If you’ve recently graduated or are about to graduate from a
Scottish university, chances are you’ll have heard of ScotGrad (and if you
haven’t then you’re about to thank me). ScotGrad essentially provide graduate
placements for growing businesses. These businesses will have identified a gap
in their business plan/strategy that could be supported by a recent graduate –
this means that the graduate isn’t just making tea, they’re making a worthwhile
contribution to the business and in doing so gaining valuable hands on
experience. Throughout the placement, ScotGrad provides support for the
graduate and offer a 3 day residential training programme which aims to help
with business and leadership skills.
A couple of weeks ago, I joined 17 other recent graduates at
the Jury’s Inn in Edinburgh for ScotGrad residential training. We had a pretty
intense 3 days lead by Dr Russell Matthews from Strathclyde University and Dr
John Park, who previous ran graduate programmes for P&G and Pepsico – both
of which were fantastic. Not everyone who attended the course had a business
related degree. We had engineers, designers, scientists and a few from an IT
background but due to the nature of the tasks and discussions no one was at a
disadvantage – everyone was in the same boat and was just looking to make the
most of the training.
Throughout the training course we covered a mixture of
business skills which made us think about our companies from an outside
perspective and we were encouraged to think critically and really challenge our
company’s existing business model. Where ScotGrad really differentiates itself
from your typical graduate programme is the emphasis on personal development. Not
all placements will become permanent so learning how to sell yourself and
understand how to take advantage of your network was discussed at length and
for those attending with permanent positions this would have been greatly beneficial
for understanding your own value and, of course, for future career progression.
The final day was presentation day. We were asked to reflect
on our placement and discuss how we would be able to incorporate what we’d
learned during the training into our work. Some of the managers (my own
included), ScotGrad and Scottish Enterprise employees as well as some employees
from the likes of Business Gateway were in attendance – which sounds a lot
scarier than it was. There was a very supportive and encouraging atmosphere so
the presentations ran smoothly (and I felt rather silly at getting as
stressed!).
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