
Following the UK’s Armed Forces Day celebrations on Saturday, Carl Gage, Regional Director for Technical Services at OCS, reflects on a career which has taken him from the galley of HMS Liverpool to assuming P&L responsibility for multi-million pound key accounts.
It’s fair to say that academia was not my strong point when I was younger. I didn’t enjoy school apart from home economics, a subject in which I excelled. As much as I enjoyed it, I didn’t want to be a chef in a restaurant, so I thought about what else I could do. I wanted to see more of the world, so I took inspiration from my great uncle and his stories of life in the Royal Navy and joined up, aged 17. It proved to be the grounding for two wonderful careers.
I undertook my Part 1 training on HMS Raleigh in Plymouth and completed both that and my trade training in the same place within eight months of me signing on the dotted line. The first ship I served on was HMS Liverpool, with my first deployment due to be to the USA. You can imagine my excitement, but also my shock when, on the morning of departure we were told we’d be going to Sierra Leone instead on a peace-keeping mission. The military sense of humour was there in full effect when someone decided to play New York, New York by Frank Sinatra through the galley kitchen’s speakers!
At first, I wondered what I’d done, particularly when I had my head shaved on day one and I had to pay £5 for the privilege. But once I settled into my role, I loved it. Although I did not see active service in Iraq or Afghanistan, I was on-board when we evacuated expatriates from Lebanon to Cyprus during an ongoing conflict with Syria. We gave up our beds for families and small children and fed them during a 12-hour transit. I was even interviewed on Channel 5 News on our return to the UK.
My career in the forces progressed extremely well. I was one of the youngest leading hands – equivalent to a Corporal – at the age of 21 and by 25 I was a local acting Petty Officer, the equivalent of a Sergeant, as I took HMS Newcastle through Basic Operational Sea Trials (BOST) in which the vessel was rigorously – and, it turned out, satisfactorily – assessed. I went from cooking for 280 sailors on war ships to being a private chef to the second sea lord, a position that is second in command of the entire Royal Navy. I had to manage budgets to feed the ship’s company and order supplies in foreign countries as well as fight fires and be a part of the disaster recovery team supporting areas affected by earthquakes.
While the TV advert may be a bit cheesy (“I was born in Blyth, but I was made in the Royal Navy”), for me it was 100 per cent true. I would recommend or encourage anyone to at least experience it; I have seen places in the world I could only have dreamed of and although it was tough at times, no two days were ever the same. As I would find out, this would be very similar to life in facilities management.
Entering the world of FM
Having served for just short of 10 years, I felt I had done everything I wanted to do in the Navy but that I was also young enough to start a new career. I was apprehensive, of course, as the military was all I had known since leaving school, but the Royal Navy’s resettlement programme was excellent. I learned how to write my CV, interview techniques and they put me in touch with several potential employers.
I soon learned that my new role required communication skills on a par with those from my life on the ocean wave.
My father was a quality, safety, health and environment (QSHE) director at a utilities provider so as part of my resettlement I undertook my National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) General qualification. I applied for a lot of jobs and fell into facilities management by chance, with a company which could see I had a lot of transferrable skills as well as the want and the desire to do well. I accepted the offer of a position as a QHSE auditor, auditing all the hard services we were delivering for customers, which gave me an insight into both hard services and the broader world of FM.
I soon learned that my new role required communication skills on a par with those from my life on the ocean wave. This may sound simple but it’s not always easy to get right. I’d previously had to communicate with junior ratings all the way up to senior officers and all points in between. I needed to do something similar in FM too. I also had to make use of my transferrable and leadership skills learned in the military, which help encourage and motivate people when times are hard but there’s a pressing need for results.
There were a lot of parallels between my naval career and my FM career. Having started in that technical auditor role I am now a regional director responsible and accountable for six key customers with a profit and loss (P&L) responsibility of c.£30m per annum in a technical services role – which isn’t bad for someone who does not have a technical background!
Like life on a ship, each day has a different focus. I can be out on-site meeting with the team and seeing all the great work they are doing, or meeting with customers to discuss current performances and how we can continuously improve processes. I could be attending internal meetings in which I go through commercial performance or attending social value events. It’s all extremely satisfying.
In the same way that I believe everyone should give life in the military a try, I’d also urge anyone in the military who is about to leave to explore any opportunities within FM.
An ideal foundation
In the same way that I believe everyone should give life in the military a try, I’d also urge anyone in the military who is about to leave to explore any opportunities within FM. There are so many different avenues that can be explored and they will have the transferable skills that potential employers look for.
Before the merger, both legacy OCS and Atalian Servest had pledged to the military covenant, and as a newly merged business, OCS is now taking the necessary steps to renew our pledges and apply for Silver status in the employer recognition scheme as part of it. There has also recently been a huge amount of work done internally on our commitment and pledge to the military and to veterans. We work with an organisation which redeploys ex-military personnel into FM, whether their departure was time-served or they were medically discharged. OCS is also putting together a ‘My Military’ network, of which I’m planning to be a part.
We also partner with a charity that is the UK’s first marketplace for opportunities for the armed forces community. It enables veterans, serving personnel, reservists and their families to find ‘forces friendly’ organisations like ours and opportunities that meet any needs they may have, all in one place.
I have been extremely fortunate in both the careers I have had in my life. Some of it has almost certainly been because I was in the right place at the right time, but none of what I achieved could have been done without the drive and determination that the military instilled in me. The FM industry is equally as rewarding if you are willing to put the effort in.