From Service to Success – How the Armed Forces community can strengthen your workforce
Wakefield Town Hall (in the Kingswood Suite), Wood Street, Wakefield WF1 2HQ
Friday, 17th January 2025, 0900 -1330
Purpose
- Unlock access to a highly skilled talent pool, including veterans, reservists, cadets, and their families.
- Discover the transferable, soft, and specialist skills that our local Armed Forces community can bring to your workforce.
- Gain insights into the military and the Armed Forces community.
- Hear from keynote speakers, panel discussion guests, and employer case studies on the benefits of engaging with and employing from the Armed Forces community.
Agenda
- 0900 Arrival, refreshments, exhibitor stands, and networking
- 0940 All delegates seated and housekeeping by Wakefield Armed Forces Covenant Project Officer
- 0945 Welcome:
Councillor Josie Pritchard, Wakefield Council Armed Forces Champion
Mr Ed Anderson CBE, Lord-Lieutenant for West Yorkshire
Rt Hon Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary and MP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley
Simon Lightwood MP for Wakefield and Rothwell
- 1000 Keynote Speaker – Colonel Peter Stitt, Commander, Headquarters Northern Brigade
- 1020 Supporting our Armed Forces Community in Employment
Ellie Valentine – Associate Director of Workforce and Organisational Development, Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust
- 1040 Employer Case Study
Justine Hall – Service Manager Organisational Development, Wakefield Council
- 1115 8 RIFLES – Unlock the potential of Reservists
Major David Cooke and Lance Corporal Chris Nichol
(Local Army Reserve Infantry Battalion based at Pontefract)
- 1135 Cadet Forces – Talent Pool
Colonel Simon Banks-Cooper, Honorary Colonel, Humberside and South Yorkshire Army Cadet Force
- 1200 Interview with large Private Sector organisation (TBC)
Benefits of recruiting from the Armed Forces community
- 1215 Defence Employer Recognition Scheme
Richard Lenton and Pauline King, Reserve Forces and Cadet Association (Yorkshire & Humber) Directors Team
- 1230 Closing Remarks – Councillor Denise Jeffery, Leader of Wakefield Council and
signing of the Armed Forces Covenant by Cyber Intelligence & Advisory Ltd
- 1240 Exhibitor stands, networking, and light lunch
- 1330 Event Closes
This knowledge sharing event, delivered in partnership with Wakefield Council, the Ministry of Defence and We Are Wakefield, will be an opportunity for delegates to get a better understanding of the military, partnering with the whole Armed Forces community and how to access a pool of fantastic potential employees in the form of service leavers, veterans, reservists, cadets and their families.