I’m thinking about joining the army but am interested in learning multiple trades.Will this be possible over a few years

Good Evening Harley,

That's a good question. It's fantastic to hear that you have a desire to branch out explore your full potential, a trait that we value in high regard. There would be opportunities to branch out and re trade whilst serving.

Whilst it is possible, please be aware that for one, Re Trading would have an impact on your career progression (promotion) and two, this would be entirely be dependent on the availability of job roles requiring personnel at any given point.

I hope this helps.

Hi Michael, thanks for your reply.

I’m not too worried about progression as would be taking a big pay cut to go into the army. However I’m hoping that the extra experience and variety will pay dividends later in life (after the army).

Just out of interest though, say I was bricklaying, plastering or plumbing etc. How long would it roughly take to get recognisable qualifications in each field?

And is there generally good availability to transfer from job to job in these sort of roles? My fear is leaving my current job and being stuck in one trade again. I’ve always liked the idea of the army and learning a bunch of trades in there seems like a no brainer to me; as long as I won’t get stuck in one because I’m good at it. My hope is to get qualified and move onto the next. Is there any value for the army to have multi skilled tradesmen?

I understand what you hope to achieve. It is possible, having known colleagues over the years re trading to different roles, for change in their day to day or quite simply expanding their skill set. For the duration of each qualification, this would vary based on 2 elements, 1, how many courses are running per year to train each soldier for their given trade and 2, yourself. Work hard, commit and always give 100% and you'll stand a far better chance of succeeding in your chosen profession/trade(s).

As for a multi skilled Tradesmen, at individual and unit level this could prove to be useful. Having said that, it would unlikely to be viewed as such on a wider Army level in-between trades as you are viewed as your current trade/role. Honestly, it entirely depends on the availability to transfer roles at any given time. They could have availability to switch from say, Plumber to Electrician now, but when you come to ask for the transfer it may not be available, so i don't want to give you false information. Just know that if the availability is there when you ask then you absolutely can.

You mention about taking a pay cut to join the Army but are you are of the heavily subsidised benefits we receive? One of which as an example, Housing. I'm currently paying £280 per month for a 4 bed house, which has a current market value of £1150 per month in rent. I appreciate this varies slightly but it gives you a great insight into some of the ways you could look at bridging the gap in any pay deficiency you may be thinking about.

The life experience you gain in the Army after 18 years old is so vast, that in 1 year, you will have more life experience then the average UK adult gains in their entire life. If that's not reason enough to join alone, i don't know what is.