When Kai Benshabat left school at 15, his parents made it clear that this didn’t mean he could sit at home all day. With his father being an engineer, Kai began researching college courses in the subject. He enrolled on a foundation course at a local college. Four years later he left with a HND in Mechanical Engineering.
Being from Aberdeen, Kai regularly applied for jobs in the oil and gas industry but kept getting rejected for lack of experience. This prompted him to continue in education and he headed to Edinburgh Napier to study for his undergraduate degree in Mechatronics. Due to his prior qualifications, Kai was offered advanced entry into third year, but he made the choice to join as a second-year student instead.
“First of all, I wanted to be a uni student. But I also wanted to take the time to learn more about electronics because that is something I didn’t know much about. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made. It let me get up to speed with the elements that my college course didn’t cover.”
Kai undertook a two-week work placement in the summer between second and third year. This was a good opportunity to gain insights into office life, but it made Kai realise that he had to come out of his shell a bit more. He joined the student rugby team despite never having played a team sport before. He did quite well and made the second team. The sport encouraged open communication and developed leadership skills - if someone made a mistake, they were expected to raise their hand and admit it.
When it came time to decide what to do after university, Kai rejected the idea of joining a graduate scheme and instead started investigating internships. He knew he wanted to work at General Electric (GE), but he didn’t know the area he wanted to work in. Kai didn’t want to commit to a graduate scheme and be locked in to working within a specific area.
Kai moved to England to join General Electric’s internship programme as a member of the Research and Development department. There were 80 or so interns in total based across the site and Kai quickly noticed a problem. No one talked to one another.
Only two months into the role and Kai was presenting to the head of General Electric’s graduate and internship scheme about the need to start an internship committee. The committee would go on to organise educational and social events, and even visits to other GE sites. Many of the interns got involved and this gave Kai vital experience in managing different work styles and personalities – experience he can use as evidence when applying for his chartership. The initiative has continued, and Kai remains a mentor to the current committee.
“I recommend internships as a way to gain experience. But then again there were people who didn’t make anything of the internship. They wouldn’t speak to anyone or would go home at weekends. The whole point of an internship is to network, speak to people and to get to know what people are doing on other projects to figure out what you want to do. You need to realise that this is an opportunity.
“Also, not everyone will have always worked for the company you’re at. They will have knowledge of other potential employers and can give you advice. Ask for a mentor as well.”
The next career step for Kai was to join the
Edison Engineering Development Program – General Electric’s graduate scheme. The head of the scheme, who Kai presented to about forming the internship committee, encouraged him to apply.
The programme lasts two years and participants take on three rotations during their time. Kai’s first role was in hardware. He worked with test equipment, building a test lab for a power system. The second and third rotations offer more choice. Kai wanted more experience in software and is currently working on software that is used on a military fighter jet. He’ll spend his third rotation in the commercial operations department.
Connect with Kai on LinkedIn.
Kai offers his advice to anyone looking to secure their first graduate role
“A company’s culture is extremely important. I used to only think about the pay, but culture is what you’re living every day. If you don’t enjoy the culture, then you are going to hate the work. If you’re researching a company, look at their morals and beliefs.
Before you apply for a job or have an interview read up on the role. Maybe contact someone on LinkedIn to find out a bit more about what they do day to day.“