Destiny calling. Chris grows up with Nissan
He was the only kiddie that would stand still for the photographer, so, as the only willing-to-model toddler, Chris Pickbourne, in the early 1980s, climbed into a pair of specially-made overalls to take the starring role in a recruitment campaign for Nissan’s rapidly-expanding operations in Sunderland.
Now it’s 2013 and the now 28-year-old Chris is back in his nifty Nissan uniform to reprise the role, but this time he’s a paid up part of the very successful and record-breaking team at the Nissan Sunderland plant, where many of the firm’s most popular models are made.
As the youngster we see in the photograph, Chris starred in the advertising promotion inviting fresh applicants to join ‘Britain’s most successful two-year-old’, after being volunteered by his mother and then, and still, Nissan finance team member Wendy Pickbourne.
A full 26 years later and Chris is back in front of the camera – like it or not - to promote the wave of new opportunities for engineering and maintenance professionals at the Sunderland plant. Not your average day at the office, then!
Nissan’s Sunderland plant must certainly be a rather buzzing place to work, with the incredible popularity of the Qashqai, Juke and Note meaning that Sunderland has become the first UK car factory ever to build more than 500,000 cars in a single year. Staff numbers have risen to over and above 6,000 to support four new model launches in a two-year-period, starting with the all-electric Nissan LEAF which started rolling off the production line in March. Indeed, the Sunderland plant is one of the very most productive in the world.
Greg Penn, the contact name on the 1980s adverts, who is now HR Director at the plant, said: “Chris is one of more than 600 extra staff we have hired over the past two years to support record production levels and new model preparations.
“We are actively recruiting for experienced professional people across our Engineering and Maintenance departments, so I’d encourage anyone interested in Nissan to visit our recruitment website, and find out why more than one in three British cars is now built in Sunderland.”
Posted by Craig Salter