Careers at Hornby/Airfix

[Of Models & Monsters]

Hola comrades, not sure if anyone here might know the answer to this but I have seriously been considering pursuing a career of some sort in the hobby industry and I came across this page on Airfix's website.  Would anyone here happen to already be employed by Airfix or another kit manufacturer and know what sorts of jobs they interview or hire for?  If anyone can answer I would greatly appreciate it.  Muchas gracias.

https://uk.hornby.com/careers

[nheather]

On 3/6/2022 at 4:01 PM, Of Models & Monsters said:

Hola comrades, not sure if anyone here might know the answer to this but I have seriously been considering pursuing a career of some sort in the hobby industry and I came across this page on Airfix's website.  Would anyone here happen to already be employed by Airfix or another kit manufacturer and know what sorts of jobs they interview or hire for?  If anyone can answer I would greatly appreciate it.  Muchas gracias.

https://uk.hornby.com/careers

There was a BBC programme and what struck me most was how small the company was.  I was struck by how few employees there were but I guess it makes sense as most of the stuff is done in China.  Also I suspect the programme stayed away from the more mundane side of warehousing and distribution.

 

But there didn't seem to be that many technical people, mostly sales and marketing people.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[IanHx]

9 hours ago, nheather said:

There was a BBC programme and what struck me most was how small the company was.  I was struck by how few employees there were but I guess it makes sense as most of the stuff is done in China.  Also I suspect the programme stayed away from the more mundane side of warehousing and distribution.

 

But there didn't seem to be that many technical people, mostly sales and marketing people.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

 

Virtually nowhere lets their IT people near a TV camera !  Wonder why....... afraid they'll break the camera ? 🤔

[nheather]

12 hours ago, IanHx said:

 

Virtually nowhere lets their IT people near a TV camera !  Wonder why....... afraid they'll break the camera ? 🤔

Let’s be honest no company lets its IT people out of the cellar 😀  I’m an IT consultant myself so I can say these things 😀

 

Always the same, visit customer, check in at reception, wow this place is fancy, look at this atrium it’s fantastic, you get walked past fancy working areas, you keep walking and walking until you eventually arrive at the windowless dungeon where you will be working.

 

But seriously, the point I was making is that I was surprised at how small the operation is.  Checked on Wiki and they have 191 employees which is a lot smaller than I was expecting and then when you take out the management layer, sales and marketing and the reps I can’t imagine there is much left - very small departments I imagine - the IT team is probably two people (in the basement).

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[IanHx]

4 hours ago, nheather said:

Let’s be honest no company lets its IT people out of the cellar 😀  I’m an IT consultant myself so I can say these things 😀

 

Always the same, visit customer, check in at reception, wow this place is fancy, look at this atrium it’s fantastic, you get walked past fancy working areas, you keep walking and walking until you eventually arrive at the windowless dungeon where you will be working.

 

But seriously, the point I was making is that I was surprised at how small the operation is.  Checked on Wiki and they have 191 employees which is a lot smaller than I was expecting and then when you take out the management layer, sales and marketing and the reps I can’t imagine there is much left - very small departments I imagine - the IT team is probably two people (in the basement).

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

 

2 people and an answerphone that says "have you tried switching it off and on again?"   

[dnl42]

5 minutes ago, IanHx said:

 

2 people and an answerphone that says "have you tried switching it off and on again?"   

Oh, they use Windows? 

[3DStewart]

On 3/6/2022 at 4:01 PM, Of Models & Monsters said:

Hola comrades, not sure if anyone here might know the answer to this but I have seriously been considering pursuing a career of some sort in the hobby industry and I came across this page on Airfix's website.  Would anyone here happen to already be employed by Airfix or another kit manufacturer and know what sorts of jobs they interview or hire for?  If anyone can answer I would greatly appreciate it.  Muchas gracias.

https://uk.hornby.com/careers

 

I see you're based in Canada. A first step is to check you can work in the UK.

 

Hornby will be like most other small to medium sized manufacturing companies with I assume opportunities in product design/development, sales & marketing, accounts, HR, IT, procurement, quality and manufacturing. Maybe also building maintenance, but that's probably subcontracted. What areas interest you?

[Moggy]

20 hours ago, IanHx said:

 

Virtually nowhere lets their IT people near a TV camera !  Wonder why....... afraid they'll break the camera ? 🤔

 

I used to work as an IT consultant. We had an (informal) employee category: "closet technician"

 

Translation: brilliant at his/her job - but every time he/she opens his/her mouth disaster ensues. 😎

So that's where the "closet" sobriquet comes from: to be kept away from customers at all costs - preferably in a big closet and fed through a hatch. 😆

 

Cheers, Moggy (former Raider of the Lost Server Room)

[ckw]

13 minutes ago, Moggy said:

Translation: brilliant at his/her job - but every time he/she opens his/her mouth disaster ensues.

I worked in an IT department where a new senior manager had the bright idea that everyone should spend some time on the helpdesk - including the 'techies' - so we'd all be more in touch with our clients' needs and problems. The experiment didn't last very long.

 

I'm pretty sure that there's an inverse relationship between IT  and social skills!

 

Cheers

 

Colin

[Of Models & Monsters]

6 hours ago, 3DStewart said:

 

I see you're based in Canada. A first step is to check you can work in the UK.

 

Hornby will be like most other small to medium sized manufacturing companies with I assume opportunities in product design/development, sales & marketing, accounts, HR, IT, procurement, quality and manufacturing. Maybe also building maintenance, but that's probably subcontracted. What areas interest you?

Thanks for the info, I'm not quite sure yet exactly which field I would like to apply for.  I currently work at a hobby store in Toronto doing low level tasks like cashier and shipping online orders.  I'm very interested to exploring the industry further however, as well as discovering new parts of the world as I have never stepped foot outside North America.

[3DStewart]

Hornby have a warehousing and packing function, but I don't know if they do that themselves or subcontract it.  It's worth writing to them with a CV (resume in North America) and see if they have any opportunities, but first check if you can work in the UK without a visa, as Horny probably won't want to go to the bother of work visas etc if they can hire locally.

I have a second cousin from Victoria who moved to the UK twenty years ago, but she was able to get UK citizenship because one of her grandparents (my great uncle) was British.

[Of Models & Monsters]

16 hours ago, 3DStewart said:

Hornby have a warehousing and packing function, but I don't know if they do that themselves or subcontract it.  It's worth writing to them with a CV (resume in North America) and see if they have any opportunities, but first check if you can work in the UK without a visa, as Horny probably won't want to go to the bother of work visas etc if they can hire locally.

I have a second cousin from Victoria who moved to the UK twenty years ago, but she was able to get UK citizenship because one of her grandparents (my great uncle) was British.

I guess it's worth at least trying to write to them and see what happens.  I don't have any direct relatives from England, but my last name is Peckham lol.  Thanks again.