As promised, here's part two of my 'all about me' blog post. I'm hoping that if you're reading this post, you found part one helpful, and I hope that part two can help explain the things that I did outside of school and work experience wise to help me throughout my aviation journey so far.
Work Experience
My family have always been big on teaching my sister and I that we need to work hard for what we want. For that reason, I've always tried my best to make the most of every opportunity I've been given and try as many different things as I can. I wouldn't say that one of my work experiences has benefitted me more than others in my time training so far, but I have used the different skills that I have learnt from each to help me, so I thought I would discuss this during this post.
In the summer of 2015, I shadowed the Sports Physiotherapist and worked with the first team at Gillingham Football Club for a week. During this week I really learnt the value of teamwork and humility, realising that no matter how naturally talented or well-trained you are, there's always room for improvement.
When I turned 16 I gained my ASA Level 1 Swimming Assistant (Teaching), and I taught kids, of all different ages and abilities to swim, for several years. This really helped my communication skills and my situational awareness as I had to always know what was going on around me in the pool.
I completed Health & Safety Risk Assessments for Amazing SPAce Day Spa which, along with swim teaching, helped me to understand and value the importance of safety regulations and procedures.
In 2016, I had a Christmas job working in Santa’s Grotto at Bluewater, where I worked shifts of up to 11 hours, switching in between roles, with different teams. This job really taught me hard work, dedication, team work and customer service. These skills were also enhanced during my work as a waitress and bartender, for weddings at the Knowle Country House, and during my time as a waitress at a pub in Devon during the summer of 2018.
I secured the opportunity to do work experience at Rochester Airport and have been involved in discussions regarding the upcoming redevelopment of the airport to include a new paved-runway, control tower, hangers and Heritage Centre. This opportunity gave me an insight into the aviation world and sparked my interest in airport development and management. This in turn led me consider CAE as my flight training provider of choice even more so, as they offered me the chance to do a degree in Air Transport Management with Airline Pilot Training alongside my training.
Rochester Airport Ltd - redevelopment plans.
I have permission to be posting these ☺️
The point of me listing all of these experiences, and what they taught me is that it isn't just aviation related work experience that I have benefited from. You can develop skills from a wide variety of different jobs and experiences that can be beneficial. Over the years, all of the small jobs I have done here and there have enhanced skills such as communication, team work and situational awareness; all skills I can bring to the flight deck. For this reason, when people ask me what type of work experience to do, it's hard for me to recommend a specific job, as you can learn valuable skills in a wide variety of roles.