In the last seven years Mission Motorsport has become a notable presence in the UK racing landscape. It is a charity that seeks to help the UK’s ex-service people through motorsport, and arranges a variety of activities to this end. Perhaps the most high-profile of them is the annual Race of Remembrance which takes place on Remembrance weekend at the Anglesey circuit in Wales. It’s an endurance race that actually stops mid-way through on Sunday morning for a Remembrance service in the pitlane, only after which everyone gets back into their cars…
Mission Motorsport now is expanding its scope as it has just launched Mission Automotive, a charitable partnership that aims to get ex-service people in the UK into jobs in the automotive industry. This encompasses jobs throughout the entire sector and therefore includes areas from components, infrastructure and software through to retail, manufacturing and logistics. The Mission Automotive initiative will map the skills required by the motoring job market and match them to the skills gained from military service, to therefore deliver sustainable and relevant employment opportunities to the beneficiaries and their partners as well as to help industry innovate and tap into the talent. It will place particular focus on the automotive sector’s move to electrification and related technology, as high-voltage competencies are commonplace in the services.
The initiative, unveiled at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, is in partnership with The Royal Foundation–whose patrons are the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex–as well as the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). It’s also backed by the Ministry of Defence. Major automotive players attended the Mission Automotive unveil, including the initiative’s founding members Jaguar Land Rover, DHL, Westway Nissan, Alcon and Bicester Motion. The initiative will build on the experience Mission Motorsport has accumulated since it was launched in 2012. In this time it has delivered more than 5000 training days of sport for 1500 wounded, injured or sick beneficiaries, leading to more than 400 placements and upwards of 150 jobs. Its two-year point measure of effectiveness–measured by still being in employment–is an amazing 84%. Also the charity’s veteran employment programs have paved the way for over 1700 military veterans to get jobs in the automotive sector.
“It can be difficult for service leavers to translate how their military experience allows them to fit into civilian career,” Mission Motorsport CEO James Cameron (above) said. “Mission Automotive helps organizations to recognize, foster and retain that talent through developing and implementing their own Armed Forces engagement strategies. By promoting these positive business behaviors, the Mission Automotive initiative gives member companies the tools to unlock not only human potential, but also brand and corporate opportunities through embracing the Armed Forces Covenant. Our service men and women are a national resource, and have much to offer to society beyond their military service. By helping them and their families we boost British industry, and by association the communities in which they resettle.”
Images courtesy of Mission Motorsport
