EXPERIENCE STRUAN BAIRD
My experience at
AYRSHIRE COLLEGE
by
Struan Baird
Marketing
Intern
My Ayrshire college
experience started at 6am on
a brisk July morning. Sleep
deprived driving up the M8 I
questioned myself why was I
doing this.
On arrival I was kindly
greeted and introduced to
the team members that were
present. After completing a
spreadsheet I headed down to
Ayr Race Course with Louise
to help set up for the College
Development day. The college
development day was where
I found out about the culture
and ethos that surrounds the
college. Heather (Principal) and
Jackie (Vice Principal) made a
point to introduce themselves
and Heather even introduced
me to the 800 employees
present at the event, I was
maybe a touch embarrassed.
However the event allowed me
to understand how Ayrshire
College functioned, the
college seemed to value staff
suggestions, teamwork and
have a fairly flat hierarchy
system in place.
THE STUDENT VOICE: EDITION 3
In other words the Principal,
directors and managers seemed
easily accessible to staff
members and seemed to be just
part of the team. This seemed
like the type of environment I
would like to work in. However
I had only had half a day in the
office and was not sure if this
ideological management stance
could transcend into the actual
working environment.
“I feel the
experience that
I gained at Ayrshire
college can help me
go anywhere.”
I was pleasantly surprised
that it did. Every member of
the marketing team seemed
to manage their own projects
rather than being continually
supervised. However Shelagh
did keep up to date with the
office on goings and offered
advice/ideas rather than giving
orders. This ethos created a
relaxed environment where
staff could use their creativity
to achieve their best work.
styles I learn about at uni,
this style does seem to reflect
the current academic way of
thinking. Shelagh made sure
I saw several aspects of the
department; I helped with
event management, campaign
planning, administrative duties
and even PR. I was surprised
how much responsibility I was
given and wrote a seasonal
promotion plan for the
refectories.
However some of the tasks
were more mundane, it took
me 2 days to arrange photos
from various different files into
one organised folder, thanks
Shelagh!
Overall my experience was
liberating and I gained vital
experience into a real working
environment. However I was
lucky to have experienced
such a pleasant environment.
Ayrshire’s College’s marketing
campaign is “start here, go
anywhere” although I did not
start here I feel the experience
that I gained at Ayrshire
college can help me go
“anywhere.” (cheesy).
Without harking on too much
about the tedious management
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