"There really isn’t much of a typical day as a graduate – each day is completely different!"
My interest in defence started through my dad who also worked in the industry – I was introduced to the world of defence through air shows and work experience on flight simulators. I grew my passion and knowledge for the trade through my choice of geography, politics and international relations degree at university, enabling me to scour both curriculums to choose modules most suited to my interests; remote control warfare, defence and security governance, military change in the 21st century…etc.
Throughout my studies I, unsurprisingly, had my eye set on the defence sphere for a career – which is what drew me to Babcock initially. Hearing about the highly varied critical operations undertaken by this company captured my attention and satisfied my diverse interest in the defence sector as a whole but divided my interest in which path I wanted to take. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, and there were a lot of options!
However, the graduate scheme opened doors to all these avenues, offering a unique opportunity to travel around the business and take part in different programmes, learning what I want in a role and where best to go for that next opportunity. I chose Babcock’s Land Sector specifically as it has a wide range of operations and enabled me to travel more to completely different parts of the country for new people, new experiences, and new areas of the defence world to explore.
There really isn’t much of a typical day as a graduate – each day is completely different! But if I were to sum it up, I would say each day has elements of learning about the business within role and at new sites, connecting with others and sharing experiences to learn more about the company and yourself, and undertaking hard but engaging tasks which challenge you but allows you to develop and grow as a young professional.
Hands-down, seeing the result of something I have worked on. Whether it’s a heartfelt thank you from a colleague for taking up a quick task when they have a lot on their plate, partaking in the efforts on a challenging end-to-end operation which resulted in delivery to the customer on time, or seeing the product you work on every day make national news for helping to create a safe and secure world – all these make up my favourite part of my job.
My biggest challenge at Babcock has been handling tasks and priorities coming in from all directions during particularly busy periods, I can have multiple managers giving tasks and it can be tough to handle expectations and remember all the tasks day to day! However, the longer I have been in the business, the more I have learned from my graduate buddies, mentors, and managers – as well as a bit of self-teaching. Today I still have challenging days, but also, I have a number of tools and processes I can employ to help me cope. By effectively managing challenges and setbacks, I can feel more achievement and accomplishment than the early days!
