Injured Navy engineer relaunches his career

London – An injured ex-Royal Navy weapons engineer officer has relaunched his career at Tharsus Group – a designer and manufacturer of complex electro-mechanical products – after struggling to find a new career for almost two years.

Andrew Smith from Wallsend in Newcastle, suffered a serious injury to his leg in 2010, leaving him forced to take medical discharge from the Royal Navy and therefore without a career to support his wife and two children.

Smith started his career in the Royal Navy aged just 18 as an infantry weapons officer on HMS Liverpool. In 2010 he chose a transfer to HMS Nottingham as a weapons engineer to further his interest in engineering.

As a level two rugby coach Smith would often play and teach other players on board the ships. Whilst playing a match on board HMS Nottingham a severe collision with other players occurred leaving him unable to walk.

Following the incident Smith spent a year at home in recovery, which left him itching to get back to work. However after taking a temporary role in the armed forces office and completing his BTEC engineering courses on HMS Collingwood he was discharged in October 2011 as unfit for service.

With 16 years’ experience behind him Smith thought he would be well placed for a new role in industry, however the state of the jobs market devastated him:

“I snapped all four ligaments in my left leg, destroyed my kneecap, broke my shin bone and had to have grafts taken from my hamstring in both my legs - effectively ending my career in the Royal Navy and my days playing rugby.

“It was great to be back at home with my wife but after almost two years without a permanent job or any new prospects I was more than ready to start a new career.

“I spent over seven months job hunting across the North East. I would apply for up to 30 jobs a day and get nowhere and then have to prove my every action to the Job Centre fortnightly.

“The process was soul-destroying, particularly after having been used to a routine with early rises and structure to every day - my life became hollow and my financial situation hit rock bottom.

“Having worked for the Royal Navy, I received an Armed Forces pension however this was not enough for my family to survive on.”

It was when Smith took a chance applying for a production line role at Tharsus Group that his luck turned around.

Upon interview with Tharsus production director Mike Hutchinson, it was evident that Andrew’s skill set was above the role and saw greater potential in him.

“After meeting Andrew I knew he could bring something extra to the Tharsus team and wanted to offer him a role appropriate to his experience,” said Hutchinson.

“It’s always disconcerting to see injured ex-servicemen in long term unemployment. At Tharsus we are proud to run schemes that actively encourage adults and young people to consider new careers in engineering.

“Andrew already had the passion for the industry and just needed the right opportunity, so we were delighted when we could offer him the role as an electrical tester.”

Tharsus electrical tester Smith said: “My confidence was at an all time low but joining Tharsus has been like a breath of fresh air. I’m in a really positive working environment, where I work alongside my manager and two apprentices who are both eager to learn.

“I also really enjoy that Tharsus operates a ‘flexible factory’ system which means I never know what type of product I might be working on next and staff are supported to learn new skills in order to develop their careers internally.

“I might not know what my future holds, but this time it’s a good thing because the possibilities are endless.”