Mairi Anna Pearson

Name: Mairi Anna Pearson 
Club 21 Employer: Scottish Enterprise
Degree Subject: Business and Management with French
Year of Graduation: 2006

When I first heard about Club 21, I immediately saw that it could provide me with some invaluable summer experience within a real business environment.

I was based with the Globalscot team within the International Operations directorate at the Scottish Enterprise headquarters in Glasgow. This team develops and maintains a network of internationally based business people who have agreed to contribute to Scotland's economic development through sharing expertise, leveraging contacts and raising aspirations of Scotland's people and businesses.

My project was to review requests for support from Globalscot members and to determine outcomes. This involved liaising with colleagues across Scotland and around the world, Scottish organisations and Globalscot members themselves in order to explore the background to each case. I collated information, compiled promotional pieces to highlight successes and reported findings back to the team.

This Club 21 placement has benefited me in more ways than I could have hoped. Firstly, the opportunity to take responsibility for a specific project for 12 weeks within a large organisation gave me a valuable insight into what life is really like in a busy international office environment. The selection process ensured that I was matched with a project relevant to my future career aspirations and I found that the experience of interacting with such a wide range of people from different backgrounds really opened my eyes.

I found that after the 12 weeks my commercial awareness, understanding of networks, written and verbal communication skills and ability to identify and articulate opportunities had greatly improved.

I would highly recommend the Club 21 experience to other students. The value of this opportunity to gain relevant work experience in a leading organisation while receiving a good salary should not be underestimated. And of course the scholarship cheque comes in very useful for the start of the new academic year.