Forces: RAF
Daniel H - Cpl
My advice? Be pro-active! Have a positive mind set and put in as much effort as you can to prove that you have what it takes."
Corporal Daniel Howitt Served for 12 years in the RAF before deciding
to leave. During his resettlement with CTP, he attended a Career
Transition Workshop (CTW), where he learnt how to translate his military
career into civilian terminology. He also attended one of the CTP
Employment Fairs and successfully completed the 17th Edition Wiring
Regulations and Level 5 Certificate in Service Improvement (Lean Six
Sigma). Here, Daniel explains how he secured a placement with Assystems
for a Civilian Work Attachment.
“In August last year I received a
message from Kerry Barham, senior recruitment consultant at Assystem
UK, as she had noticed my profile on LinkedIn and explained how the
roles at Assystem UK would be well suited to my qualifications and
experience in aerospace engineering.
“After a few interactions with Kerry I was offered the opportunity to take part in a one week work placement.
I
decided that prior to the work placement I needed to get my head back
in the books, I researched the company including background, successes,
current clients and more. I read everything I could about their
customers products and I even had notes on how to prepare business
cases. Just putting in that effort in beforehand enhanced my experience
and allowed me to really focus on the week ahead.“Monday
morning arrives, I had my schedule for the week, who was meeting me and
everything needed to get me there ready to start. The moment I arrived I
felt extremely welcome, everyone was really friendly and my nerves left
instantly.
“I was placed with three different teams over the
week, each team was unique but what I noticed was how they all to worked
together to achieve the customers' needs.
“During my time with
the teams I was assigned to a particular individual, who took time away
from their busy schedules to explain in detail what they do day to day.
They also allowed me to shadow them during meetings, shop floor visits
and presentation reviews in order for me to appreciate the whole
process. As you can imagine there was a lot of information to take in,
however, as the week progressed everything made more sense, it gave me
the opportunity to really understand how the company provides whole life
support for customers in the gas turbine industry.
One
of the most important things for me, which I am sure is the same for
most Service leavers, is that my confidence grew. Behind all the anxiety
of leaving the RAF after 12 years was the realisation that
opportunities exist to work for a professional company like Assystem UK.
“My advice? Be pro-active! Have a positive mind set and put in as much effort as you can to prove that you have what it takes.
“I
would highly recommend Assystem UK for a work placement, to anyone who
wants to pursue engineering after leaving the services.
“Finally
I would like to say thank you to Assystem UK, Kerry Barham and Rob
Matthews for organising the week and to all the teams/individuals for
giving me their time during the week. I can’t emphasise enough how
valuable this opportunity was.”
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