A former Royal Air Force Sergeant will help Armed Forces leavers explore new job opportunities with Travis Perkins.

Craig Melvin will take on the role as Specialist Recruiter. He has more than 22 years’ experience in the RAF.

This is part of Travis Perkins’ commitment to helping ex-service personnel find jobs in the industry. It has created a new work placement scheme that offers current Armed Forces personnel, who are close to finishing their military careers, a chance to try a job at Travis Perkins before making a full-time commitment. In line with the Armed Forces Covenant, which Travis Perkins signed last year, Melvin is also working to help support the partners of former military personnel.

Travis Perkins is tailoring its apprenticeship programmes to create a specialist Ex-Military Training Curriculum, with a focus on upskilling former military employees in commercial and customer service skills to ensure they are ready to face the new and exciting challenges a career outside the military will bring.

Since 2015, Travis Perkins has developed a tradition for recruiting service leavers, which now total more than 200, serving in roles spanning branch management, IT, supply chain and logistics. Last year this work was recognised with a Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award.

Melvin said: “I am immensely proud to be working with Travis Perkins and to be playing a part in their incredible commitment to help support and recruit Armed Forces leavers.

“As a former RAF Sergeant, it is brilliant to be in a company that values the skills, experience, professionalism and dedication Armed Forces personnel can bring to business.”

Travis Perkins also celebrated the Graduation of the company’s 2016 Management Apprentices last night at the Mercure Daventry Court Hotel in Northamptonshire.

Forty eight apprentices were in attendance, with Jogesh Jassi being crowned Apprentice of the Year.

Across the Travis Perkins Group, more than 650 of the company’s nearly 28,000 employees are currently attending apprenticeship programmes across a range of disciplines, including retail, marketing, operations, leadership and sales.

Last night’s celebrations were supported by senior leaders from across the Group, including CEO John Carter, who also started his career as an apprentice.

He said: “This was a great night to share the success of our Apprentices.

“They are a key asset to our company, and play an important role in our succession planning and to help us secure the future success of our business.

“I would like to congratulate them all for completing the programme, and the winners of the awards in particular, for the outstanding contribution they have made so far. I’m confident there is a lot more in store from them.”

Award winners:

1. Jogesh Jassi - Apprentice of the Year

2. Gavin Collins - Commercial Acumen Award

3. Amy Millar - Innovation Award

4. Daniel Cardwell - Stay Safe Award

5. Darren Scriven - Apprentice Mentor of the Year