How Magtec’s Andrew Sloan is guiding service personnel into civilian life

After he passed the initial tests, Sloan eventually found himself on his way to Plymouth, joining the Royal Navy as an artificer apprentice – working in engineering – while his friend remained at home.

This would be the start of his 12 year career in the armed forces.

“I had no family precedent,” says Sloan, speaking from Magtec’s offices, “I was the first in my family to join, but then my brother also joined the Navy and my cousins joined the army.

“I was 18 when I joined and made these decisions, so I was fairly young, coming off the back of school and college, but I was always interested in the technical side of things.

"I always had an interest in maths and science, but the closest thing you got to engineering when I was leaving school was design and technology classes.”

Sloan now works with colleges in Doncaster and Sheffield, offering work experience and giving guidance to young people with an interest in engineering. He also works with universities including Sheffield Hallam.

“I was requested to do it for one college and then it just gradually rolled out to the others,” he says.

“But I think we've got a social responsibility to pay back into the community.”

The idea of paying back into the community also informs Sloan’s work helping other armed forces leavers to start their careers as civilians.

“I think many service leaders find it difficult to see where our transferable skills sit within the private or public sector,” he says.

“It's not exactly obvious if you’ve been fixing tanks for the last ten years how that relates to a role in industry, but it absolutely does.

“Going into the wider world is often quite difficult, so the more talking and interacting people can do at careers fairs or with employers, the better. That's the key element, just getting out there. The armed forces are very good at giving you that time to do that.”

Sloan now gives guidance to many people who are in the same position he found himself in when he left the Royal Navy.

“It's usually just discussions. Someone will reach out from a network of ex colleagues, or if they know i’m in the local area and they're leaving one of the armed forces they will reach out,” he says.

“I’ll share some advice on how I feel they can position themselves in business based on their skill set, or if they want to start their own company, how best to go about that exactly.”

Sloan also recently signed the Armed Forces Covenant on behalf of Magtec, commiting the firm to helping service leavers.

After starting his career as an apprentice on a type 23 frigate in 2002, Sloan would go on to volunteer for the submarine services, pursuing an interest in ballistic missile submarines.

This is where he would spend most of his 12 years in the armed forces, eventually taking the role of Chief Petty Officer. He served as senior engineer on various nuclear submarines and shore-based roles.

“It was just full of professional engineers – leaders and personnel – the atmosphere was calm and relaxed, but everyone was ready to jump into action at any time,” he says, reflecting on his time working as a submariner.

“And I think that enables you to reflect on scenarios when you go back to work in the private sector, and stay level headed and calm in every situation”

Sloan left the armed forces in 2014, and initially started work in the rail industry.

“The Navy and the rail industry share the same ethos,” he says, ”and they both work with metal tubes with some people inside. They have very similar traits.

“I was also very lucky that the business I was in recognised my skills and gave me lots of opportunity to progress.”

Sloan would then join Magtec in 2019 as head of rail, before becoming head of engineering, and then engineering director.

The South Yorkshire engineering firm was an early adapter to working on electric vehicles, and creates electric drive systems for such vehicles in the commercial sector.

“The company has been focussed on electric drive systems for 30 years,” says Sloan, “Some would say 25 years too soon, but some of the first contracts Magtec was awarded were for converting buses in America to electric. We did 150 buses very early on, followed by 350 trucks in the late 90s and 2000s.”

Over the last four years, Magtec has doubled in size every year.

As well as designing electric drive systems, the firm also manufactures traction motors, control systems and batteries, and integrates them into vehicles. One of its most recent projects, announced in November, was to repower a fleet of 15 open top London sightseeing buses.

Reflecting on the challenges of life after the army, Sloan notes what he believes to be the most important factor in the transition.

“The transition is quite hard, and it's a leap of faith,” he says.

“I think the real difficult thing for service leavers is deciding what to do. It's quite a personal thing, and if you don't get any advice or really understand what you want to do, you can tread the wrong path.

“But I think the biggest recommendation that I can give to anyone leaving the armed forces is not to undersell yourself. Try to find where you fit in the commercial sector, and communicate and articulate your skills to the world. I try to support people who are leaving to do exactly that.”