What to tell employer?

[margoyuwer]

DS is in relatively entry level type job and fingers crossed Covid permitting will be beginning military basic training at start of March.
He hasnt told his employer any of this yet and planned to give the standard 1 month notice in Feb. However he has been asked if he wants to be enrolled onto some sort of 1 year qualification programme which would start in January and the company pay funding etc. He is stuck what to say to his employer as if he says no to the qualification it looks ungrateful and unwilling to develop, yet if he did say yes he may have to pay back funding when he leaves. Although he did not want to really tell employer at this point he plans to leave in a few months. He has been there around a year if this makes any difference.

Is there any advice or suggestions people can give as me and DH have never been in this position as were are self-employed.

[Ariela]

What would the qualification help him with in terms of future employment (whether in military, or after that?). I'm thinking if supervisor training, could be useful? If he left after completing, would he have to pay the training back?

Can he defer the military training for a year or two?

I'd maybe suggest your son to have a chat with his employers and be truthful in saying that he hadn't planned to continue in the entry level role and had been considering a career change 'next year sometime perhaps'. And to ask what the further career prospects in the company would be and a time frame, and to ask what would happen if he started the training and didn't enjoy it what would happen if he stopped or if he left, or left straight after completing would he have to pay back the training?

Really depends a lot on whether your son enjoys working for the company and what sort of qualification the training role would give him vs a career in the military.

[margoyuwer]

Thanks it seems like a chat with manager would be most appropriate. The qualification is related to his current role and is quite job specific, his current job is admin based and in military he will be getting a trade.

The military has always been his goal, he submitted his application long before even applying for his current job, the application process has been quite lengthy (over 18 months so far). I just think he is eager to join as soon as possible but he is a people pleaser and doesnt want to cause bad atmosphere at work.

[TheProvincialLady]

He should speak to his line manager and say thank you very much for the opportunity but he is strongly considering entering the armed forces in the next 6 months and therefore does not want to waste the company’s investment in him.

If he is good enough in his job that they want to invest in training him, the company are unlikely to make him redundant before February. He just needs to be honest and positive but do the right thing for himself.