Programme and Portfolio management qualifications as well as Change, Risk and Benefits Management and ITIL. Our trainers are all practitioners in the fields in which they teach, which gives them a unique ability and passion to bring our courses to life.
At BMC, we can advise you of the best career path forward as we have many years’ experience of working with service personnel and recommending the right training for delegates. We can assist you in putting together a tailored learning and development package, helping you make a successful move to a new career. bmc.ac.uk