Mike Crompton is Engineering Recruitment Manager – Military Air Solutions at BAE Systems. 
BAE Systems is engaged in the development, delivery and support of defence and aerospace systems. BAE is Europe's largest defence company with 88,000 employees in 33 countries around the world
Mike Crompton has worked at BAE Systems for 32 years and is responsible for recruitment, development and retention in engineering to drive business and performance improvement.
How many engineers currently work for BAE Systems and where are they based?
We have marketing offices in 33 countries worldwide, including our international partnerships. We employ 88,000 people, a high proportion of which are engineers. The Military Air Solutions group of BAE Systems is the largest of the UK-based businesses and has employees at 23 locations. Military Air Solutions employs around 5,000 engineers and are currently running a recruitment campaign for over 250 new engineers.
BAE Systems are also the UK’s largest employer of engineering apprentices and have more than 1,000 apprentices currently in training. We also have strategic partnerships with 20 colleges and universities in the UK to build engineering research capabilities and improve graduate recruitment. Last year in the UK, 148 graduates joined our graduate programme as full time employees and 44 students took part in industrial placements as part of their degree.
What are the key attributes you look for when recruiting engineering personnel to BAE Systems?
Engineering is at the heart of our business and BAE Systems’ engineers of all disciplines play a central role in ensuring the delivery of our projects on time, to cost and quality. They are involved in all phases of the life-cycles of our projects - from initial concept, design and development, manufacturing, through to in-service support.
Our engineers work in Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) in our major product streams or may be assigned to one of our specialist Engineering shared service areas.
Wherever they are placed, they will find themselves working in a multi-disciplined environment working alongside staff from other engineering disciplines and a wide variety of other functional backgrounds, such as project management, finance and manufacturing.
We need people who can provide engineering expertise and judgement; deliver high performance; work in multi-disciplined teams; quickly interpret and solve complex problems; evaluate options; and develop others.
How can engineers improve their chances of successfully gaining employment at BAE Systems?
The design, development and support of highly sophisticated military aircraft requires a considerable number of competent and dedicated engineers with an amazing range of skills and knowledge.
Typically, engineers will be qualified to HNC/HND or degree level – or have relevant experience – and you will need a broad and comprehensive understanding of engineering principles, practices and standards. Engineers need to be forever updating or honing their skills and competencies to remain at the forefront of their engineering specialisms and be ready to apply their engineering knowledge and experience in our high technology, fast-moving environment.
Could you give examples of how candidates can impress you?
Candidates who have impressed can clearly articulate their track record of delivering in an engineering role against demanding project or operational goals; often demonstrate that they have carried out some research about our company and understand something about the products and services we provide; have taken some time to prepare in order to be able to explain clearly and concisely their CV and are well prepared to answer technical and competency based questions about their current and previous job roles; and have given some thought about what questions they want to ask about the company and the job position they are applying for.
Candidates can also improve their ability to be successful by using good reading and listening skills during their interactions with the company; by not being afraid to engage in discussion and ask questions if they don’t understand something they are being asked; and by not giving false information about their personal circumstances, qualifications or experience since job offers are normally conditional subject to security clearance, referencing and medical requirements.
What opportunities are there for development within BAE Systems?
We provide a world-class training and development framework and the opportunity to work in different projects and different stages of the engineering lifecycle through an engineer’s career.
For example, in recognition of this, each engineer in BAE Systems not only works on a specific programme or project, but they are also a member of a specific engineering family – or engineering discipline – whose members share similar skills, behaviours and backgrounds etc.
Within engineering there are many ways in which we provide engineering professionals with support in their day to day role and support their longer term development. These include an engineering development toolset dedicated to professional engineers to assist in identifying development needs, enhancing career opportunities and future aspirations; opportunities for continued development through university partnerships, on-line e-learning and internal training; an extensive discipline training and development framework, with the opportunity to work on different projects at different stages of the lifecycle; a central engineering functional team providing governance and engineering support; and an engineering intranet web-site providing tools, information, news and support.
What are the biggest changes that have taken place in the kind of work undertaken – and the kind of skills required – by BAE Systems engineers over the years?
We work across five continents as a prime contractor and systems integrator. Our capabilities combine in-depth skills in naval platforms, military aircraft, electronics, systems integration and other technologies. This enables us to offer complementary capability to international customers across the main defence sectors, the commercial world, and in the civil aircraft market.
Innovation has always been at the heart of our business, and we are very proud of our association with pioneering work in the air, on land, at sea and in space.
Our record encompasses the dawn of flight and the invention of radio, from the days of AV Roe and his first aeroplane; and the wireless operators who saved hundreds by getting the distress signal out from the Titanic. Our heritage companies designed the first submarine in 1886, the first tank during World War I, World War II’s Lancaster bomber and Sherman tank and, of course, the Spitfire.
Our engineers pioneered the development of Harrier, the world’s first Vertical Take Off and Landing Jet aircraft, which revolutionised the way we think about aircraft capability, and Concorde – the world’s first and favourite supersonic passenger jet.
Today, we are still developing firsts, with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, the Bradley family of fighting vehicles, the most advanced Anti-Air Warfare destroyer and the world’s most advanced swing-role combat aircraft, Typhoon.
Moving to the future, one of the most significant changes in the kind of work undertaken is the increase in partnered support with our customers. For example, under ATTAC (Availability Transformation: Tornado Aircraft Contract) BAE Systems will be partnering with the UK MoD’s and the RAF to manage a large element of aircraft support at RAF Marham. This activity will be combined with a structured approach to upgrade work (CDSS – Capability Development and Sustainment Service) to maintain the aircraft’s war-fighting effectiveness throughout its service life. Overall we are responsible for ensuring we provide the required aircraft to the front line when they are needed.
Our work on un-manned air-vehicles aims to increase UK design and manufacturing know-how for a new generation of air vehicles. As well as clear technology challenges and innovations, this work is demanding new approaches to the way engineering is undertaken - ‘rapid engineering’ will significantly speed up the design and development process leading to cost effective solutions for the customer.
Many people imagine much of the work undertaken by BAE is highly secretive, is this really the case, and how does it impact on the way people work at the company?
BAE Systems makes a vital contribution to the products and services used by the UK armed services and as such people working on many of our programmes are required by our customer to be personally cleared to national security standards.
BAE Systems welcomes applicants from non-UK and EEA nationals as long as they have a relevant work visa and where necessary, are able to obtain a work permit.
How do engineers at BAE deal with the ethics of creating equipment for use in combat?
BAE Systems is committed to meeting the highest ethical standards in all its operations.
All exports of defence equipment from the United Kingdom are subject to government export controls and require an export licence.
Every export licence application is treated on an individual basis, having regard to the proposed customer country, the use to which the equipment will be put and security issues. The decision to allow a sale to proceed is made by the UK Government only after careful consideration. Only the Government has the necessary political, trade and other resources to enable a judgement to be made on the suitability of a particular potential customer country.
In the UK many technical organisations are struggling to recruit suitable personnel due to the skills shortage. Is this a problem for BAE Systems?
The need for the current recruitment drive is a result of us having higher levels of confidence in our future workload and having a healthier order book which is driving changing demands in our skill sets and capability area requirements.
As a result, we have been growing our business in a number of sectors. For example, in the Military Air solutions business, we have successfully grown the business by over 1000 people in 2006, over one third of these being engineers and we have similar requirements for 2007. The major emphasis for permanent external recruitment has been within the Engineering, Project Management and Manufacturing functional areas, although there are also a smaller number of opportunities across all other functions within the business.
The recruitment targets have been achieved by using a high profile external campaign which is about us reinforcing our branding within the external market place. This includes a nationwide targeted campaign with an increasing amount of external media advertising to targets our specific skill requirements; including internet, local and national press, radio and walk ins along with recruitment stands at various locations.
What would your advice be to a young person considering a career in engineering?
BAE Systems in the UK offers exciting career opportunities for people with experience in a wide range of professional disciplines; Engineering, Project management, Customer Support, Manufacturing, Commercial, Procurement, Finance, Human Resources and many more.
With over 60 facilities located across the UK and many businesses actively seeking to grow their capabilities to meet new customer opportunities, there has never been a better time or opportunity for you to be part of our ambitious global company. It really can offer you the chance to develop a career working at the leading edge of technology and innovation, and one that you can be proud of.
BAE Facts
· 4th largest global defence company
· No 1 European defence company
· Top 10 US defence company
· 88,000 highly skilled people
· Customers in over 100 countries
· Order book exceeds £31.7 billion
· Annual sales exceed £13.7 billion
· Annual R&D spend exceeds £1.2 billion
· 100 new inventions every year