Success Story- Paul Crutchlow

I am a UK-born Canadian citizen who arrived in Ontario with my young family in the summer of 2012. Our relocation took place at the end of a highly successful 21-year career with the UK Royal Air Force, during which time I was privileged to serve as a frontline Harrier and Tornado pilot. My wife and I made the decision to relocate the family in Oakville and then look for a new job, utilising the generous resettlement period that the RAF had provided specifically for completing career transition activities. I suspected it would be easier to conduct my job search after I had arrived in Canada rather than attempt it from the UK. However, I also anticipated that considerable challenges lay ahead, not only because I was attempting to land my first job outside the military environment, but also because I had chosen to undertake my job search in a country that I had not previously lived in. Unsurprisingly, my progress during the initial months after my arrival was slow and opportunities to make tangible progress in securing an appropriate job that matched my experience and skill sets appeared to be limited.
However, the game-changing moment came along, and as is often the case, at a point when you least expect it. A conversation with a friend after a game of poker connected me to an ex-officer from the British Army who was working in Toronto as a Program Director for RBC. This new contact had heard great things about Treble Victor and knew of its intent to provide mutual support to ex-military personnel and assist them in, where possible, in achieving a successful transition to civilian employment; he suggested that I got in touch with the organisation as soon as possible.
From the first contact I had with a member of Treble Victor and every interaction that has taken place since, everyone I have come in to contact with has been welcoming, supportive and extremely generous with their time. There was genuine sincerity and reassurance that came from everyone I met from Treble Victor, and the one-to-one follow-up attention that was afforded to me by specific individuals within the group who volunteered to personally counsel me was truly outstandingly. Through the Treble Victor organisation I was afforded the means to distil exactly what I wanted to achieve from my next job, and was then given the opportunity to meet up with senior executives from suitable companies that had identified themselves to Treble Victor as being open-minded to the considerable benefits of recruiting from the ex-military talent pool. This networking facilitation alone completely transformed my job seeking experience and led to almost instant results.
My fortune quickly turned around thanks to the considerable injection of energy provided by the Treble Victor team, and I have now started my training to become a Store Manager with Wal-Mart, an appointment that will test my leadership acumen to the full whilst offering me similar array of managerial challenges and opportunities that were familiar to me throughout my military life. I am excited to be working for a world-class organisation that can provide me with vast opportunities to grow and achieve professional success. However, I am absolutely convinced that I would not have landed such a well-fitting job in Canada without the dedicated and generous assistance of Treble Victor. Thank you.