Nothing bad at all. Amazing part time career to build experience for a main career. Tests your limits, builds character and compensation is worth it while you’re done your mandatory courses.

Was this review helpful?

Good team work and looking after each other

Soldat (Current Employee) - St. Catharines, ON - 3 August 2022

I loved everything I've done at the caf. It was good experience attending the caf And been a part of it I've learned a lot. I would like to take the national defense department for this opportunity.

Pros

Free lunch

Cons

Long hours

Was this review helpful?

Insights into National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces

Based on 211 survey responses

What people like

Fair pay for job
Clear sense of purpose
Ability to learn new things

Bad culture

Armoured Crewman (Current Employee) - Calgary, AB - 3 August 2022

Bad culture, bad leaders. Lack of respect through out the unit . Pay is minimum for the hours you put in during excercises. Not recommended unless you are a poor student.

Was this review helpful?

Hurry up and wait

Gunner (Current Employee) - Valcartier - 27 July 2022

Salary is good, sometimes it’s very stressfull, sometimes you won’t do nothing for weeks, but still you get paid. Lots of time for physical training during works hour( 2 hours per day )

Pros

Nice pay

Cons

Not at home few month/year

Was this review helpful?

Great

Infantryman (Current Employee) - Ontario - 19 July 2022

You’ll meet great people whom you will share hardships with and get the job done. You’ll gain experiences that will help you gain confidence and strength.

Was this review helpful?

Rate your recent company

Share your experience to help others

Toxic work culture.

Canadian Armed Forces (Former Employee) - Winnipeg, MB - 13 July 2022

Overall, not a great place to work. Military life is not for everyone. Your often posted to units in the middle of nowhere, or somewhere completely unaffordable. Institution lacks support for members as the mission comes first. Toxic work culture.

Pros

Vacation time, medical benefits.

Cons

Can take up to a year/two years to receive an offer, Toxic work culture, Pay does not equal what you would make in the civilian community for a similar job, Lots of time away from home, Not everyone is treated equally.

Was this review helpful?

Pays the bills

Artilleryman (Current Employee) - Shilo, MB - 10 July 2022

Depending on your trade it is all or nothing you are either working days at a time with little to no real breaks or waiting around for months at a time for something to happen

Was this review helpful?

Bon environnement

Soldat d'infanterie (Current Employee) - Québec City, QC - 1 July 2022

Sentiment de groupe et d'appartenance. Beaucoup d'avantages et de congés.

Pros

Travail variable et intéressant

Cons

Difficile pour la famille

Was this review helpful?

Good benefits but no work/life balance

Marine Technician (Former Employee) - Halifax, NS - 21 June 2022

Only apply if you're young and single, this job will ruin your personal life. You will spend most of your time away sailing and when alongside you will be fixing 30 year old equipment that should've be replaced long ago.

Pros

Good job security

Cons

Always away from home, toxic leadership

Was this review helpful?

Great for travel

Naval Communicator (Current Employee) - Halifax, NS - 20 June 2022

Love my career with the CAF. Great pay for the amount of work you actually do. Do lots of research prior to joining so you pick the trade that is perfect for you.

Was this review helpful?

Jobs at National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces

See more jobs

Food Service Attendants & Kitchen Helpers

Victoria, BC

30+ days ago

Customer Services Representative (Inventory)

Human Resources Administrator

Ontario

30+ days ago

Ready to come onboard? Apply to National Defence's Ship's Officer or Ship’s Crew Inventory!

Victoria, BC

30+ days ago

Complex hierarchy

Senior Materiel Acquisition and Support Specialist (Former Employee) - Ottawa, ON - 17 June 2022

Hard to adjust due to extreme bureaucratic systems and processes. It is very hard to understand the big picture and things change quickly. A lot of deficiencies in the internal systems and procedures. Out-of-date.

Pros

Training

Cons

Lengthy and complicated system to work

Was this review helpful?

Brief description of serving in the military

Military (Former Employee) - Kingston, ON - 13 June 2022

typical day at work can be between 5am to 11pm. You're completely trained in whatever trade you apply for. management is hit or moss you may have excellent leaders. you may get incompetent commanders. The culture is heavily ran by men who are stuck in an old culture of it being a boys club. Harassment is common place. the job can be physically demanding and can demand virtually months to a year away from home. Kiss your family life goodbye when you join the forces.

Pros

Benefits, job security

Cons

Log hours, Dangerous work, poor management

Was this review helpful?

loved my years in the forces

Airfield radar technician (Former Employee) - Canada - 12 June 2022

after you get through the 13 weeks of terrible in basic its becomes awesome. after your weeks of getting yelled at lack of sleep and overall bad times you start your career and its awesome. lots of travel opportunity

Pros

good pay

Cons

no choice of work hours

Was this review helpful?

Improvement and high income

Canadian Armed Forces (Former Employee) - Terrebonne, QC - 11 June 2022

Is when the work increase income through improvements on goods and service when the labor force isn’t willing and determined to work hard to contribute to end good productivity

Was this review helpful?

They are really working to improve culture

Musician (Current Employee) - Vancouver, BC - 10 June 2022

I'm always impressed at my units ability to keep their staff educated about trauma, violence prevention, emotional support and safety. They are working very hard at changing the culture.

Was this review helpful?

Nothing else like it

Information Technology Specialist (Current Employee) - Calgary, AB - 10 June 2022

The pride and sense of camaraderie you get from wearing the Canadian Armed Forces uniform is unmatched in any other career I've ever had. I've learned a lot professionally.

Pros

Too many to list

Was this review helpful?

pretty good

soldier (Current Employee) - Canada - 6 June 2022

pretty decent place if you are a fit. good people to work with, sometimes get to do some fun stuff. the training can be tough though but its part of the package.

Was this review helpful?

Can be tough yet rewarding. Decent job security, benefits and pay.

Combat Engineer (Current Employee) - Gagetown, NB - 5 June 2022

After six years of being a combat engineer in the CAF, I have no regrets enlisting as a non-comission member. I have the best and worst memories of my life with the army. At the end of the day, it is what you make of your career.

Pros

steady pay, job security, benefits

Cons

expect almost no deployments for combat arms ncms

Was this review helpful?

Great teamwork and mental development opportunity

Trained Private (Current Employee) - Kingston, ON - 31 May 2022

I’ve loved working for the CAF so far, only complaint has been paperwork as it sometimes gets misplaced in the reserves; otherwise it has been a fantastic work environment and I look forward to continuing my career

Was this review helpful?

Miserable Place to Work

Vehicle Technician (Current Employee) - Borden, ON - 26 May 2022

Enlist in the army only as a last resort. You are there to be abused. The Loudership and Bureaucracy is arcane. The salary does not keep up with housing prices. People are digging in to their savings just to be able to work. We have families with double incomes working 2 jobs.

Pros

Federal Benefits

Cons

Long Hours

Was this review helpful?

Couldnt have Asked for better

combat engineer (Former Employee) - petawawa, on - 23 May 2022

great place to work and proud to have worked and spent sometime and wish I could have spent more time but I cant physically do it anymore. Could not have asked for a better place to work but now its full of snowflakes.

Was this review helpful?