Work Experience Student Review

The work experience involved a combination of virtual and physical experience within British Airways’ engineering, and within this, it involved events like developing dexterity skills (which is required later as an engineer), enhancing your LinkedIn profile, visiting hangars to see two planes (the B777 and the A380), visiting the headquarters at Waterside to interact with active staff members from various background, whether it be pilots or financial officers, and so on. Virtually, we were able to hone and develop our presentation skills, which I found it to be very useful, especially when in the future, you’re in an environment where interaction with colleagues is paramount.

I learnt to work in an environment where co-ordination and communication were paramount to completing tasks, and I was able to develop these particular skills within this work experience the most. Moreover, I was able to enhance my ability to work as part of a team, and within this team, was equipped with specialised skills which I developed, such as dexterity skills, which is vital to have (especially during cabling wires). Within the virtual aspect of it, I learnt about how to effectively manage your LinkedIn profile in order to attract the most views, and gain the most opportunities out of it. Presentation skills was also an instrumental skill which I learnt, and was most prominently used towards the end, where we all had to give a presentation about certain aspects in BA engineering.

As an aviation enthusiast, it has been a lifelong passion to pursue and get to be involved within the aviation industry. Being offered a place on this BA work experience programme has been a huge honour, to say the least, and I thoroughly enjoyed being surrounded by different aircraft which make up the United Kingdom’s flag carrier, whilst also indulging in the more technical aspects of it. As an avid mathematician, it was very interesting to attain the engineers’ viewpoints about the maths involved in solving technical issues within an aircraft, and how maths can be utilised in almost any field within engineering. But overall, I really enjoyed this work experience.

Overall, I would say that it has been pretty seamless - from the efficient pass handout systems, to the fantastic classrooms allocated to us engineering work experience students, I personally did not encounter any problems with this system. The engineers who were allocated to guide us were also two lovely people - one who was in the same position as us a few years ago, the other a veteran in both his fields of engineering. A culmination of fresh and young versus the experienced and experts allowed me to fully get a good insight on how the culture of BA works and was established. But all in all, there were little to no problems with the organising of the work experience.

Having had the privilege of witnessing a new group of flight attendants graduate really entitled me to a sense of belonging and being ingrained within the BA community, and this was only possible due to the immaculately arranged work experience we had at Waterside (BA HQ). Moreover, having two student ambassadors who were also once like us representing the BA community inspired me to further manipulate my studies to pursue a career where I can also be part of this tightly-packed British airways community.

To be honest, I was already very assured as to my future career path, so it was because of this passion that I actually applied for this work experience in the first place. However, this work experience has made it all the more sure that this is the career that I want to pursue, because by simply being part of the British Airways community, it has cemented my passion even deeper than it was, so I am very thankful for that.

For this work experience, I was not paid nor was I reimbursed. However, the experiences which I have gained from this placement have been priceless and truly out of this world, and I would, in a heartbeat, agree to revisit this work experience once again, if provided with the opportunity to do so.

With the outgoing engineers and pilots we met, there were definitely plenty networking opportunities available for students to take. I was fortunate enough to be provided with this aspect of networking, as it not only enhances my LinkedIn profile for others to view (and for credibility), but also networking allows me to gain valuable experiences from these mentors, and can hopefully guide me in the direction I need to take.

Yes

In life, if you are unsure of what to do, I think it would be worth a try to explore all possible avenues, and what better way to do that than via BA? Within BA, there are so many different routes you can take, and it doesn’t even have to involve engineering. For instance, you can be a financial officer, who overlooks the company’s financial position, or you could be a customer service agent, perhaps you could even be a chef - the possibilities are so vast! Especially with a versatile airline like British airways, there are many career paths you can take into working at British airways, and there are so many chances and places for you to enjoy and make great memories, just as I did.

Always be passionate in what you do. For me, it was passion that drove me to take the initiative to apply for BA, it was passion that inspired me to research about the company’s history and it was passion that made me reach out and grab all the opportunities available. You have to be able to emulate this passion into your projects when applying, and into words too. Not only will this help in your application with British airways, but in the grand scheme of things, it could potentially help you with your future job applications (hopefully with BA!).