Meet Michael, one of our Domestics!

I signed up at age 17 straight out of school and had a wonderful career in the armed forces which I loved. I served as a Royal Engineer and was trained in repairing airfield damage. I toured Northern Ireland and then Afghanistan where I was involved in the building of camp Bastion. Later on I supervised a team of Afghan builders, and still can speak a little bit of the local lingo. After returning to the UK I worked in bomb disposal all over the country before returning to Afghanistan again to train others in countering improvised explosive devices.

I left the Forces because of a football injury, and I had a few different jobs until I found this one. I now work as a Domestic, keeping hospitals clean and tidy. One thing about people in the Forces is that we can clean absolutely anything really well, and I can always tell other people who have served because of the crisp creases down the front of their trousers and the shininess of their shoes. I’m currently stepping up as a Bank Supervisor and I’m loving working with the wider team.

There is so much that you learn in the Forces which is useful for me in my everyday job, for example you’ve got to have an awareness of other people and your surroundings, so I’m always thinking about working safely. In my role as supervisor, it’s all about motivating people and making them feel part of a team. People think that in the army managing people is about shouting at them and it absolutely isn’t. You don’t create teams by shouting at people, you create an atmosphere where people want to work together to get the job done right.

Between the military and NTW Solutions, our values align completely, the focus on honesty and transparency, as well as being caring and compassionate is absolutely what the teamwork within the Armed Forces is built on. I love working here and I love the people and I have found that sense of belonging which I’ve been missing since I left the Army.