When I was 15 I had no idea what career path to choose and the only subjects I did reasonably well in were Art and technical drawing. For work experience we had to select a subject that we found interesting and would enjoy as a career. I chose graphic design as a few of my friends had already been placed at a local Graphic design company and enjoyed the experience.
Unfortunately when it came around to my allocated week there was a problem with the company taking on students, so my career advisor had to quickly find an alternate company. Little did I know this decision would lead to a career in engineering. The advisor found a local company that designed ground support test equipment for the aerospace industry and they agreed to take me on.
I arrived early on the Monday morning and was met by the managing director who was an old fella that once was a Spitfire pilot in WWII. Quite a character and enjoyed nothing more than smoking large cigars throughout the office. Can you imagine that now?
The first thing that struck me was how civil everyone was. As the staff came in they would all shout ‘morning’ and everyone else replied the same. As a schoolkid I found this a little bizarre and slightly uncomfortable as all my friends greeted each other with a sort of grunting noise or insult.
They decided I would do 4 days in the drawing office as a draughtsman and 1 day on the shop floor as a fitter. My first task was to redraw some old drawings that were in a bit of a state using a drawing board. Having always been good at art I thought this would be quite easy, but it wasn’t. My initial drawings looked pretty awful really and they would have been better off patching up the originals.
Throughout the week I was shown all the drawing office procedures and there was an awful lot to take in. Thankfully all the staff were very friendly and I soon realised although this was a business environment people still liked a good chat and there was lots of banter throughout the day. I did spend one afternoon in the Purchasing department which to be honest bored me to tears. I had to make telephone calls to place orders which I really didn’t feel comfortable doing.
As the week progressed I started to really enjoy drawing and the quality of my work was improving which pleased the DO Manager. I started to realize that a career as a draughtsman would actually be rather appealing. On the final day I went on the shop floor and did some general assembly work on a MK7 generator test rig that was in for refurbishment. The guys on the shop floor were good fun and seemed to enjoy having lots of digs about the drawing office staff.
That afternoon the Engineering Director called me into his office and we had a chat about how the week had gone. I had really enjoyed the whole experience and told him I would be interested to pursue a career in drafting. To my amazement he said he had been impressed with my drawing skills and would I like to become their trainee draughtsman after I had finished school.
This was a real surprise to me and I was chuffed to bits. I really liked the work and all the staff seemed great to be around so I was more than happy to accept his offer. It was crazy to think that a week before I had no idea what career I wanted and now I had just been offered a job. I joined the company a few months after leaving school and spent 12 years there starting as a trainee draughtsman and ending up as a mechanical design engineer.
Work experience was a real eye opener into how a business is run, what is expected of people, how you should conduct yourself in a workplace environment and what satisfaction can be achieved from doing a good job. It was an invaluable opportunity and paved the way for where I am today. My advice to pupils going into a work experience program is to be polite, friendly, enthusiastic, ask lots of questions, be easy to get on with, work hard, look presentable, only use your mobile at break times and treat it like a week-long interview as you never know where it may lead.
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