Manchester was the setting for a direct recruitment push from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, with the force taking its case to service leavers and veterans at Veteran UK EXPO. In a government announcement, the CNC said it used the event at Manchester Central to talk through careers protecting the UK's civil nuclear sector. For a northern audience, the point is clear enough: this was a national employer coming to where ex-forces talent already is.

This was no minor jobs fair. Veteran UK EXPO is billed as the UK's largest careers event for service leavers and veterans, and the Manchester date brought together more than 100 exhibitors and around 1,650 attendees. That turnout says something about the city's pull. Manchester has become a serious meeting point for employers wanting face-to-face contact with the Armed Forces community, and that gives people leaving service a chance to test the promises behind recruitment campaigns in person.

Sergeant Darren Adams, chair of the Civil Nuclear Police Federation, joined PCs Mark O'Neill and Rob Jones on the stand. Their message centred on opportunities to become Authorised Firearms Officers after military service, with the officers drawing on their own experience of policing within the CNC. The conversations were practical. The government release said visitors asked about training, pay and benefits, career progression and the recruitment process - the sort of detail that decides whether a role feels real or just well marketed.

The officers also made the case that military skills do not go missing when uniform changes. Leadership, decision-making and operational judgement were all presented as qualities that carry across into policing, especially in roles where pressure and precision come with the job. For veterans across the North, that is likely to ring true. Plenty of public bodies talk about transferable skills in broad slogans; the CNC's pitch was more concrete, linking that experience to a specific force with a specific security role.

It was also a wider offer than one firearms route. The CNC highlighted specialist posts in the Strategic Escort Group, along with police medic, dog handler and firearms instructor roles, pointing to a career structure that can stretch well beyond an initial posting. That will matter to ex-service candidates who have built up technical knowledge or specialist training and do not want to start from scratch. In a regional jobs market where skilled workers are weighing up security, purpose and progression, those details count.

The force's recent recruitment figures give that message some weight. According to the government announcement, more than 30 former service personnel joined the CNC over the past year, bringing operational experience and specialist knowledge to the organisation responsible for protecting the UK's civil nuclear sites and safeguarding the transport of nuclear material. Taken together, the Manchester event showed where the CNC believes its next recruits may come from. For veterans in the North looking for stable public-sector work with specialist openings, the force is making its case plainly enough and directing interested applicants to its military personnel page on CNC.jobs.