University – University of Strathclyde
Qualification – Chemical & Process Engineering
Job hunting experience
I had a number of challenges looking for jobs pre-internship, mainly due to a large downturn in industry at the time of my graduation which caused the job market for graduate engineers to be very competitive. I was interested in gaining some skills outside of my engineering background and applied for an intern role via Adopt an Intern.
Role and Responsibilities
My internship was based with the global drinks manufacturer Diageo where I worked with a manufacturing programme management team based in Edinburgh. Our team was responsible for rolling out manufacturing standards across all of Diageo’s global manufacturing sites and my role was to network with manufacturing/maintenance experts across the company and then develop standards/tools to support the company’s developing markets.
This gave me the opportunity to work on several exciting projects as well as getting to experience site-based work and working within a customer-focused business like Diageo. The work was also quite a dramatic change from my degree and gave me the chance to experience some brand new areas and build up my knowledge.
Where are you now?
Following my intern-role in Edinburgh, I then moved into a second role with Diageo at one of their largest bottling plants which also helped to give me some great experience of front-line manufacturing work. This was made through contacts I had established in my intern-role and it was really rewarding to get the secondary opportunity and gain some practical manufacturing experience.
In September 2016 I progressed into a graduate engineering role with Veolia Environmental Services where I now currently work as an engineer at one of the company’s bio-energy plants.
The interpersonal and teamwork skills I gained through my internship directly as well as the experience I gained through my further role with Diageo were essential in my development and were key in gaining me my current position with Veolia.
My internship was very rewarding and gave me a vast amount of experience which has helped me in my future career. I’d encourage anyone who is looking for some new experience or wanting to develop their skills to give an internship a go!
Andrew McCrone
AAI Alumni
Manufacturing Excellence Intern with Diageo
