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include and send soldiers to retraining courses in which they can
use their existing knowledge and competencies and further
expand them. A system of regular identification of demand for
specific fields of retraining courses and identification of the
satisfaction of soldiers who completed the courses should be
implemented via collection and analysis of opinions in the form
of oral, printed, or electronic questionnaires at internal
communication portals. It is advisable to monitor the success of
graduates in the labor market for one year at least.
Career transition assistance in selected NATO countries is
provided to everyone, regardless of the rank or length of service,
but the assistance level varies according to established criteria.
Therefore, soldiers of the Czech Armed Forces injured or
suffering from a health problem should be allowed to participate
in a retraining course, even if the length of their service is less
than five years. Furthermore, a support to soldiers whose service
was terminated due to organizational changes or to soldiers
whose specialization falls under a pre-established list of military
specializations hardly applicable in the civilian sector should be
also provided. The range of assistance would be reduced
accordingly.
To implement all the proposed measures, it is necessary to
increase the number of employees of the Education Department
of the Personnel Agency of the Czech Armed Forces dealing
with the area of retraining and to train the personnel department
of military units.
In the framework of international cooperation between the
ministries of defense, employees of the Ministry of Defense of
the Czech Republic could be trained in the above-mentioned
foreign career transition agencies or their specialists could be
hired to provide series of lectures. Their proven knowledge and
good practice could then be adapted to the conditions and
legislation of the Czech Republic.
Not only by the range of outplacement assistance of selected
NATO countries, mentioned in the theoretical background
chapter, but also by the knowledge of people who assisted war
veterans within the implemented projects is a great opportunity
Ministry of Defence can benefit from. The European Social
Fund is funding tens of thousands of projects across the Union
that make a difference to the lives of millions of individuals.
Between 2011 and 2015 seven project were funded to support
war veterans of the Czech Armed Forces and helped to
approximately a thousand of them to integrate into civilian life.
The tools of assistance were motivational seminars, focused on
understanding communication elements in civilian environment,
writing a curriculum vitae, preparing for job interview or
providing basic information about employees’ rights and
obligations at civilian labor market, individual counseling with
experts such as psychologists, career counselors, coaches and
human resources managers, retraining and start-ups assistance,
job creation and placement in subsidized jobs with wage
reimbursement for a period of six months to one year.
Professional individual and group counselling services focused
on helping to orientate in the civilian labor market is the basis
for the successful start of a second career. They could be
provided by recruiting offices of the Czech Armed Forces,
located in 13 cities. They could be called rather career offices
and provide assistance not only to incoming but also outgoing
soldiers. The staff of recruiting offices could be increased, the
existing staff (approximately 50 employees) could be trained to
provide the assistance or the assistance could be outsourced from
external educational and career agencies.
In terms of the elimination of weaknesses, it is necessary to
assume a broad social consensus over the solution of the
research problem, enforcement of legislative changes, and
changes of internal regulations and their strict observance in
personnel procedures. The Veteran Work Team currently
working on a new concept of taking care of soldiers will play
one of the most important roles in the future. It should be
benefited from the cooperation among the team members of all
kinds of specializations and experts of external institutions. It is
appropriate to elaborate a comprehensive concept of active
employment policy for soldiers, based on several basic measures
agreed both by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of
Labor and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic. This policy
should contain at least the following features:
define professional soldiers as a group at risk of
unemployment,
establish contacts with suitable suppliers of retraining
courses for soldiers,
keep a special record of suitable vacancies for former
soldiers that would be shared with personnel departments of
military units,
monitor the employment of former soldiers after the
termination of military service with the help of job seeker
database shared by both the ministries.
The introduction of relevant changes in the legislation will
eventually enable standardization of the preparation of soldiers
for a second career, thus establishing a unified systemic
approach, as is the case of the rest of the developed NATO
countries.
6 Conclusions
The application of the SWOT analysis has helped us to quickly
and effectively map the reality and enabled us to identify a
strategy of possible further progress. Based on the results of our
study, it can be said that interviewed experts and questionnaire
respondents agreed on several internal and external factors that
influence the preparation of soldiers for a second career in the
Czech Republic. The most comprehensive group of factors were
weaknesses that are, in most cases, connected with the current
form of retraining courses provided by the Ministry of Defence.
Probably the most serious weakness that emerged in all the
interviews and most of the questionnaires and summarize the
insight into the issue is that there is no systemic approach to the
preparation of soldiers for a career transition.
The result of the SWOT analysis was vectoring that, based on
the evaluation of the current state, recommend the use of W-O
strategy based on maximizing opportunities to minimize
weaknesses. By taking advantage of the knowledge from
implemented projects to support war veterans, experience of war
veteran associations, good practice of selected NATO countries
and current activities of a team working on a new concept of
taking care of soldiers, the weaknesses could be eliminated.
Adjusting the existing form of retraining courses and widening
the range of career transition assistance as suggested will also in
the final consequence positively affect the presence of
aforementioned threats. It will result in better preparedness of
soldiers in the civilian labor market and thus increase their
applicability. Civilian employers’ negative opinions about the
working abilities of former soldiers would be reduced, and
socio-pathological phenomena of soldiers associated with poor
mental status resulting from job loss would occur less frequently.
From a macroeconomic point of view, the unemployment rate of
former soldiers would be reduced, which would ultimately lead
to a lower burden on the state budget.
In order for the process to be continually improved, this area
should be further explored. It is useful to continue with the
research and focus it on its quantitative aspect, that can be
statistically verified. It is also important to apply SWOT analysis
more frequently and thus have a constant overview of changes in
the internal and external environment and orientate the direction
of the activities accordingly
Literature:
1.
Stacho, Z., Stachová, K., Raišien
ė, A. G.:
Changes in
approach to employee development in organizations on a
regional scale. Journal of International Studies, 2019, 12(2),
299-308. doi:10.14254/2071-8330.2019/12-2/19.
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