Phil Turner
This year GKN Aerospace (Hall 4-K10) is using a team of graduates as the first point of contact on its stand during the trade days at the show. GKN fully support the show's 'Careers in Aerospace' initiative, designed to encourage more young people to consider a career in the aerospace industry.
The youngsters are drawn from GKN's graduate scheme and from across the full range of the company's subsidiaries and facilities in the USA and UK. Claire Dyer graduated last year with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Bristol University. She joined GKN Aerospace after a presentation at the University. The first two years of her graduate scheme consist of a series of six-month placements, designed to give her a fundamental understanding of all aspects of GKN's businesses. She has just completed her first six months on placement in an automotive company.
As part of the scheme all graduates are given time off each week in order to learn a foreign language. Claire is currently studying Italian, while the combined linguistic skills of the graduates on the stand mean they can converse with visitors in French, Italian and Mandarin in addition to English. Claire is keen to attract more youngsters into aviation. "We need to make the aerospace industry more attractive - sexier," she says. "Since joining GKN I have made friends from Brazil, Mexico, eastern Europe and the USA. Young people are often put off by engineering, and many of those who graduate with relevant degrees still don't pursue a career in aviation. But there is much more to working in the aerospace industry than that."
Tony Garnett is another GKN success story. Based in Alabama, USA, he began his career with GKN as an unskilled worker ten years ago. But having completed a college course in Business Studies, he is now the Production Manager at the Alabama site.
"It took six years of working nights and weekends to finish the course," he says. "My CEO was looking for someone young and enthusistic to shake things up a little, and now I'm setting about making a difference. My aim is to eventually become the CEO myself."
Source: Flight Daily News
