Thierry, Vehicle Driver
"A varied job and I meet a lot of people"
You are a "Highly qualified vehicle driver" with Aéroports de Paris. What does your job involve?
I drive all kinds of vehicles: buses, trucks and light vehicles, cranes, snow ploughs etc. There are around forty such drivers at Orly but we don't all work the same hours (office hours, irregular hours and flexi time).
For drivers who have all of the internal permits (cranes, lifting machinery, hazardous goods transport etc.), there are around 4-6 weeks per year when one is on call from home on a 24 hour basis.
At the moment, I am the interim Team Head and, as such, I prepare the schedules and fulfil the requests from the different departments, whether this be to deliver letters or packages, requests for crane operators, guided tours of the airport or other.
What are the attractions of this job and what qualities does it require?
In both cases it is the variety of the work. In fact, over the course of one day, we might be called upon to convey children of the enterprise committee (Wednesdays and school holidays) in the morning but operate a crane or drive a bus in the afternoon. Sometimes we are needed during guided tours for staff from foreign airports and might end the day by showing them the sights of Paris. Due to all this, contact with people is varied and therefore richer and makes the days more exciting. As regards the qualities, the job requires a great deal of precision and care and the ability to be flexible and to show initiative, whatever vehicle is being driven.
What made you choose Aéroports de Paris? The company's reputation and the benefits provided by the enterprise committee (leisure and culture section, sports facilities, childcare, video library etc.) and especially because of the potential for training within the company and the prospects for career development.
What was your integration into the company like?
When I arrived 20 years ago you learnt the job as you went along. There weren't all the current regulations and you had to adapt, and the old hands passed on their experience as and when necessary. These days things have changed. We try to assess the level of knowledge of the newcomers, provide mini-training sessions for them and require them to obtain the necessary permits.
You have been at Aéroports de Paris for 20 years. How do you see your future within the company?
I am confident. I would like to gain more responsibilities when the opportunity arises.
Tell us what your working environment is like (atmosphere, relations with line managers, information etc.)
All of us get on well - the young ones who have just joined the company, those already settled in and the longest serving personnel. There is more dialogue with the hierarchy than there used to be and, just recently, we have had access to an IT tool that allows us to receive company information and to communicate internally.