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Hello to this year’s Saltire Foundation interns.  Congratulations.  For those of you who I didn’t meet at the recent networking event, I am a former Wood Group intern and – as of 24 hours ago – a graduand with a BA (Joint Honours) in French and Spanish from the University of Strathclyde. 

It has been almost a year since my own Saltire Foundation adventure and if truth be told it’s only now that I realise the extent to which the experience has affected me.  The past academic year was always going to be tough.  I was moving back home after a long time overseas which inevitably involves a certain amount of readjustment.  University cut-backs and changes out with my degree presented additional hurdles.  But I got through it. 

By the sounds of things the other former interns returned from their respective placements and threw themselves into their studies with gusto.  In truth, I didn’t.  The experience only served to confirm what I already knew: I was ready to start work.  Nonetheless I persevered with my Honours year.  What I did notice however was a marked change in the proactive way I now approached my final year, such as instigating and leading independent study groups for example.

Last year’s internship also proved a real talking point in interviews.  As a direct result, I’m in the fortunate position of being able to choose between a couple of offers in light of the current job market.  This only underlines the impact such an experience has on prospective employers.

The Saltire Foundation has done much more however than influence my job prospects.  If I am to walk away with anything from my time at WG, it’s the value of taking the odd risk.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?  The Saltire Foundation confirmed that business is something I want to try my hand at.  So I’ve turned down the ‘sensible’ option of a lecturing job in Dijon.  Instead I’ve teamed up with a close friend from my graduating class with a view to setting up a teensy tiny (emphasis on teensy tiny) freelance translating and interpreting venture.  I’m also planning on launching a blog to track our success (or failure, but I’m a glass-half-full kind of person).  Don’t get me wrong, I won’t be giving up my day job just yet.  In addition, I’ve accepted a fulltime post with a Glasgow-based recruitment company where I’ll have opportunities to work in a number of areas.  I walked away from my interview with the company MD enthused and inspired.  I think I could learn a lot from him. 

But we are doing it.  I might well fall flat on my face, but I’m willing to give it a try and, for me at least, that’s what the Saltire Foundation is all about.  So grab this opportunity with both hands, say ‘yes’ to every invitation to breakfast, lunch, dinner or ball-game.  You never know who’ll or what’ll inspire you and similarly the folks at WG have probably no idea just how much they’ve had an impact on me.  I want to leave you with a link to a TED talk I found recently, which I think sums up the spirit of the internship.

Good luck!

http://www.ted.com/talks/cameron_herold_let_s_raise_kids_to_be_entrepreneurs.html