Boeing

In October 2003, fresh out of the computer science program at the University of California at Irvine, Nhut E. Tran was looking for a place to begin his professional career. As it turned out, he didn't have to look far.

Nhut Tran, his father, had seen posters and e-mails about the Boeing (NYSE: BA) Employee Referral Program, which helps the world's leading aerospace company find and hire candidates with skills that are critical or in great demand, especially in engineering, science and information technology. Knowing that Boeing Satellite Systems was looking for such hard-to-recruit skills and the referral program paid $4,000 cash awards to employees who refer prospects meeting program criteria, Tran immediately recognized that his son was a perfect candidate.

"Nhut was about to finish at Irvine," Tran said. "There was a lot of info about the program on the BSS Intranet, so I just followed the instructions and Nhut was called for an interview. He knew that I've enjoyed a nice career here, and he was especially excited about the Learning Together Program."

The Boeing Learning Together Program is one of the most generous corporate tuition-reimbursement programs in the world; with no restrictions on the type of course work employees may pursue and stock awards after a degree is earned.

The younger Tran had been aware of aerospace as a potential career since his childhood. "I was very interested in aerospace," he said. "I grew up primarily in Long Beach and visited the Boeing Long Beach facility on family day events. My uncle, Pedro Gomez, also works at Long Beach."

The senior Tran has been with the company since 1986 and currently works in Manufacturing Engineering. A native of Vietnam, he came to the United States as a 20-year-old evacuee during the fall of Saigon in 1975, escaping on one of the last military planes out of the country.

Arriving with no knowledge of English or American culture, he eventually earned his bachelor's degree in business management from the University of Phoenix, which was paid for by Boeing through the Learning Together Program. He went on to earn certificates in Systems Engineering and Project Management, also through the Learning Together Program.

After a thorough interview process, Nhut E. Tran was hired. For the first time this Father's Day, the Trans will celebrate not only as father and son but as Boeing co-workers in El Segundo as well. "I was very happy to have my son join the same company, because Boeing has been a great place for me," Tran said.

The younger Tran agreed. "I really like the job and I think I'm doing pretty well so far. I'm happy to have a good-paying job with great benefits."

Boeing is actively recruiting people with key skills in engineering, science and IT, especially those with security clearances. To view detailed descriptions of these openings, please visit: http://www.boeing.com/careers. A comprehensive list of all Boeing openings is available at: http://www.boeing.com/employment.

Boeing Shared Services Group administers the Employee Referral Program, Learning Together Program, conducts recruiting for the company, and provides common, cost-effective and innovative services to all Boeing business units and operations worldwide. With headquarters in Bellevue, Wash., Shared Services has almost 16,000 employees in 51 cities in seven countries. The business unit strives to provide the best value in company-wide services at the lowest cost, playing a key role in the Boeing strategy of running healthy core businesses. Since 1998, Shared Services has saved Boeing more than $1.4 billion while maintaining an equal emphasis on enhancing the internal, customer experience and delivering world-class services.