Early Careers team and Exec team together

As an Early Careers graduate at NATS, there’s been a huge amount to learn and get involved in since joining the cohort last year. As a Direct Entry Graduate (DEG) on the Early Careers scheme, I was allocated a role in the Safety Performance department – an area close to my heart as I’ve always wanted to work within aviation safety. I’m spending two years learning the skills and ‘on the job’ knowledge to succeed in a career in this field.

As well as the training and upskilling we undertake as DEGs, we also get opportunities to hone our abilities in areas such as team working, collaboration and leadership. One of the key activities the cohort take part in each year is a charity fundraiser, and this year it was our turn to organise a month of fundraising events in June.

We were inspired to support an aeronautical charity locally, that many of us have links to, not least from our various roles at NATS. With that in mind, we chose to support the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA). The charity’s values struck a chord with our own – they promote key skills, such as providing an exceptional service and sharing knowledge; it seemed an obvious choice to support such a worthy cause.

We set out to complete a ‘Steps to Save’ challenge, where the entire business was encouraged to log activity to reach 50 million steps for charity sponsorship. We wanted to raise enough money to fund a helicopter rescue mission, which is around £3,300. Steps to Save was a good starting point, but we felt there was more we could do to raise funds.

Some of our team completed a sponsored climb of Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), another organised a 19-hour relay challenge where, in teams of two, they walked, jogged or ran the distance between our two Hampshire offices and back before handing over to another duo. Other activities included a simulator experience of flying the HIOWAA helicopter, lunchtime quiz sessions, bake sales and hosting first aid and CPR sessions. The latter of which I ran across our two Hampshire-based sites.

In my spare time, I volunteer as a community first aider and trainer, and I share a personal philosophy with HIOWAA; to train as many people as possible in basic first aid skills. I’ve also been working on achieving a similar target in my hometown. It was important to me to share this knowledge across the business, as you never know one day, it could just save a life.

As I reflect on the hard work of the challenges in June, it’s clear that as a cohort, we were able to build relationships and bond over our joint fundraising efforts, and it gave many of us an opportunity to meet people from different areas of the business – something that’s always worthwhile.

With the final cash donations counted, and a successful application to our internal funding scheme, the Community Fund, being added; the final figure shows that we raised £4,473 – enough to fund the helicopter mission and some additional equipment for the charity to use. A great achievement for a great cause.

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