Personnel Selection Services

Through this briefing, you will find useful information and resources that will assist you in your career transition plan. Your local Base/Wing/Brigade Personnel Selection Officer (PSO), in support of the new CAF Transition Group, can provide you with a number of beneficial services to aid you in your career transition planning.

Personnel Selection Officers (PSOs) work to design and provide a variety of services that promote the welfare of CAF members throughout their career as well as when the time comes to design their transition plan to civilian life.

There are many different kinds of transition, each of which require unique support plans.

Outlined is an overview of the main services available to you through the local PSO.  Our goal is to tailor services to meet your individual goals. 

The first column discusses internal career options like special employment, occupation transfer, component transfer, and commissioning programs.  These provide options for increased professional challenges, better pension benefits, or developing a new skill set while also promoting retention for the organisation. The PSO can assist/guide you through  considering these different options, especially if you envision releasing in a few years from now. 

The next two columns, Education Plan and Training Plan, will be the main focus of this presentation. 

Education Plan: The PSO will provide you with personalized counselling and guide you to build your personal learning plan if applicable.  Your education plan is tailored to your needs, and the PSO will help to make sure that you get the most out of the CAF education reimbursement plans.  The PSO will also help to dispel any myths or confusion surrounding the programs listed.  Other topics that the PSO can provide guidance on include Prior Learning Assessment and Review (PLAR), to help members have their military experience and training recognized at civilian academic institutions. 

Transition Plan: The PSO has historically been a central point for facilitating contact with both internal and external stakeholders who are involved in career transition planning.  They have a solid network in place to develop and support your Transition Plan.  Some of these services include personalized second career counselling, Second Career Assistance Network better known as SCAN seminars, Long-Term Planning (LTP) seminars, and Career Transition Workshops (CTW) to help translate skills and build résumés, career interest inventories.

Education.  Upgrading education often plays an important role in a member’s Transition Plan.  There are three main Education Reimbursement (ER) programs that the CAF offers.  The PSO can help you determine which one(s) are right for you, and integrate this into your overall Transition Plan.

Briefly, the CAF ER program options are:

Education Reimbursement for Regular Force Members.  To be eligible, you must have completed basic training, be in receipt of pay and allowances (exception for MATA/PATA), and have an approved ILP.   You can choose academic courses (e.g., college, university, high school upgrading), but not a skills-based one (e.g., carpentry).  The CAF considers academic courses to be in the interests of the military, so the program you select does NOT have to related to your MOSID.  The CAF has the ultimate say in whether to approve or deny your program of choice.  You could submit an ILP for one university or college course, two courses, or an entire academic program. 

As you complete each course, you simply need to provide proof that you passed, as well as your receipts, and the PSO can facilitate reimbursement. For all eligible costs (e.g., tuition, books, admin fees), you will get 100% reimbursement.  This program is active for any courses you complete prior to your release date.

Education Reimbursement for Primary Reserve Members. To be eligible, you have to have completed basic training, be in receipt of pay and allowances (i.e., not on Excused Drill and Training (ED&T), and have an approved ILP.  The guidelines are very similar to the Reg F program we just discussed.  The major difference is that instead of 100% reimbursement, members will get reimbursed at a rate of 50% for eligible expenses to a maximum of $2K per academic year to a grand total of $8K for all studies. 

Skills Completion Program.  The Skills Completion Program (SCP) is for members who have 10+ years of Reg F service.  This program is where members can choose a skills-based course (e.g., Class 1 truck driver’s license), but it must be tightly related to your occupation.  For instance, a clerk trying to get approval to take a Class 1 truck driver’s license would likely not be approved, whereas a Mobile Support Equipment Operator likely would.  The program is capped at $5400 over a member’s career and is intended to provide the member with a civilian qualification to augment their military experience. This option is unique in that, unlike the other two which programs which cease upon one’s release, a member may access SCP up to one year post-release. 

So as you can see, there are a variety of education reimbursement options available, which may or may not have a direct bearing on your transition plan.  And these are just the CAF programs.  Other service providers have their own programs, which you will hear about, so it is important to discuss with your PSO how and where education fits might into your Transition Plan.

The first step towards ensuring that you have a solid transition plan is to be informed.  The PSO facilitates this by coordinating and hosting two types of seminars: SCAN seminars and Long-Term Planning (LTP) seminars.

General SCAN seminars.  The SCAN seminar is designed to provide fundamental information about transition to a wide CAF audience.  This 2-day seminar provides general information on major transition topics including, but not limited to:

Release Administration Process;
CAF Pension Entitlements;
Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) programs and services;
Education programs and benefits;
SISIP coverage after release;
Public Service Priority entitlement, preference & mobility;
3rd party programs and services;

Medical SCAN seminars.  Medical SCAN seminars are designed to address the very specific issues and questions of CAF members who are being released from the CAF for medical reasons. It is complementary to the General SCAN seminars.  These seminars are vitally important for members who are in the process of being medically released, potentially entering that process, and for CAF leadership to understand the services and supports available to these personnel. Presentation topics may include:

CAF Medical release process
JPSU/IPSC Services
CAF Health Services Case Management;
CAF transition programs and supports through JPSU/DCSM
CAF Long Term Disability and Vocational Rehabilitation programs through SISIP
CAF Vocational Rehabilitation Program for Serving Members (CAF VRPSM)
Operational Stress Injury Social Support (OSISS) program, etc…

Long-term planning (LTP) seminars.  These seminars are designed for member’s at the onset of their careers, with the goal of laying the foundations for a successful career.  LTP seminars include presentations from experts on some key topics such as:

Financial and Budget Planning
Home purchases and mortgages
Wills and estates
CAF pensions and benefits
SISIP insurance and financial planning
Education upgrading for CAF career development

This model shows you some of the factors that should be considered during your transition planning.  It is important that you reflect on each factor to understand who you are as a whole, and where you want to go. For example, some may only focus on pension and jump into a Federal Public Service job; this is only reflecting on the “Career/Job Opportunities” piece of the diagram shown on this slide.  Remember, you are in a unique position to be able to deeply assess who you are, who you want to be post-military, and choose a second career that resonates with you as a whole person, not just elements of yourself. 

Personalized career counselling is provided by the PSO to guide you toward a balanced and realistic understanding of your transition plan.  Counselling sessions with a PSO are confidential under the Privacy Act, and are client-led.

This includes:

Assessing transferable knowledge, skills, qualifications and experience relative to transition goals;
conducting career exploration questionnaires; as well as
exploring when and how to fit any Education plan into your overall Transition Plan.  This may include facilitating the PLAR processes at academic institutions in order to help determine your eligibility for your specific program.

Career assessment tools.  Depending on your needs, the PSO may use any number of career assessment tools.  Oftentimes people have no idea where to start when it comes to looking at options for a second career.  This is where using some of the second career assessment tools can help you narrow your interests. These tools help identify new possibilities or affirm some pre-conceived notions.  Some career assessment options include:

Strong Interest Inventory: assists in matching personal interests with potential career/paths; and
Career Cruising / Repères: provides information specific to Canada’s labour market as well as rudimentary resume builder.

These types of assessments and debriefs can be quite expensive when done in the civilian world, yet they are free to members while serving.  Most of the time, after taking the assessments, doing some reflection, and conversing with the PSO, members develop not just an initial plan of action, but back up options as well. 

Career Transition Workshops.  Career Transition Workshops (CTW) help members identify personal skills and career interests, translate military skills into a civilian context, build résumés, learn the intricacies of searching for employment, and effectively market and advertise one’s self in the interview process.

These are workshops, usually of around 10-15 participants and conducted over a 2 day period.  Instruction and practical exercises give members tangible skills they can apply towards transition.  Many people find the group atmosphere rewarding, as it builds a sense of camaraderie with other members who are going through the same process.

There are four modules:

Module 1 - Self-Assessment for interests and skills, focuses on values, priorities, and what you want to do in your next career;
Module 2 - Resumes Writing, translates your military skills and experiences to the civilian job market;
Module 3 - Job Search Strategies – explores how to search for jobs (LinkedIn, Jobbank.ca, etc.), how to network effectively, and how to access the “hidden job market”; and
Module 4 - Interview Techniques – provides practical training on how to prepare and what to expect during a job interview.

Starting a Transition Plan can be daunting.  There are a lot of different ideas, goals, programs, and services out there.  Many members feel a sense of uncertainty and unease.  To turn this uncertainty into a tangible Transition Plan, the PSO serves as your guide and ensures that you are connected with the relevant services, programs, and support partners.

Contact your local Personnel Selection Office to start developing your
Transition Plan now.