STUDENT VOICE | Page 27

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 27