STG Bright Lights Series: Nadia Griffiths
In our Bright Lights series, we showcase some of our brilliant employees and their experience of working here at STG Aerospace. This time, Nadia Griffiths talks about her role as an Internal Sales Manager at STG after working in a multitude of industries earlier in her career.
After several years working at various companies in every sector you could think of, Nadia stumbled upon a sales role at STG after seeing an advertisement online and decided to take a chance and apply. Although she thought the role sounded like a great fit, Nadia didn’t think too much about it until she received a call to begin the three-step interview process. After a call, an in-person interview and a presentation to senior management, Nadia secured the job.
From working in busy cities such as London, Brighton and Manchester for a number of years to settling in the leafy historic town of Caerleon - close to STG’s headquarters - it was a big leap, but four years have gone by, and Nadia hasn’t looked back.
“I moved to the UK not speaking a word of English and took my first job as an Au Pair looking after a little girl. I learnt a lot during my first role and from then on, I worked in sectors such as medicine, retail, wholesale and automotive, before finding aerospace.
“Apart from my love of getting on an aircraft and flying somewhere in the sun, my knowledge of aerospace wasn’t particularly vast. But after realising I wasn’t going to be tasked with building an aircraft on my first day, the nerves subsided, and I was excited to get my teeth stuck into learning the industry inside out.”
The initial training for new employees is extensive. Each new employee spends time in the various departments of the business to understand the entire operation at STG from internal sales to the operation of getting products out the door. Aerospace as an industry is constantly changing, with frequent updates to regulations, and this, combined with the innovative nature of their work, calls for thorough routine training to ensure employees are clued up.
“Absorbing all the information you are given at the beginning can be daunting and overwhelming, but people are always on hand to support you through your STG journey, so never feel like you have to know everything post training. I surprise myself at times about how much I have learned in the last four years – when I know the answer to a complicated question, I am certainly proud of myself.”
When asked what a normal day might look like for Nadia, she said: “The first thing we do each day is assess the orders and analyse how we are doing for the month against our targets. There is a lot of number crunching and understanding of what is in the pipeline for the months ahead to maintain a steady stream of activity.
“I often look at orders, liaise with the dispatch and production teams, as well as our sales representatives dotted around the world in China and America to ensure we are hitting SLAs within the targeted timeframe as a wider team. It’s also important for me to ensure our customers are kept in the loop with their orders and given information on updates.”
It’s no secret that Nadia adores her unbeatable sales team at STG and one of her favourite things about her role is the wonderful group of people she gets to spend time with.
“We are the A team. We are strong, we work well together, and we bounce off each other. We always want to help one another to learn and grow and I think that goes a really long way.”
“Innovation is another favourite part of my role. Coming up with new products gives me a huge buzz and building relationships with key customers is also a lot of fun. Face-to-face meetings always go a long way with customers, and we need to be thinking outside of the box at all times to fulfil their everchanging needs in the market.”
“Just last month I flew to Milan to meet a customer and it was great to catch up with them and really understand their product needs. We deal with a lot of French customers and my ability to speak the language helps to build those strong relations. It’s the relationships that are effective in the long run as they bring in the orders.”
On a more personal note, Nadia adopted a little boy a few years ago which was a long process that took time and the utmost commitment.
“STG supported me through the entire process and were the most amazing company in my eyes. I was able to attend meetings with ease and I knew they would always be understanding through the harder days. Fast forward a few years and I have the most amazing boy.”
Travelling is a perk of Nadia’s job, albeit with a little more critique of aircraft nowadays. Recently she has been to Texas to welcome a new Internal Sales Executive to the STG US team and train them for their new role.