Matthew from Moray had a Career Ready mentor and paid internship at Associated Seafoods. It was so successful that they offered him a job after he finishes school. This is his story.
“Before my internship, I didn’t know much about the business,” says Buckie High School student Matthew.
“I knew they produced seafood and I’d passed by the building. But I had no idea of the scale of the operations. It was amazing to see everything – all the places food gets exported to from here in Buckie.”
During his internship, Matthew joined mentor Rob in the IT department and quickly got to learn the ropes.
“What I really enjoyed during my internship was the opportunity to work on real problems.
“Working in IT, you need to understand different processes and how people work so that you can fix things and see opportunities to streamline things. I got such a good insight to the business by going round different sites, meeting everyone and learning about what they do.
“I liked that it was a tight-knit team – I even got to meet the CEO when he was on site.”
The right skillls
“One important thing I learnt is that you really need to have social skills,” Matthew adds. “You need to be good at speaking to new people and making a good impression.
“I’ve definitely become much more confident speaking to people and working with lots of different people. Especially working in IT, you want to become known as someone they can come to with problems, instead of just sitting on them.”
Matthew’s pro-active, problem-solving approach impressed the team. His mentor, Rob, says:
“I was an apprentice myself, so I was keen on giving someone an internship opportunity – and I know not all IT roles can take people in for a short period of time. But my job isn’t necessarily structured day-to-day – so before Matthew started, the only concern I had was what we’d do if there were quiet times.
“But he just got into things right away. His IT knowledge is really strong, so I could take him along to see some of the bigger projects I was doing.
“He also built really great relationships with multiple departments.
“The difference he made from an IT perspective was massive.”
A job offer
At his end-of-internship presentation, the team approached Matthew with an offer to work with them after school.
“I wanted to work in IT, but I was uncertain what direction to go in – and I know the job market is sometimes a bit tight to get into, even if you have a degree,” Matthew says.
“So to get the offer has taken a lot of stress out of things for me.
“I’m excited because I’ll be working, but studying towards college qualifications too, and I can also do certifications. Later on, if I find there’s something I particularly want to specialise in, I could go on to a degree – but I’ll have that experience built up, too.
“It’s the key to great opportunities.”
“We’re really looking forward to Matthew back on the team,” Rob adds. “We’ll definitely benefit from having him here, with the ideas and the technical skills he has.”
