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JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

PREPARATION OF SOLDIERS FOR A SECOND CAREER: EVALUATION OF APPROACH OF
THE CZECH REPUBLIC

KRISTÝNA BINKOVÁ,

KATEŘINA POCHOBRADSKÁ,

DALIA PRAK

APIENĖ,

ŽIVILĖ TUNČIKIENĖ

a,b

University of Defence, Kounicova 65, 662 10 Brno, Czech

Republic,

The General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of

Lithuania, Šilo Str. 5A, Vilnius LT-10332, Lithuania,

email:

Vilnius

Gediminas Technical University, Sauletekio av. 11, Vilnius LT-
10223

kristyna.binkova@unob.cz,

katerina.pochobradska@unob.cz,

dalia.prakapiene@lka.lt,

zivile.tuncikiene@vgtu.lt

Abstract: Current employee career concepts are characterized by an unstructured
process and variability, not only in the case of job positions or employers but in some
cases also professions in which individuals are forced by the job nature to leave
careers early. A typical example is a military profession, which is not lifelong. In most
cases, soldiers leaving the army do not reach the statutory retirement age and seek to
integrate into the labor market by starting a second career in a new, civilian job.
However, the actual situation of adaptation to civilian conditions is often difficult.
Therefore, there is a need for the involvement of ministry of defence and embedding
supportive procedures in the relevant legislation and strategy documents to ensure a
system approach for soldiers whose contract was not prolonged. The aim of the article
is to evaluate current approaches to helping soldiers of the Czech Armed Forces in
their career transition. In order to meet the goal, semi-structured interviews were
conducted with 20 experts from the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic and
other institutions dealing with the help to former soldiers and qualitative questionnaire
was carried out with 313 former soldiers of the Czech Armed Forces. The obtained
data were further processed and analyzed using the SWOT method. The possible
implementation measures based on the implementation of the strategy, obtained at the
output of the SWOT analysis, were suggested.

Keywords: soldiers, second career, SWOT analysis, Ministry of Defence, Czech
Republic.

1 Introduction

The individuals’ careers are not predictable and straightforward,
but rather periodic, consisting of so-called career cycles. The
lifelong career model is now over in most developed countries.
At present, it is typical that many individuals’ careers consist of
multiple positions and are characterized by frequent changes and
high mobility. This is characterized by shifts in which
individuals do not only move to higher or lower positions but
change their jobs, employers or move to other professional areas
in which they start their second career.

The term second career can be defined as the next stage of career
or employment in a new profession as a result of the voluntary or
necessary termination of a previous career. Work security
becomes not only a matter of whether people are employed but
above all, whether they are employable. Therefore, in addition to
the efforts of each individual, the organization’s support plays a
key role in successful managing the transition to a second career.
Career management in organizations does not apply only to
current employees, but also to employees leaving the
organization, needing help to find a new career path [1], [2].
Therefore, there have been changes in the area of career
management in workplace over the past decades. In the context
of staff reduction, these are specifically outplacement services
that serve to place employees outside the organization. It is the
organization that can help its outgoing employees to provide
decent conditions for the transition to a new job and thus prevent
unwanted phenomena associated with the loss of employment.

During provision of outplacement services, it is important to be
aware of the frequent characteristics of workers who performed
their profession for several years but who are no longer able to
do so. These include more difficult adaptation to change,
ignorance of the labor market and job opportunities, lack of self-
confidence and lack of ability to present their qualities. Adapting
to the conditions of a dynamic civilian labor market is even more
difficult for professional soldiers who are leaving the strict and
hierarchical military environment after a few years.

A professional soldier is a citizen who performs active military
service as a job. The service relationship of a professional soldier

shall expire upon the period for which it was agreed, or for other
reasons stipulated by law. In most cases, soldiers leaving the
army do not reach the statutory retirement age. They belong to a
relatively young population, most often around the age of 40,
who are at the end of a military career but with the potential to
work for the next 15-30 years. As soldiers still want to maintain
a certain standard of living after their service ceases, they try to
integrate into the labor market and achieve a second career in a
new, civilian job [3]. However, experience shows that after
leaving the army, they have difficulty integrating into the
civilian labor market, and it can take them disproportionately
long time to find a new job [4].

2 Theoretical background

The authors who focus on the consequences of complications in
the transition of professional soldiers to the civilian sector point
to the following negative, socio-pathological phenomena: family
disruption and higher divorce rates [5], higher suicide risk [4],
homelessness [7], occurrence of depression [8] and substance
abuse [9].

Although soldiers usually know the date of termination of their
service [10], most of them do not prepare for this period or focus
on not very beneficial educational activities [11]. However,
many authors attach special importance to the preparation for
their second career. According to a study of E. Vigoda-Gadota,
Y. Baruch and S. Grimland [12], starting training for a second
career before starting the process of integrating a professional
soldier into the labor market is crucial. Preparing for a second
career will enable soldiers to understand the reality of a second
career better, streamline their expectations from civilian
employers, and overcome difficulties in adapting to new jobs.
According to P. E. Spiegel and K. S. Schultz [13], effective
second career planning is a key factor in successfully managing
a new job and should be given particular attention. R. L. Fuller
and D. L. Redfering [14] mention that planning, during active
service, greatly influences the process of adapting to labor
market requirements. Those who adapted well were those who
planned the transition well. According to J. S. McNeil, P. J.
Lecca and R. Wright [15], it is important to start planning at
least a year before leaving the service. Studies show that
planning and consistent preparation for the second career period
is the only factor that has proven to facilitate a period of a career
change. The individual responsibility and activity of soldiers are
essential, but the assistance of the state and individual
organizations is necessary and increasingly important nowadays
[10].

Within developed democratic countries, we would find different
approaches to the outplacement of professional soldiers.
Somewhere this issue is not addressed at all, but it is most likely
based on a different soldier’s career e.g. Austria, where Non-
Commissioned Officers sign a 5-10-year contract. However, if
they want to remain in the armed forces, and if they are legally
competent, they can become Warrant, Junior or Senior Officers,
and start their military career as a lifelong career, that is, up to
retirement age of 65. Most soldiers do so, and only a very small
number of them leave the army sooner (less than 100 a year). For
this reason, Austria does not need to develop special programs
for the transition of military personnel to civilian employment
after leaving the army. To a certain extent, Hungary is a similar
case. Soldiers are called into service for a minimum of 3 years,
which can be extended to a maximum of 20 years. However,
soldiers of the rank of Staff Sergeant and higher, who are
planning a long military career and who meet the qualification
requirements and prerequisites, may apply for the status of a
professional soldier. They can then serve for an indefinite period,
but up to the age of 60, which is the upper age limit for the
Hungarian Armed Forces. The average annual retirement from
the military is approximately 800 professional soldiers.

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