Helpful Heroes is a business which connects potential customers with trusted and reliable local service providers, all of whom are ex-military personnel...

As the day approaches with ever increasing speed for each individual to leave the armed forces, worries about a new life as a civilian begin to manifest themselves; financial uncertainties coupled with the difficulty of getting into work are constantly in the fore-front of each leaver’s mind.

Having left the Services many leavers find themselves unemployed knowing that they are very experienced and have skills to offer with qualifications to match – but it is difficult to be able to let potential customers know that they exist locally and are available.

Organisations and schemes are already in place to assist the service-leaver find employment, but recently a new and innovative business has also been created to help former service personnel find work – either as a full-time work opportunity or on a temporary basis whilst searching for that dream job, by bringing these leavers together with local customers requiring a service or product.

Almost everyone, at some point or other, requires the services of a professional, to mend, build or design something or even teach them something new. Finding people in the past has been done by looking in newspapers or shop windows or browsing through the Yellow Pages. Now the preferred method of searching for tradesmen and other professionals is by using the internet. Millions of people across the UK use the internet every day to find a solution for their particular problem.

Helpful Heroes is a new on-line business which was founded to connect potential customers with trusted and reliable local service providers, focusing on creating a local community. These service providers – our “Helpful Heroes” – are ALL former Armed Forces personnel having previously served in the Army, Royal Navy or Royal Air Force, who are now registering their skills and services on our site.

Customers will be able to search the Helpful Heroes website and its wide database of providers, until a short-list of potential providers is found; alternatively, customers may search for particular services according to skill, qualifications or location. Customers are presented with easy searching access to services in a wide variety of fields; the directory of provided services will be free for any customer to browse.

Customers will simply post a description of a job they would like completed, or a service they require, on the Helpful Heroes website; they are then able to receive multiple quotes quickly and easily from our providers that have been rated by previous customers. Once a customer has chosen between the quotes presented for their job, they can deal directly with the interested provider to negotiate prices, times, dates etc. The job will begin when both sides have reached their own agreement.

On completion of the work, customers are then able to rate the provider on the website; this review along with any others our provider may have had written, can then be viewed by other future potential customers. These reviews will then help future customers make an informed decision about whom they may choose from a list of quotes they will receive for their own job.

Working on a principle of accountability through this feedback by ratings, will add confidence to prospective customers about our high quality, reliable and experienced workers; and for our providers – all former service personnel - to find good quality jobs and build their clientèle, through local customers across the UK. All very quick, easy and convenient for both parties.

Helpful Heroes is a website which offers a local product - local skilled workers and services for local people when required. We have utmost belief in our providers as they will all be former service personnel, having served in an Armed Forces career for, usually, more than 20 years.

The British Armed Forces consist of, without question, among the finest, if not the finest trained, most skilled and professional men and women in the world. The range of their qualifications in specialist training, expertise and experience across the three Services is vast. They have a great deal of experience in dealing with a diverse range of people of all ages and abilities and from all nationalities and cultures, it is these attributes that we want to exploit to the fullest for our customers.

As they reach the end of their service, many military personnel enhance their work-related proficiencies and experience, broadening their skills and qualifications by choosing to take up new qualifications in an extra new career option as part of their resettlement package; some return to a previous skill learnt prior to joining the Forces.

The range of skills include: hairdressers, electricians, driving instructors, ICT specialists, personal trainers and as diverse as dog trainers, tree surgeons, sports coaches, music teachers, watch-makers, lock-smiths, beauticians and everything else between and beyond. All of this enables us at Helpful Heroes to continue to grow our already diverse database of available services from our providers, for our customers.

Former service personnel know what it means to do “an honest day's work”; they tend to be very mature and responsible. They are accustomed to working in an organisation that expects them to set high individual standards and objectives - and meet them. They are confident, accountable, self-reliant and resourceful. This integrity translates into qualities of professional sincerity and trustworthiness.

These are all transferable attributes that will be evident in all of our Helpful Heroes, they all have the character to meet the challenges of entering into a new career having reached the end of their Armed Forces contract. All of this goes towards the creation and growth of one of the biggest and most available professional work-forces in the UK.

By creating a unique link between our local providers and local customers, we believe we can rebuild some of the sense of community that has been lost in recent times whilst supporting our former service personnel, all of whom have in turn supported their country during their Armed Forces career. Advantage should be taken of a track record of professional integrity, loyalty and reliability - hiring a Helpful Hero is not good will - it is good business!

Searching for service and skills solutions or the offer of skills and services will be available at all times on the clear, easy to understand website. Using the website to advertise your skills or services is just as easy.

To make Helpful Heroes available to all across the UK we need to continue to build our database of “Heroes” and so everyone registering with us in 2012 will be registered free of charge.

Helpful Heroes is new and has only very recently launched on the internet. All those who intend to register with us, either as a potential customer or as a registered “Hero”, should be aware that we are currently building our database of providers and do not envisage that the service will be fully functioning until the end of 2012; so for now please visit the website and register your interest as a potential customer or as one of our “hero” providers.

Together with your help, we at Helpful Heroes will create a successful business and provide the best service for both our customers and you, our service-leavers, alike. We want to provide accessible, professional, local and low-cost skills and services for customers. We also hope to provide a platform for service leavers to promote themselves and find work, at a difficult time in their lives as they embark upon a new career as a civilian, having spent the majority of their adult lives in the services.

Whether you are leaving the services in the near future or you have already left and are a former serviceman or servicewoman, if you have skills and qualifications to match, give yourself a better chance of gaining good temporary or full-time employment by registering with Helpful Heroes today.

Further Information

Helpful Heroes: www.helpfulheroes.co.uk
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Follow on Twitter at: @helpfulheroes