2. Pre BA
Page 2
Applied for over 20 placements in 2nd year.
Had assessment centre at BA, and interviews for others.
Job offer for Head Office Industrial Placement at British Airways!
3. Placement Students Open Day
August 2015
Page 3
Great chance to meet other Business Placement students for the first time and
find out which areas each of us were in!
Also a quick tour of Waterside (head office), Engineering hangars and Heathrow
Terminal 5.
4. Induction week
September 2015
Page 4
Opportunity to get to know each other.
More info about BA and the aviation industry, as well as the placement scheme.
Also, a volunteer day at a local animal sanctuary which gave us the chance to
work in teams.
5. Day 1 in my team
September 2015
Page 5
I met my Performance team and broader Organisational Effectiveness team and
found out more about what the next 11 months had in store for me.
6. Competency Framework pilot
October 2015
Page 6
This pilot gave people information and tried to market a taster held in the HR
department for the Competency Framework in the build up to the launch.
It’s main purpose was to see how it went down with colleagues and an
opportunity for questions as well to give us further guidance on what we can
do to improve in preparation to the launch.
7. New York… twice!
October/November 2015
Page 7
It’s not everyday you get a call from your
manager asking you to drop plans and go to
New York tomorrow…
I took the opportunity and packed my bags,
met two colleagues from my team at
Heathrow T5 the next day and we were off.
The guys based in 2 Park Avenue
were impressed with the work I done
so I was invited back to New York a
couple of weeks later!
October 2015 – empire state
November 2015
– Times Square
8. Page 8
Team away day - Windsor
November 2015
Straight after New York, its fair to say I was slightly jet
lagged… However, I soldiered on and got to my team’s
away day meeting in Windsor. At this away day, we were
lucky enough to be joined by a colleague from the Global
Learning Academy who delivered a brilliant session on
Myers Briggs which gave us huge insight to how each of us
work best.
Another great surprise for my birthday when I came back in
the room was a lovely home made birthday cake from my
team, a creative poem and some presents! What a
worthwhile trip home to be greeted by such a great team.
9. Page 9
First few big projects – related to the Competency Framework Launch
December2015
I worked very closely with the IT delivery team for them to create a development form.
This meant briefing the IT team, regularprogress meetings and testing all the way through to launching the forms
live on the Intranet pages (see below).
1- Competency development form:
I worked very closely with the Internal Communications team who created
an Intranet site for all the Competency Framework documents to sit on.
From briefing (showing what we wanted and how we wanted the site to
look) to regular updates, testing and then analytics of the pages once
launched.
2- Competency Framework Intranet pages:
3- Manager briefing sessions
I was requiredto project manage briefing sessions for over 1000 managers across BA, and work closely with HR
Business Partners to best arrangetheir areas.
The sessions were arranged to communicateand an opportunity for people to ask questions about the
Competency Framework.
10. Page 10
Team away day at LinkedIn head office
December 2015
One of our team away days was in the LinkedIn head office and gave us a great insight into what they do and how
we can benefit from using LinkedIn.
We were also privileged enough to have received the delivery of ‘How to build a great LinkedIn profile’ from BA’s
LinkedIn rep.
11. Page 11
Graduate Christmas ball
December 2015
Being part of the graduate community, a great
opportunity to network with the other Business
Placement Students and Leaders for Business (LfB)
Graduates on a night out in Oxford Street, London.
12. Page 12
Manager on maternity leave and colleague leaving
January/February 2016
At the end of January, my manager, Dawn, went
on maternity leave and this was celebrated with
various gifts for her and her new-born ‘Agatha’.
In early February, it was time to say goodbye to my
close colleague Rachel who was off to the AA (car
company).
13. Page 13
Core competency framework live!
February 2016
The team’s hard work was all launched on the 8th February 2016!
This was a great moment where all the content and hard work we had put into the framework went live and
colleagues finally knew about it; as an article went in BA’s company magazine featuring news around the airline
and keeping colleagues updated.
14. Page 14
Team away day – Flight simulators!
February 2016
The energiser for our away day was on flight sims which
gave us the chance to partner for the simulators which was
a great experience!
The rest of the day was very strategic thinking and a typical
away day thinking about the team’s priorities for upcoming
months.
15. Page 15
Assistance at Business Placement assessment centre
February 2016
In February, I had the opportunity to help out at the next intake of Placement students assessment centre group
activities.
16. Page 16
Learnt how to use Ascend for Performance from admin and user perspective
February/March 2016
Because Rachel left BA, we lost our expertise in Ascend for Performance.
I picked this up from Rachel before she left and mainly learned the system
on-the-job, which was a daunting but exciting experience.
I then dealt with queries, upskilling and close work with our support client
(Aasonn) to create and develop new and improved Performance
Management forms.
Upskill new Performance Management executive in Ascend
March 2016
I needed to train and upskill Rachel’s replacement, which meant a few sessions
teaching how to use the system from admin and end user perspective. This also
meant talking through the process and what we were trying to achieve with
Ascend.
Add pictures of this if available – ta
through Ascend with Karen – mov
previous slide
17. Page 17
Volunteering – Speed Networking for 6th Form/College
students
April 2016
As part of my placement, I was
encouraged to get involved in as much
volunteering and shadowing as I could.
This was a great opportunity to share my
experiences of placement and work-life at
BA for potential future employees.
It also gave me a chance to give
something back to BA.
18. Page 18
Development day - presentation
April 2016
Every quarter, the placement students would and have a development day session based on specific topics; this one was feedback.
This meant getting into groups of 3 and presenting about our placement year and the skills we have developed.
19. Page 19
Shadow a Team Manager in Terminal 3
May 2016
I took the opportunity when my colleague said she knew
someone in Heathrow Terminal 3 to be able to shadow them for
a shift.
This was a valuable experience for me to find out more about
what the operational side of BA looked like and was great to see
what Keith does in his role.
I got involved in some customer service and saw how different it
is to manage people in the terminal and effects it can have on
the organisation.
20. Page 20
Confidence to propose suggestions on Intranet pages
April/May 2016
In April, I started putting together a plan as to how we
were going to tackle the Performance Management
Intranet pages in terms of improving and updating the
pages.
21. Page 21
Prague!
June 2016
One of the perks at BA being staff travel, which gave
myself and 3 friends from our placement the opportunity
to get to Prague on a hotline flight.
A great trip away which concluded placement in style!
22. Page 22
FlyHost shift – Terminal 5
July 2016
Whilst based at head office there is also the opportunity to get
involved to help the operational side of things too.
During the first week of the holidays, colleagues in T5 were
struggling with implementing a new system whilst dealing with
large amounts of customers.
Therefore I volunteered to help out for a shift in the first week of
summer which gave me exposure to real issues in the terminals
which I had to deliver quality customer service to assist in the
best way possible and support the operation.
23. Page 23
UCAS day at Douay Martyrs RC School – mock
interviews/presenting
July 2016
Another volunteer opportunity I was grateful to help
out at was mock interview day and presentations at
Douay Martyrs School.
This was a special moment not only to represent the
brand, but also because it was my old sixth form!
As part of the year 12’s UCAS day, myself and Vicky
spoke to them and gave them an insight into
university life, life at BA on a scheme and general
Q&A’s they had.
24. Page 24
Campus ambassador offer!
July 2016
After presenting to a mock panel of students about the
schemes on offer, I received an offer to be an ambassador
in my final year of studies to represent British Airways
around campus and promote the schemes on offer.
25. Page 25
Final days at British Airways
August 2016
My team had arranged a nice send off for me on my last day, with some
gifts, balloons and a great poem from our resident poet Sara.
A really great send off from a great team!
