‘Boeing represents everyone’

When Boeing came to North Charleston, it did so with a goal of creating a staff that reflected that of the population of the state and surrounding area. That mission was at least part of the message shared by Boeing’s Director of National Strategy and Enhancement Tommy Preston at the company’s “Boeing Days” community outreach program at the Huger-Wando-Cainhoy Community Neighborhood Watch meeting on Monday, March 5.

“We want you to walk

into that facility and see us—see people like you working in the facility and in leadership positions,” said Preston. “The General Manager of Boeing South Carolina is an African-American female. Some of the top leadership of our company here in South Carolina are women or people of color and that’s intentional. We know we get a better product when we embrace diversity in the way that we have here in South Carolina.”

To ensure that they are able to do this, Boeing South Carolina created the community outreach program in hopes of educating students, leaders and residents in the area about opportunities within the company, Preston continued. Helping prepare students for a career within the company is one of their priorities.

“Boeing represents everyone,” said Preston. “…The work that we do is thinking about the next generation of leaders…The state stepped up in amazing ways to help us in our early years and help us be successful. Trident Tech consistently is doing their part to help us train our workers. We’re part of this community and we know as we continue to excel and grow and thrive in South Carolina and in this community, the only way we can do that is if we have a skilled workforce.”

For many of the positions available within Boeing South Carolina, all one needs is a high school diploma or GED, added Preston. However, this does not mean college is out of the picture. Once employed for a year, if an employee decides they would like to go to college, the company will pay for it through their “Learn it Together” program.

“If you work at Boeing for over a year and you decide you want to go back to school, working with your manager, you can show that a specific area at a college in this community will help you in your professional growth, and Boeing will pay for it,” said Preston. “They will pay every single dime from your tuition, books, cap and gown. Part of that program is to make sure you can get a good education and not have to worry about the cost of it. We have people who have their PhDs. They got a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and PhD all paid for by the Boeing company. That’s life changing.”

Although having Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills can give one a leg up when applying, Boeing SC provides their employees with free training through partnerships with Ready SC, Trident Technical College, explained Frank Hatten, leader of education outreach for grades kindergarten through 12 for Boeing South Carolina.

“The bulk of our aircraft mechanics that assemble the planes, they receive their training at Trident Technical College,” said Hatten. “They don’t go out of the state to get their training. It’s done right here at Trident through a partnership called Ready SC, a state agency that provides free training to those in the state.”

For high school students, there is also a free program called Apprenticeship SC, continued Hatten.

“You can apply through your guidance office for free and have an opportunity to get a paid job while in high school that will teach the skillsets that, when you graduate, make you competitive enough to compete for a job at Boeing or Nucor or another company,” he said.

While it may seem intimidating to apply for an international aerospace company, Hatten emphasized how important it is to Boeing South Carolina to hire workers who reside or received education in the state.

“Every time we post a job, it goes out to people all over the world,” said Hatten. “We have people from all over the world applying for that job. Boeing wants to hire people from South Carolina. My job is to make sure everyone understands this.”

Although when many think of Boeing, they think of building airplanes, there are various different career paths within the company that one can take, added Preston. Some of these include the Interior Responsibility Center, Engineer and Design Center, Research and Technology and Propulsion.

“When people ask what Boeing South Carolina is doing, you can easily say that we’re doing so much more than building airplanes,” said Preston.

For more information about Boeing South Carolina or their community outreach program, visit boeing.com/company/about-bca/south-carolina-production-facility.page. For a listing of job openings, visit jobs.boeing.com.

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