Lisa Mendonca

Graduated: 2010
Degree: Contemporary European Studies with Languages.
Languages: Span and Germ
Career: SME. European Customer Care at Wessex Lift

When I graduated, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. To gain experience I worked temporarily at a small local manufacturing company where I had some contacts and one of my roles was to contact potential German distributors. Three months afterwards I secured a permanent job via a local recruitment agency at the Wessex Lift Co. Ltd, another SME who manufactured lifts for disabled access. I’ve been at the company for over four years and my role now involves account managing our distributors in Europe and trying to grow our European markets. I use my languages on a regular basis and even get let out of the office on occasion to attend exhibitions and visit current and potential distributors.

 

I would never have thought about working for an SME or the disabled access industry while I was studying but now I feel the skills and experiences that I gained during University have been fully exhausted in my current role. Yes, my language skills are a part of that but also being able to study modules from different departments such as sociology, business and politics has given me solid grounding in the industry that I am in, in addition to all those presentation and clear communication skills which languages students are famous for!

If this is an area you are interested in, then you’ll be surprised about how many small local businesses are now looking to export, graduate scheme are not common and you may have to start at a a lower level ( I  started as an administrator/ receptionist). However SME’s usually can’t afford to overlook their resources which can mean a great opportunity to take on responsibility quickly and put into practice what you have learnt during your studies.

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn, in the ML Career Connections group.