As part of his Presidential visit to the South West in February, Peter Hansford attended a Graduates and Students event put together by the Plymouth G&S committee.
Becoming a Member
The focus of the evening was Mike Thorn’s (ICE South West Membership Development Officer) excellent talk on ‘Routes to Membership’. Mike gave a wide variety of tips on how to progress from Graduate to Member, including pinpointing distractions that could be avoided to help progress quicker.
President gets a grilling!
Also at the event, ICE President Peter Hansford and President’s Apprentice Paul Astle each spoke about their background and how they’ve achieved their respective roles. They then sportingly agreed to be grilled by the Graduates and Students on the topics important to them. They provided first rate answers to some well thought-out questions, including whether the routes to membership vary abroad and how to find work in the current climate.
How to get ahead
The panel couldn’t emphasise enough how Students and Grads should seize opportunities and look for ways to convey their enthusiasm for engineering. Some of the suggestions included:
- Get involved with activities outside of your course or job, such as attending talks and organising events for local ICE groups
- Become a STEM ambassador
- Volunteer for organisations like EWB
- Take time to understand what is happening in the wider industry through publications such as NCE
- Be prepared to be flexible, like going to engineering sectors that are in demand and looking at opportunities abroad
Get involved
Your local G&S Group is a great way to get involved, engage with people from engineering companies, other specialisms and locations, to share knowledge, socialise and network! New volunteers are always welcome; if you want to organise or get involved with some fun and interesting events, simply get in touch with your ICE region.