Andrew Forrest, Innovative Design Lead at Rolls Royce, joined Year 11 this week (via Teams) to explain how he has come to work for one of the most innovative and recognisable UK based engineering companies.  Andrew now works on designing and producing technological solutions to decarbonising the economy and working towards a net zero carbon future.

Andrew demonstrated that he has a career he enjoys but he had to work really hard to get there, often struggling with Maths skills. He demonstrated resilience by completing a Foundation year at university, to bring his mathematical skills up to the level required for his chosen degree course, and stated that now he might have opted for a more hands-on apprenticeship route.  For those interested in engineering as a career there are multiple routes to success.

Andrew’s career has taken him all over Europe and given him opportunities to work with people from many different backgrounds and cultures.  He stated that in STEM careers, teamwork and communication are the two primary keys to his success.

As part of the presentation Andrew was able to give two top tips for applying for jobs.  Firstly, research the company you want to work for and what they do.  Secondly, make sure you present a professional-looking error-free CV – at Rolls Royce they have a piece of software that checks CV for typos, weeding out those candidates!