Robert St Clair

Who Am I?

I grew up with motorsport and engineering, and I was fascinated by the thrills of Formula 1 and learning all the minute details of how computers, cars and trains worked.

I made it through university and got a BSc in Computer Aided Engineering but didn’t understand what was needed to get the perfect job, so I ended up with a career in IT.

Fast forward several years, I’ve had a good career but the itch for engineering was back. Determined, I decided to complete a master's in mechanical engineering with the Open University.

I’m proud of my achievements in IT and in restoring rare classic cars, solving the seemingly impossible along the way.

What did I get out of GEEP?

Imagine if an alien landed on Earth and we tried to make them play cricket as they stepped out their spaceship. That is how baffling job adverts, applications, CVs, career days, assessment centres and, worst of all, interviews are to someone like me. After making a complete hash of my engineering career first time around, I knew I needed help to avoid the same mistakes this time. When I saw the message explaining what GEEP was, I signed up straight away, as I knew I was lacking in these key career skills and everything I had tried just had not worked.

A few years back I was diagnosed as autistic. The world had never added up and I just felt awkward! Small talk was difficult and trying to understand how to fit into a world where the rules made no sense was tough. Any new situation for someone neurodiverse is daunting and turning on my webcam for that first online session took effort, but it paid off as every new nugget of advice and story of success got me re-evaluating my approach. To my complete astonishment, the part I ended up enjoying the most was the in-person events, as I felt I was meeting friends for the first time. I graduated from the programme in July 2024, just in time to successfully apply to the graduate schemes I was aiming for during my degree course.

What would I say to a student or a recent graduate who is considering joining GEEP?

You might know how intelligent, hardworking, personable or confident you are, but do you know how to show your perfect future employer those qualities? There’s an important mantra about not knowing what you don’t know, and do you know the obstacles and pitfalls to avoid in getting to that next stage of you career and life?

Until I joined GEEP I made several incorrect assumptions about who I was and how to show companies what value I could bring them. The clue was there all along, as the word “company” actually means a group of people, and in this case they spend a lot of time together trying to achieve the same goals. In the short space of time at each stage of the recruitment process for a single job, you need to be able to show how well you will fit and you need to find out how well they might fit you!

When another perfect job came around, I aced the interview, because GEEP had given me the tools and confidence to present myself in a way they understood. This was a seemingly impossible task for me when I first tried, until I was able to absorb what the GEEP programme, and the experiences of the people involved, had to offer. Instead of stumbling over those unexpected obstacles, I flew past them. I’ve never been prouder than to learn to understand myself enough to earn a place on the graduate programme with BAE Systems.

Success stories

GEEP has supported many successful graduates and has proven just how valuable it is at kickstarting engineering careers. Read about other participants were once in your position and how they've completed the programme and have gained so much from it.