The career development sessions included one from MentorSET's Jan West, who spoke about the benefits of mentoring for both the mentor and mentee.

 

Victoria Hodges, a rocket scientist from Astrium Ltd, was presented with the 2009 Very Early Career Award, sponsored by Shell at the Institute of Physics on 27 May.
 
Victoria is currently working on GAIA, one of the European Space Agency's cornerstone projects, due to be launched in 2012, which all involved hope, once construction is completed, will be able to map the billion or so stars in our galaxy and the local group.
 
"Once the satellite is in space its position and orientation has to be controlled, a bit like driving a car, but it's not possible or desirable to do this in real-time.  You have to make the spacecraft autonomous to overcome the gap between sending a signal and the satellite receiving it, while this is only around 5 seconds for Gaia, this is a long period of time for a spacecraft!  A big part of my team's challenge is being able to control the satellite accurately to within less than a degree (and in some phases of the mission less than a few arcseconds!) of the desired orientation - imagine trying to control the line along which you drive a car on the road to this level of accuracy!"
 
 

 

When my partner was accepted onto a year's training course in New Zealand, I jumped at the chance to join him.  One of the reasons I chose Civil Engineering as a career was because of the overseas opportunities, and this gave me the perfect excuse to kickstart my plan into action.
 
I attended a New Zealand expo fair in London with all manner of firms trying to recruit us 'pommes' or sell their services to help the journey down under.  I took along my CV and gave a copy to the Fletcher Construction stand.  Within a couple of weeks we'd arranged an interview in London, and shortly afterwards I was offered a position as a Site Engineer.  Many firms offer to pay air fares, visa and relocation costs as long as you negotiate a minimum contract of two years.  I didn't choose this option but was still offered plenty of help from selecting the appropriate visa to being picked up from the airport!
 
Fletcher Construction is a major player in New Zealand, perhaps similar in scale to the UK's Balfour Beatty.  I work in the fourth largest city, Hamilton in the central North Island.  I'm based on the Waikato Hospital Emergency Department project, which is quite a complex project as after building commenced, the Client increased the scope from two storeys to four!
 
You may have heard that the Kiwi lifestyle is very laid back ... you heard correctly!  At first the slow pace could be frustrating, but it is surprising how quickly you slide into place and reap the benefits the work-life balance this lifestyle lends.  On site we have a great team culture with lots of social and sporting events - there is even talk of getting a site BBQ!
 
On first arriving here I was amazed at the outstanding natural beauty New Zealand has to offer.  I'd heard it was a picturesque country but I didn't realise this meant absolutely everywhere would be so beautiful.  The top of our site has wonderful views of lakes, mountains, rivers, rolling hills and bush. I love spending time being surrounded by this scenery and spend my weekends exploring as much as I can and engaging in outdoor activities such as mountain biking, kayaking, surfing, skiing etc and I'm even planning on a sky dive next month.
 
I would whole-heartedly recommend working in New Zealand, the lifestyle has offered me a new perspective and given me an experience I'll never forget. 
 

And finally....

If you have any articles you would like to have featured please contact the WES office  by clicking here.

We'd love to hear your stories of your schools outreach activities or ideas to inpsire young people that we can share across our community.

 

 

 

 The British Engineering Excellence Awards

 

 

 Are you a female engineer who has made an outstanding contribution within the engineering profession?
 
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is calling all top female engineers to enter the 2009 Young Woman Engineer of the Year competition.

 

 

To apply or find out more please visit the IET 

Deadline for applications: 31 July 2009.

Our 'Personal Brand' is the emotional fingerprint we leave on others. How do people describe you? Successful, leader and trustworthy or are you someone who is described as technical, disorganised and unassuming. Body language, posture, clothes, facial expression, accessories are all part of the package.

Colleagues and acquaintances already sum you up in a few words. Your emotional fingerprint is also your 'reputation'. Are you aware of how others describe you? Or are you sabotaging your personal brand through ignorance or naivety. If you were a supermarket - what kind of supermarket would you be? Lidl or Waitrose?

So how do you distinguish yourself from the competition and really get noticed? The key to developing a confident personal brand is authenticity and self-awareness. How we are judged by other is based on a whole host of subconscious decisions. Most of us a highly attuned to picking up fake behaviour. So faking it is a massive brand saboteur. You have to be true to your real self and then apply skills to make a better impression.

So what are you brand values?
 
For further information contact Salma Shah, Founder of Beyond  
by clicking here