A career that has taken off in all the right ways

When Tom Spencer was job hunting in the middle of the pandemic, he had enough faith in his chosen career to hold out for the perfect role.

With the travel industry in a challenging state thanks to the impacts of Covid, it would have been understandable had he sought a different career path when he graduated from Northumbria University, with job prospects in aviation limited at best.

But the year he spent as an aviation development intern at Liverpool John Lennon Airport had made its mark on Tom: “Early on in the pandemic I spent six months driving a delivery van for Argos to keep me afloat, but I couldn’t imagine changing my career choice at that point and was determined to wait for the right role”.

A Geordie at heart

Tom caught the travel bug early on in his life, and once this was paired with his interest for business management in school and college, it inspired him to study for a business with tourism management degree at Northumbria University in Newcastle. Growing up in North Yorkshire, he says Newcastle was somewhere that had always appealed to him: "It’s a cool and vibrant city full of friendly people, and certainly somewhere I’m now pleased to call home.”

In 2018, as part of his degree, Tom then moved away from Newcastle to undertake a 12-month placement year at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, working in the aviation development team to help the airport secure more flights.

“It was something I really enjoyed doing and brought a certain level of excitement with it. To think I was influencing peoples’ future travel plans, whether that be for holidays, work, or to visit friends and family, was something I took pride in.”

Tom subsequently returned to Northumbria to finish his studies, before his first graduate opportunity in aviation development came at Doncaster Sheffield Airport in February 2021. He did eventually leave prior to the troubled airport’s closure, but is now back in the north-east in the role of aviation development executive at Newcastle International Airport, which he says “felt like a homecoming of sorts, back to the city where everything started. It’s great to be working for a prestigious airport and in a region that is on the up”.