Anyone Joined the Navy After Uni?

Soldato
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20 Oct 2002
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Location
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I graduated in July '07 and after having the summer off, I went in to looking for work.

Lately though I've been really tempted to join the navy (always had an interest). I don't know where to begin though. As I said - I've always had an interest and have just browsed their website, but there's so many career paths.

I'd like to go in to something IT related or something similar in the Army.

I do have a few concerns and those are:

Fitness
Confidence
Willingness to jump in i.e. leaving home, friends, family and doing something radically different.

Any advice/comments welcome :)
 
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What did you graduate in?

I'm sure you could boost your fitness between now and applying?

And confidence will come with the whole process of applying and meeting new people.
 
I do have a few concerns and those are:

Fitness
Confidence
Willingness to jump in i.e. leaving home, friends, family and doing something radically different.

Any advice/comments welcome :)

Please don't take this the wrong way....

but how serious are these concerns of yours?

It's perfectly natural to be a little unsure of yourself making such a big descion and things like fitness can be improved if you put the effort in, but if it's more serious then maybe a career in the forces isn't for you.
 
Fitness wise - not majorly unfit. I'm over weight (not by mega amounts). I play badminton regularly (to a fairly decent standard).

Confidence - so so really. I don't like making mistakes.

Last part - I have no trouble making new friends or mixing, but I'll cut the apron strings one day ;)

I guess you've looked at this career option?

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.6065

Where are you situated closest to?

North West
Carlisle
Liverpool
Manchester
Preston
St Helens

I'm in St.Helens. I know exactly where the RN recruitment centre's situated, so I think a trip there is on the cards.
 
'Qualifications:
A recognised first degree in a computing-based subject,'

Might rule you out, tbh they need to do common sense tests instead of letting people in with 1sts, a lot of the IT is a joke in the forces atm.

Dont be worried about leaving home, you can get enough travel warrants and weekends off/put holidays in to catch up with family etc, I never got to see my siblings much when they were portsmouth/plymouth but my brother makes the journey home(7hours) more now because hes going submariner soon, and my sister now has a posting in london so she finds it wayyyy easier to get home and she often goes to see my parents over weekends.

Confidence?? What kind of confidence worrys could you have?

Fitness : You are advised to do fitness work before basic training to make it more .. 'enjoyable'
Im joining when i graduate and plan to tank myself up so i dont have any problems, you get a medical as part of interview which is something like 2.2km in 12mins 15seconds on a treadmill.
 
Fitness wise - not majorly unfit. I'm over weight (not by mega amounts). I play badminton regularly (to a fairly decent standard).

Confidence - so so really. I don't like making mistakes.

Last part - I have no trouble making new friends or mixing, but I'll cut the apron strings one day ;)

Well your fitness is pretty easy to sort. You'll have no trouble if you set your mind to it.

Confidence - no one likes making mistakes - especially when they make all the jobs sound so serious and so 'life or death'. You'll be trained to cope with it all, if they aren't happy with the way you've progressed they won't let you do anything until your no longer a liability. The interview process will help them decide some of this.

Well I take it you went to uni? Did you not have to do the same there? You'll be making a huge bunch of new mates, probably some of the best in your life. Like brothers and sisters to you.
 
the forces are pretty realistic in the sense they realise that a-levels and GCSEs generally dont reflect a persons intellect, a degree is a higher form of learning and 1sts show effort too.

Lets face it nobody really gives a crap about their gcses and a-levels, its not like unis would even knock people back.. they just fill up spaces with people who pay.

Alevels and GCSEs can also be extremely unfair to judge people on, because if someone gets the chance to go to a posh school because mummy+daddy are rich they will generally get better grades than person whos mummy+daddy have poor salaries, iv met some idiots at uni who have got amazing gcse and a-levels, but guess what, they fail uni.

I made a thread last week something about the afco, it came up in a discussion between myself & Zefan(hes inquiring into trying for officer in marines) that the aptitude tests hold more weight than qualifications, handy for me because i just cant do education, iv had a handfull of decent teachers and need to be challenged and to see a point, aswell as work in a group.
 
First degree = bachelors in this context, not first class honours. AFCO should definitely be your first port of call. I went for the IS role in my final year at uni but failed my AIB. I was in the URNU too, so quite a few of my friends joined up and a fair few have already left or are considering it after only a few years. I think the worst part for me would have been the back to school nature of the initial training at Dartmouth.

The basic fitness level is very easy to achieve and there's nothing much physical in the interview process, but through training the fitter you are the better.
 
For fitness you'll need to be able to run 2.4km in 12 min 20 secs.

You'll almost certainly blitz through the aptitude tests (I'm guessing you're pretty intelligent based on the fact you've got a degree), but it won't hurt to practice them. You'll need to score highly to enter as an officer.

Also bear in mind that any major allergies or medical conditions will rule you out straight away.

:edit: I think your BMI needs to be within the normal range too.
 
For fitness you'll need to be able to run 2.4km in 12 min 20 secs.

You'll almost certainly blitz through the aptitude tests (I'm guessing you're pretty intelligent based on the fact you've got a degree), but it won't hurt to practice them. You'll need to score highly to enter as an officer.

Also bear in mind that any major allergies or medical conditions will rule you out straight away.

:edit: I think your BMI needs to be within the normal range too.

Any examples of tests online?
 
It's not hard, anyone with a basic level of fitness should be able to do it - the key is to not look like you're about to die at the end of it.

:Edit: Be glad you're not looking at the Royal Marines, 10 minutes flat for them :p
 
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