Claudio Marturano runs Nubis Aviation Training, a compliance training and support platform for the aviation industry. Marturano began studying for an MBA through The Open University (OU) before setting up his own business. He recruited two OU virtual interns, Lily Beach (online marketing and customer relations officer) and Helen Wood (business development officer), via its online vacancy service, OpportunityHub. They’re both now full-time members of staff.

How did you hear about the OU?
Marturano: I started doing an MBA through the OU because I didn’t have the resources to stop work and go to university full-time. I knew all about OpportunityHub and the ways in which it connects OU students and alumni with career opportunities.

As an employer, what made you recruit via the OU?
Marturano: Having started my own business, my first thought – when the time came to hire people and think about expanding – was the OU. It was an obvious choice because I know that OU students and graduates have a similar mindset to me – we share a commitment to learning and bettering ourselves, and have the resourcefulness to study at the same time as working. That lends itself well to the demands of growing a business.

How did you find Helen and Lily?
Marturano: I contacted the OU via OpportunityHub and they put me in touch with several candidates. Helen and Lily were by far the best fit.

How easy was it to find the right people?
Marturano: It was completely seamless and easy. The OU were fantastic and made it very simple to find the right candidates. They actually did most of the work for us. They took care of everything from collating CVs to contacting candidates. They even put the job advert together.

How did the OU compare with other agencies?
Marturano: I did work with a couple of other recruitment agencies too and they weren’t nearly as helpful.

Were you surprised by the calibre of candidates?
Marturano: I’ll be honest, no. I knew the OU would unearth people with impressive skills and the mindset to succeed. What has surprised me is the fact that I went to the OU as a means to an end – I needed an MBA to progress in my career when I was offered a directorship – but I ended up with the team to start and scale my own business!

Do you have any advice for other employers?
Marturano: Think about what you want from an employee and particularly how you want them to help grow and sustain your business. OU students and graduates don’t want to be average employees – they have the skills and tenacity to become an integral part of your business.

How did you find the position?

Wood: I joined the OU to do a maths degree and I spent a lot of time on the OpportunityHub looking at jobs and seeing what openings were out there. I came across Claudio’s advert and thought the idea of a virtual internship sounded really interesting. I applied and came onboard as a virtual intern for six weeks. After that, I was delighted when Claudio offered me a full-time job.

Beach: When I started international studies with the OU, I immediately began looking for jobs as I’d always planned to work alongside studying for my degree. The online internship seemed perfect for me because you can fit your working hours around your other studies and commitments.

What do you do?
Wood: I work in business development, looking after the sales and finance side of things. I’m also involved in deciding what direction the business will go in the future.

Beach: I’m responsible for marketing and branding.

What’s your favourite thing about working?
Wood: I’m in my final year of my degree so I’m working full-time alongside studying, and I enjoy that. I also really like having had the opportunity to join the business from the very early stages of its development. It’s been an invaluable experience.

Beach: I enjoy the fact that I can bring the skills I am learning through my studies to my working environment. It’s great to have this opportunity through the OU to work alongside studying, gaining and developing vital work experience to use for the future and in any professional setting.

What have Lily and Helen brought to your business?
Marturano: They have literally helped build the company from scratch. They were very eager and wanted to achieve from the get-go. Within six weeks, we had made a lot of progress and I realised very quickly they would be of real benefit to the business. Soon after they joined, they helped design an infrastructure for our working environment, which brought us from startup to being ready to scale.

So together they’ve been a dream team?
Marturano: So far, so good, yes!

Any challenges?
Beach: One thing we initially found a little bit of a challenge was communication, but since then we’ve developed our own communication system and way of sharing new information and keeping track of everything we need to work effectively, from project management to workflow.

Marturano: It’s not without its difficulties; you’re doing something brand new and working with people you’ve never met before. But aviation is not a nine-to-five job; you have to work in different time zones and I travel a lot, so having a virtual team that I can communicate with from everywhere has been invaluable.

Hang on – you’ve never met your staff?
Marturano: We’ve met twice since December, but I didn’t meet Helen or Lily until more than a month after they joined the team. The nature of a virtual internship meant I didn’t need to! And I actually think that’s one of the key advantages of a virtual internship; aside from the fact that it keeps overheads low from an economic point of view, it also means you’re not forced in front of each other just because you work together.

Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
Beach: I am enjoying learning about the business, particularly the aviation industry and contributing towards the growth of the company. We recently launched the official website and I am looking forward to attending events and talking about the products. Although it is difficult to say where I’ll be in five years, I hope to continue to develop my skillset and have completed my degree.

Wood: I’m really enjoying watching the business grow and helping to develop it. I’m not quite sure where I’ll be in five years’ time. I haven’t planned that far ahead. I am taking one thing at a time, finishing my degree and learning more about the business.

Marturano: As an employer it’s wonderful to hear your team say that. They’re already an integral part of the business but that they want to help grow it – well, I couldn’t ask for anything more.

In five years’ time, I’d like us to be a sustainable business with lots more people onboard; the go-to for support and training for the aviation industry.