Careers

It is inevitable, in providing information and advice about careers, that the emphasis should appear to be on those in business and industry. This is because such work is more remote from the lives of the majority of Public Schoolboys, who are probably accustomed to meeting representatives of the more traditional professions and so finding out informally about the work and opportunities in these professions. As far as industrial careers are concerned, there are three methods of providing the right sort of information by giving boys direct experience or by bringing them into contact with a wide range of people who can share the benefits of their long experience.

The first method is one-day visits by parties of boys. These are valuable both for those thinking of industrial careers and also to broaden the education of those who will never go into industry. They do, essentially, give a very superficial impression of the companies concerned, but they do at least show those who have never seen a large factory before what to expect as an environment if they ever go into industry. Two such visits were arranged during the Easter term, one to Dorman Long's new rolling mill at Lackenby, near Middlesbrough, and the second to the headquarters of RollsRoyce at Derby.

The second method is the Short Works Course. During the Easter holidays ten boys from this School, out of sixteen who applied, were offered places on Courses which ranged from banking through electrical, mechanical and civil engineering to chemicals and iron and steel. All these boys were given a thorough introduction to the organisations they joined for about a week, and it helped them greatly to clarify their ideas about the future. For some years we have not had many applicants for these Courses but it is hoped that from now on we shall always have a good response. Full details of the Courses for the Summer holidays can now be seen in the Careers Room and applications should be made as soon as possible.

The third method is to attend a General Course, where a wide range of careers is put before the boys and where they can discuss points raised by the speakers. Each Raster the Public Schools' Appointments Bureau arranges a Course at Ashridge College and one in Manchester. The Ashridge Course is specifically designed to show to the non-scientific boy where he can fit into the world of commerce. This Course takes place in very pleasant surroundings, in a large country house surrounded by three hundred acres of gardens. This year two senior boys from the School attended and found that, apart from the very pleasant time they had there, they were given a great deal to think about and that it was possible to spend a good deal of their time discussing their problems with one another and with representatives of business and the Bureau. The 15

Manchester Course is designed specifically for science students and mixes talks and discussions with visits to factories to see the practical side of industry. This year, for the first time, one senior boy from this School attended the Manchester Course.

Accounts follow of visits to Dorman Long and Rolls-Royce and of the Ashridge and Manchester Courses.

VISIT TO DORMAN LONG, MIDDLESBROUGH.

For those of us who had never been inside a steel works before, entering the Dorman Long factory was like entering a new world. The most poignant first impression was of the noise of machines, which was both deafening and unceasing.

The brute power of the rollers which transformed red hot steel ingots into girders of varying shapes and lengths was awe-inspiring. This awe, however, was somewhat tempered after we had seen the ease and precision with which these giants were controlled. The sight of a flaming hot steel girder thundering under the control platform and being stopped at the touch of a switch typified many aspects of the mill.

After a very fine lunch in the factory canteen the party returned, with their guides, to the rolling mill and watched steel cables being produced. All the cables for the new Forth Bridge are being made here.

The visit to the steel furnaces was most spectacular, especially as we were able to see a furnace "tapped". In this operation the whole furnace is tilted, and this enabled us to look, through coloured glass, into the very heart of the furnace. The blazing heat and the leaping flames issuing from this cauldron of liquid steel conjured up pictures of Dante's Inferno. When the furnace is tilted sufficiently, the molten steel is poured out into gigantic buckets suspended from cranes which move along tracks built high in the roof of the building. Showers of sparks reaching high into the air accompany this part of the procedure. When full, the buckets are swung over moulds, into which the steel is poured. The furnaces were kept charged with molten iron which was brought by rail from the neighbouring iron works.

The visit came all too quickly to an end but nevertheless in a short time we had all learned a good deal about the practical side of steel manufacture. This visit was an undoubted success and our thanks are extended to those who made it so.

T.E.H.S.

VISIT TO ROLLS-ROYCE, DERBY.

This visit was to the principal works and development centre of Rolls-Royce, Ltd., at Derby. Here they concentrate on the manufacture of aero engines, car manufacture being carried on at the Crewe works. The importance of Rolls-Royce in the economy of 16

the country can be gauged by the fact that, outside the Iron Curtain, more than half the world's civil aircraft are powered by Rolls-Royce engines.

R. G. Bruce, having been to the firm on a summer school and living in Derby, found our destination quite easily. This was a relatively small building, housing the Apprentice Training School. As we were early, we were allowed to look round this establishment and see boys of our own ages being instructed in the use of various pieces of engineering machinery. We saw them turning, milling and grinding odd looking lumps of metal, which we understood were all parts that could be used in the industry. Everyone entering the firm has to learn the basis of the engineering trade in this school, no matter what branch he intends to enter. They regard practical engineering knowledge as essential. We even saw the boys learning to shape tin sheet and turning out perfect oilcans.

After this somewhat impromptu tour we had a short lecture on the sort of people Rolls-Royce wanted for their work and they emphasised that, although a student was acceptable after university, they would prefer him to go to them for a year before university. A few Arts students were accepted but mainly students with Advanced Level in Physics and Mathematics were taken. It was emphasised that even at the top of the Company the directors had to have a detailed technical knowledge of the engines they were selling, when millions of pounds were involved.

Our first scheduled visit was to the engine test beds, where we were told numerous details about engines, such as consumption, thrust, and shaft horse power. Huge fans more than 20 feet across pumped in the vast quantities of air the engines required for combustion. We saw three types of engine being made at Derby : the Dart, a turbo-prop, the Conway, a by-pass jet, and the Avon, a pure jet.

Our next stop was for lunch at one of the works canteens. We had an excellent meal and were almost immediately rushed off to the newest plant in the works.

A short lecture told us roughly that the plant was designed to simulate the flight of an engine in a plane without actually putting the engine in the air. In the plant they find out how an engine behaves under the varying conditions of flight. This means varying the inlet temperature and pressure and exhaust temperature and pressure. This may sound simple but in practice, as we were shown, it costs £6,500,000. The essentials of the plant were compressors for a giant refrigeration unit to supply sub-zero temperature air, desiccators for drying the air to prevent icing at these temperatures, and coolers to cool the exhaust gases. The plant was erected in just over three years and holds test cells for two engines. When the 17

engines are running the plant costs £1,200 an hour to run. Enough heat is generated to heat the whole of Derby, could it only be harnessed.

We then moved on to the foundry where we saw the casting of alloy parts and from there to the assembly room, where engines were being put together. One engine costs in the region of £250,000 and there are many intricate parts. These are all accurately machined and even X-rayed for flaws. We had not a great deal of time to spend here, as tea was waiting and the hour was late.

In all we saw many aspects of engine manufacture and learnt a great deal. We could not hope to see all, but what was presented to us was readily assimilated by the party. We left, very impressed with the huge scale of the whole project, and having had a very enjoyable day. We had walked miles, but it was certainly worth a few sore feet.

I.T.P.

THE ASHRIDGE COURSE

This three-day course, entitled "Some Careers in Administration", had promised to be at best merely a cleverly disguised form of school. On arrival, however, at this country house about thirty miles northwest of London, it quickly became evident that we were to live in the lap of luxury : there was every facility for our enjoyment, including a bar, where we could discuss our careers problems over a drink with the visiting speakers or the staff of the Public Schools' Appointments Bureau.

The main business of the course was a series of talks by various businessmen on those aspects of industry and commerce which had openings for the Arts student. Great emphasis was laid on the fact that the non-technical man was still assured of a place in many vital activities, such as personnel management, marketing, and general administration. In many of these jobs it was not so much a matter of whether you "liked to work with people" as whether people liked to work with you. This question of what qualities were looked for in the prospective businessman cropped up frequently : a personnel manager, for instance, from the British-American Tobacco Company made it clear that the overseas career was not for those who "on the whole thought that foreign countries were a mistake". And one thing which was universally agreed to be essential in a successful businessman was—"guts".

All in all, for most of the hundred or so public schoolboys present this was an interesting and enjoyable way of gaining an insight into the big wide world of industry and commerce, and of seeing in what direction we can best employ our talents in it.