Cathay Pacific recruits engineering graduates for a programme that teaches technical and commercial aspects Engineering graduates have the opportunity to launch a career in aviation with Hong Kong-based international airline Cathay Pacific. Engineering students do not receive any specific aviation training during their studies so the carrier launched an engineering trainee programme 20 years ago. Choosing from 800 to 1,000 applications, the yearly intake ranges from five to eight trainees on average, with graduates working for Cathay Pacific or its subsidiary Dragonair. The programme recruits fresh engineering graduates or those who have one to two years of working experience. Up to 70 per cent of the applicants are from local universities, such as the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which have related engineering courses. 'We only recruit graduates with proper engineering training during their tertiary studies,' said Darryl Chan, head of engineering at Dragonair. 'Trainees need to have a basic foundation in order to enhance their learning during the programme.' Other than academic requirements, applicants need to possess excellent communication and language skills, including English, Cantonese and Putonghua. A good sense of business management is sought and applicants need to be able to work as part of a team and be good leaders. 'We have made some changes in the 2008 programme,' Mr Chan said. 'Previously, our programme concentrated on the technical aspects, but we added business and commercial training into last year's programme as a strong commercial sense is also essential for further development in this industry.' The 33-month programme includes training for a formal aircraft general familiarisation course, business training and team projects. Other than classroom training, the programme includes on-the-job training with rotations in different functional sections in the engineering department. Trainees are sent to Hongkong Aircraft Engineering Company (Haeco) and Taikoo (Xiamen) Aircraft Engineering Company (Taeco) to understand the practical operations of the department. 'After completing the programme, trainees can enter the commercial stream or the technical stream,' said Joyce Cheung, personnel manager for Hong Kong ground staff at Cathay Pacific. 'Their ability and performance during the training process determines the stream they join.' For trainees chosen to develop in the commercial stream, they start as a business executive. They then move up to assistant manager before finally being promoted to management level. As for the technical stream, graduates start their career as an assistant engineer, followed by promotions to engineer and senior engineer before entering the management level. The selection process starts with interviews and group discussions in which the communication and language skills of applicants are assessed. The second stage consists of a presentation related to engineering or airplanes and numerical tests for applicants to display their knowledge in the area. Finally, selected applicants are invited to attend a final interview with senior managers in the engineering department. 'Applicants must have an interest in the aviation industry,' Ms Cheung said. 'You should be yourself during the process as interviewers choose applicants who are a best-fit for the company.' Wendy Wong and Ma Chi, graduates from the 2004 engineering trainee programme, joined the scheme because of their deep interest in aviation engineering. 'As an engineering student, I wanted to contribute to this industry,' said Ms Wong, a planning engineer. 'When I started the programme, the most challenging thing was memorising the technical terms and acronyms that I had never seen before. But I soon overcame this obstacle. This programme gives a lot of learning opportunities and space for us.' Mr Ma, a technical services engineer, said: 'The company puts a lot of resources into the programme and includes on-the-job training at Haeco in Hong Kong, which I enjoyed a lot. There were examinations and rotations in different departments, so we were able to understand the whole operation and get to meet more of our colleagues.'