As an RAF Personnel Support Officer, you will work across a range of specialties: Infrastructure Management, HR, Development, Accounts Management and Media Operations, to name a few. Personnel Officers vary their roles and develop a broad set of transferable skills, making them widely employable in other, non-specialist areas.
TYPICAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- Provide HR and welfare support to servicemen/women and their dependents
- Oversee construction and maintenance on RAF stations
- Manage media operations, including liaison with journalists in the UK and on overseas operations
As an RAF Personnel Support Officer, you’ll work in many different fields, from finance to media and human resources, and you might also be deployed to exotic locations as part of your service. You will be managing a team and often do presentations and provide information on what life in the RAF is like in order for potential candidates to make the right decision about their future.
To ensure the Service operates at the cutting edge, there is a continuing need to provide the very best HR, welfare and moral support to our personnel. Our Personnel Support officers are at the forefront of this work and continuously demonstrate a level of expertise which is both hugely impressive and greatly valued by the Service senior leadership. Personnel Support officers are engaged in a wide variety of roles in direct support of operations, both overseas and from the home base. That means you will find Personnel Support officers leading and managing essential support services on permanent Royal Air Force bases, known as stations, and on operations around the world. Within your first few years, you can expect to be detached overseas, for anything from a few days to several months.
To provide a fresh challenge, and enable you to develop your skills you will normally change jobs, known as posts or appointments, every 3-5 years. Personnel Support officers have worked in all the recent operational theatres, offering an essential service on combat operations and in support of the humanitarian effort by international organisations. Typical roles include: Human Resource Management, Facilities and Estate Management, Accounting and Finance, Media and Communication, Welfare and Community Support to RAF Families and Recruiting and Selection.
TRAINING AND CAREER
INITIAL TRAINING
You will begin your RAF career with Initial Officer Training (IOT) at the RAF College Cranwell in Lincolnshire. You will follow a challenging 24-week course designed to develop your leadership and management skills. The course includes fitness development, military training and academic study, as well as practical outdoor leadership challenges.
SPECIALIST TRAINING
After IOT, you will follow a specialist training course at the Defence School of Personnel Administration, Worthy Down, near Winchester. To ensure that the 8-week training course keeps up-to-date with what the Service requires it is constantly evolving but focuses primarily on the management of personnel and finance.
The training is scenario-based, covering the military HR officer’s role on a RAF station and on operations, so you will be able to develop your skills in a simulated practical environment. When you have completed your specialist training you will receive your first assignment.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
APPLICANTS MUST:
- Be aged 17.5 - 47 years old (Must attest before 48th birthday)
- Have GCSE at Grade C/4-5 or SCE Standard Grades at Grade 2/Scottish National 5 in English Language & Maths and three other subjects
- At least 2 A2 Levels/3 Highers at Grade C or above (excluding General Studies or Critical Thinking) which must total a minimum of 64 UCAS points.
- Alternatively, if you hold a UK degree at Grade 2:2 or higher (or acceptable alternative) you only need Mathematics and English
- Language GCSEs at a minimum of Grade C/4-5 or Mathematics and English Language SCE Standard Grades of 2 or SNE Grade 5 (Grades A-C).
- Be a citizen of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland, holder of dual UK/other nationality or have been a Commonwealth citizen since birth
- Commit to minimum 12 years service
- Meet the fitness and health criteria
- Pass a General Fitness Test