Alex Polizzi: Hire Our Heroes

Veterans are 60% more likely to be unemployed than their civilian counterparts, and where discharge from the armed forces is accompanied by mental illness, as is thought to be the case for one in five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the discrepancy can be much worse. Alex hears the sometimes heartbreaking testimony of four veterans, all medically discharged from the army with mental illness, all with a highly trained military skill set, all finding themselves on the civilian scrapheap when it comes to work. As Alex attempts to join together employers and veterans, she learns how psychological injury can severely affect veterans' self-confidence. After years of rejection, self-esteem is at rock bottom, and Alex's first job is to try and build confidence in the men. As well as coaching, cajoling and mentoring her unit of vets, Alex wants to bang the drum to employers that military veterans are a valuable untapped resource. But as the group take their first steps into employment, she begins to think she might have bitten off more than she can chew. Just days into a work placement, Lee's prospects of a permanent job are dashed when his post-traumatic stress disorder flares up. Phil survived tours of Iraq and frontline combat in Afghanistan. He seems at first sight the most work-ready of the group but when a fifth operation to repair his leg amputation is delayed, depression kicks in and his job hunt is put on hold. As the episode ends, only gentle giant Stuart, who for 14 years has known nothing but army life, seems set for meaningful employment after being accepted on to a bricklayers apprenticeship. But after battling PTSD, Stuart's confidence is in his boots, and the world outside his supported specialist veterans' housing is baffling and daunting.

After months of coaching and professional help, Alex is hoping her four unemployed veterans are ready to take their first steps into civilian jobs. All have suffered from post-traumatic stress since leaving the military and have struggled to find work. Alex is hoping that her group, their self-esteem boosted with shiny new CVs and a better understanding of the civilian job market, can at last embark on the civvy street job paths that have so far eluded them. Stuart is first off the blocks with an assessment for a bricklaying apprenticeship that could offer 18 months of employment and training. Phil, a former sergeant whose military career included being a pall bearer at Princess Diana's funeral, has an interview with a major construction company interested in harnessing his management skills. Shaun, who has only ever been self-employed as a painter and decorator, has a work placement with one of the biggest building developments in Europe which, if successful, could lead to a lucrative long-term contract. However, it would mean leaving the shelter of the veterans housing unit and taking his chances in London. For all three, these are huge opportunities and to succeed they will have to let go of the past and draw on every ounce of the self-confidence that Alex has been trying to drum into them over the past six months. Only Lee has withdrawn from the job market altogether, so he can have fresh treatment for a resurgence of his PTSD. Meanwhile, Alex continues her ambitions to make a wider impact connecting employers with jobs to veterans seeking work. She wants to pilot a scheme in Plymouth that could roll out across the country to help the 120,000 working age veterans across the UK who find themselves unemployed and unwanted on civvy street.