Headhunter has roots in aviation

As director of sales and marketing, Andy Graham has worldwide responsibility for maintenance and flightcrew recruitment at Dublin-based Direct Personnel. He started out as a flight attendant at British World Airlines.

What first got you into aviation?

I was very fortunate to travel around the world as a young child with my family due to my father's job. My first memory of aviation was flying to Berlin on a Vickers VC10 and really enjoying the take-off and landing sectors. My father was involved with aviation for the best part of his career and I had always been around airports and aircraft, so you could say it was inevitable that I would go into our industry.

You were a cabin crew member for barely two years before moving into management. Was that a quick progression?

Yes, looking back it was rather quick. I was fortunate again here as I joined Virgin Express at the very beginning of its UK operations based at Heathrow and Gatwick. I was responsible for the cabin crew at these bases, as base manager.

After a few months we had a change of director of cabin services and he asked me to look after the same role based in Brusselsand Charles de Gaulle, which meant I had to live in Brussels.

©Direct Personnel Graham: father's career made a life in aviation "inevitable"

The most satisfying part of this role was to develop and manage the staff at these bases. We had an uphill task as Mr Branson had bought an existing operating airline called EBA.

There were many challenges to rebrand and re-educate the staff into the "Virgin" ethos. However, I know that the majority of the staff really embraced these concepts and enjoyed the new innovations we brought to Virgin Express.

You left Virgin to work in property sales, for Barrat Homes. What prompted the change, and what got you back into aviation?

Living and working in Brussels was not ideal for my family situation, commuting twice a week back and forth. A twist of fate took me into the property business in London as I met up with an old colleague of mine from Virgin, who was in the business.

As many before me, and I'm sure thousands after me, I foolishly thought there must be life other than aviation.

Again, I was in the right place at the right time when I approached Direct Personnel. My brief was to develop a team capable of expanding operations and sales within the shortest time possible. The challenge was too much to say no to.

On the job, what's been your biggest success?

Over my past three years we have been fortunate to have had many successes in winning new business opportunities. I have one of the strongest operational teams in our business, if the feedback from our customers is right. I would have to say the team I oversee is the reason we are sosuccessful. The team would be my biggest success.

Biggest mistake?

Biggest mistake is more difficult to state, possibly underestimating the challenges when I first joined Direct Personnel. Thankfully you learn from your mistakes and move on.

What's your advice to a young person entering aviation today?

Work hard and learn as much as possible from all sections of the industry, talk to experienced people and listen to their way of doing things. It's an old saying, but it is true - listen to your customer, understand what they need and deliver on your promises. Always remember that the customer is king and their complete satisfaction is the only goal you must achieve. If you get these simple steps right you should have a customer for life.

Source: Flight International