Bridging the Fleet Gap with Cedric Roberts

SHzoom’s Monthly Minute

Bridging the Gap with Cedric Roberts

Volume 5 Issue 5 | This article was originally published on SHzoom by Michelle Chen

Transitioning from military service to civilian careers can be challenging. The Department of Defense (DOD)’s SkillBridge program aims to facilitate this process, providing retiring airmen and airwomen with opportunities to gain civilian work experience during their final 180 days of service. The Department of Defense (DOD) compensates these individuals while they participate in industry training, apprenticeships, or internships, making it an attractive option for both service members and industry partners. For companies, this means access to a skilled, disciplined, and motivated workforce at no additional cost.

SHzoom is collaborating with NAFA to help retired USAF members smoothly transition into civilian government fleet roles. Presently, the 2T3 Community, which is the military’s fleet management community, lacks a dedicated SkillBridge Apprenticeship program. Consequently, they would be required to switch their industry even if they would prefer to stay in fleet. By partnering with SkillBridge, NAFA aims to simplify the process, enabling members to post job openings efficiently without requiring individual registrations.

Crashes A Problem?

Cedric Roberts is currently the Director of Fleet Management for the City of Birmingham, Alabama, and has served in this role for about a decade. His experience in fleet management allows him to express opinions on the SkillBridge program specifically as someone who is on the public sector fleet side. We interviewed Roberts to gain his insights and opinions on the SkillBridge program and its impact on transitioning service members.

From Family Business to Fleet Management

Most people don’t grow up dreaming of becoming a fleet manager. It’s a career that often finds you rather than the other way around. This was certainly the case for Cedric Roberts, whose journey into fleet management is as unique as it is inspiring.

Cedric Roberts’s career began at his family’s construction company, which operated a small fleet of vehicles. For a decade, he managed this fleet, gaining hands-on experience that would later become the foundation of his career. The work that he did for his family provided Roberts with invaluable experience, forming the cornerstone of his future success in fleet management.

His next move took him to Birmingham, where he got his Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Alabama. With this degree under his belt, Roberts was initially hired as a PC Network Technician in 1996 for the City of Birmingham. One of the projects that he was assigned to while in that role was a software conversion for the fleet managers, and this became a pivotal point in his career. “It was a three day [software] conversion, and it would frequently stop. So what I did was over the Thanksgiving holiday, I took the software home and did the conversion. The fleet people were just ultimately impressed by that ’cause I spent a lot of my own personal time doing that,” Roberts explains. This demonstration of his work ethic and skills earned him a position as a Data Management Specialist for the fleet management department. From there, he became more and more integrated into the fleet management landscape. The natural progression of his career landed him in his current position as the Director of Fleet Management.

Cedric’s journey highlights the importance of diverse experiences and the transferable skills that can lead to unexpected career opportunities, demonstrating how different industries can intersect in meaningful ways.

The Win-Win Scenario

Cedric Roberts believes that Skillbridge is a win-win scenario. “This comes at a great time,” he remarks, “Given that there’s a significant shortage of technicians for the last, I would say, ten years, this will actually help the industry out a lot. The ranks have been depleted by the rise of the automobile industry. Strangely enough, computer coding has taken individuals [as well]. A diagnostic tree for vehicle repair looks strangely the same as a flow chart for a program.” Roberts believes that the SkillBridge program addresses the problem of having a significant shortage of technicians because retired service members, particularly those with technical backgrounds, can fill these gaps effectively. While the shortage of technicians won’t be completely resolved by this program alone, it’s a significant step in the right direction. “You have four or five branches of the military. This is just one portion of it,” he explains.

While there will be challenges, Cedric Roberts skills and experience are transferrable. “Years ago, we had a shortage of diesel technicians. So what we did, was we recruited what we call a drone technician. Usually they work on gasoline engines. If that person has that foundation, it’s transferable. It’s just what it is,” Roberts recalls. In a similar fashion, Cedric believes that those transitioning out of the military into a civilian role will achieve success in their new paths.

Competitive Edge and Success Stories

One of the key benefits of the SkillBridge program is the competitive edge it gives to transitioning service members. “If you serve this country, I think you deserve it,” Roberts applauds. Participating in the SkillBridge program provides retiring service members valuable work experience that they can use to further their careers outside of the military.

Additionally, Cedric Roberts shares success stories of retired military personnel who have transitioned into civilian roles with great success. “I have some people that are retired military. I have some retired military [that] have since then retired from us,” he notes. In specific, one of his former truck shop supervisors had retired from the military. He then retired from the truck shop to rejoin the military ranks, finishing his career in the National Guard.

Cedric emphasizes that it’s often easier to teach a person the specifics of fleet management or automobile maintenance than to instill the discipline and work ethic that comes naturally to military personnel. The SkillBridge program not only facilitates a smooth transition but also ensures that retired service members enter the civilian workforce with a strong foundation of skills and experience.