There are 3 members of the SaltireFoundation team who in the past 4 years have sourced and facilitated 131 international internship opportunities in over 40 global companies for undergraduate students.

Student: Christopher Gordon

In completing his internship, Chris immediately realised the significance of the international internship offered by the SaltireFoundation:

“This opportunity is simply unique as it truly elevated my career aspirations and filled me with a motivation to succeed in all that I do. The SaltireFoundation gave me an opportunity that has been both character building and life shaping and the internship with the Wood Group gave me the energy to grasp a Challenge and to have a profound impact on the business. I therefore decided to pursue a career path in the energy industry where I will be able to enhance my industry experience and leadership capabilities.

"Since starting as a Project Controls Graduate with the Wood Group, I have been given several Challenges where I continue to have a direct impact on the business and relish future opportunities to demonstrate the skills gained during my internship with the company. There have been other direct Results of my internship and a main achievement was being awarded an academic prize for the best honours year dissertation from Heriot Watt University’s School of Management and Languages. I based my dissertation on my internship and I feel that my prize was a result of the quality of the internship where my learning and knowledge sharing developed significantly.”

There are also several Benefits for the Wood Group in employing a former intern. Chris’ internship, spent in Texas, gave him a great insight into international business and the importance of immersing himself in a different culture and understanding it:

“I know this experience will enable me to appreciate the importance of applying this knowledge to the long term future of Scotland where I am located in the North Sea energy industry. I feel my experience is an asset to the Wood Group with it being a truly global company where I have aspirations to contribute to the strategic vision of the company as my career progresses.

"My international insight into their operations has broadened my knowledge which I feel is of value to my employer. This programme offered by the SaltireFoundation allows the Wood Group to have a greater understanding on developing interns where they will enable interns to have direct impact on the business through working independently on projects as well as in a team working scenario.”

Chris was selected by the SaltireFoundation and the Wood Group out of several other candidates to undertake a business management internship where he gained fundamental project experience in the functions of: corporate communication, accounting and finance, business development and international human resource management. Furthermore, he was awarded an academic prize called the BP Prize for Excellence awarded for the best dissertation from Heriot Watt University’s School of Management and Languages. His dissertation focused on the legal and international business Challenges that a multinational enterprise such as the Wood Group may encounter in the future.

The projects that he worked on enabled him to contribute to the long term strategy of the business. The Wood Group’s focus on his learning and development was directly responsible for his decision upon graduation to enter the oil and gas industry. As a result he applied to the Wood Group and is now working through their Project Controls Graduate Programme and gaining significant project experience through a steep learning curve: “The level of responsibility I have been given so far in my programme is very humbling which ultimately gives me the enthusiasm to strive to reach my potential.”

Ultimately, this internship was an excellent opportunity not only to embrace international business, culture, industry knowledge and enhanced leadership but for the fact that it is a great experience for an undergraduate student to compete on a global platform on a highly competitive programme which will allow them to shine for when applying for graduate roles. There is truly no internship experience like this.