Hi there! My name is Oisín and I'm currently based in Bord Bia's Amsterdam office as an International Graduate. The course combines challenging, real work experience on a paid work placement with top class academic courses with the end result being an Msc in Global Business Practice from the UCD Michael Smurfit School of Business. I'm still not even half way through but have learned so much already from lectures and industry experience. Hopefully this short summary of how I landed in this role and what it's entailed so far can serve as guide for those of you considering what you'd like to pursue after college.
My passion for food led me to work in restaurants when it came to look for part-time jobs in university. I preferred to work in nicer restaurants because as a waiter, my job was so much easier when the food was of good quality. I would pester the chefs for information at every opportunity and managed to build up some decent cooking skills which served me well throughout my student days. When I moved to Amsterdam I first found work in a restaurant as a waiter but eventually moved to the back of house where I was responsible for taking in all the food deliveries. What struck me was the variety in origins of all the produce. Fish from the North Sea, cheese from Belgium and Italy, lamb from Kildare and even some Wexford strawberries. This was an eye opener for me into how complex and dynamic this industry is. I knew that from working in just a couple of restaurants that a career in food was the right fit for me and I was eager to learn more about how supply chains, marketing strategies, consumer preferences and food quality all contributed to what is served in restaurants and sold in shops not just in Ireland or Amsterdam but around the world.
I began applying for jobs and graduate programmes at food and drink companies but with only cúpla focal, a C in leaving cert French and no Dutch I didn't get very far. I came across the Bord Bia programme through Linkedin one day and applied straight away. After a tough selection process I was delighted to finally get the call and although I would've happily moved for the opportunity, it was a relief to be able to keep living in a city as fun as the Dam. Now I'm helping Irish food and drink grow in this market, working with the companies I had unsuccessfully applied to earlier and taking Dutch classes after work. It was the best result I could have hoped for.
No two graduates have the same job. For those of us sent abroad, different demands from each market mean that all the offices have different priorities while those that stay in Dublin are all assigned to different sectors and strategic teams. In terms of day to day tasks I can only speak for myself but I can give an outline of what the programme entails.
The 23 month long course began in July with a month in Dublin which consisted of lectures in Smurfit and training in Bord Bia's offices. It was a very busy time learning all about Bord Bia and my role within the organisation, getting to know my new classmates and catching up on readings for lectures. After this first month, which felt like a week, we were all sent to our respective assignments. 15 of us were spread out between the global offices which were Amsterdam, Paris, Dusseldorf, Shanghai, Dubai, Milan, Stockholm, Madrid and New York and the other 15 were placed in Dublin assigned to various categories like beverages and dairy or teams like communications and events. The first two weeks for me were spent with the outgoing graduate in a handover period where I was shown the ropes. Initially I was afraid of making mistakes as I had more responsibility than I've ever had before but after a while you accept that mistakes will be made, you just have to take lessons from them and learn by doing. Every six months we all come back to Dublin for another round of lectures which is a great chance to catch up with the class and share what we've enjoyed or struggled with.
Pictured: Laura Crowley, Netherlands Market manager; H.E. Ambassador Kevin Kelly; Myself; Tara McCarthy, CEO Bord Bia; Niamh O'Connor, Marketing Fellow and Lian Enters, Market Specialist at the official opening of our new office at the World Trade Centre in Schiphol Airport.
The Bord Bia office in Amsterdam is quite small with one market manager, a market specialist, a global graduate and a marketing fellow. Because of this, I’m exposed to multiple food segments and my roles in the office range from managing our budget and calculating costs of various campaigns and projects to working with creative agencies to develop and deliver the same campaigns. Having some involvement in every stage of the process is very beneficial for my own development and the level of responsibility has grown the more I work and learn.
Ireland’s biggest food export to the Netherlands is dairy, mostly in the form of powders that are used in manufacturing or re-exported through Rotterdam port so we would have limited involvement in these well-established B2B channels however there are plenty of Irish dairy producers present in retailers here like Kerrygold and cheesestrings. Beef is the second biggest export and is much more visible here as nearly all the main retailers stock Irish beef which means our office is heavily involved with gathering market information and identifying trends that we can relay back to producers in Ireland and give them a fuller picture of Dutch consumers’ habits. This is particularly important now with tastes and preferences moving towards reducing meat in the diet and favouring meat that has been sustainably sourced from animals that have been treated with care. Much like being able to confidently stand behind a plate of good food as a waiter, it's a pleasure to be able to stand behind Irish produce that is world renowned for its quality, highlighted by the Bord Bia quality assurance scheme.
Image by Laura Montagnani from Pixabay
It's not all work of course. There's a million and one things to do in this city, I've been here just over a year and a half and I still have so much left to see. The museums and art galleries are really impressive and the city itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It's one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world with over 177 nationalities so the variety of restaurants, bars and cafe's is fantastic. When the weather is nice, nothing beats renting a boat and chilling on the canals for the day and when the sun goes down there's no shortage of nighclubs and parties where you can dance the night away. Finding a place to stay is difficult but nowhere is too far that it can't be reached by bike and if it's raining the public transport is top notch. I would recommend joining some sort of club or society when moving to a new city. I joined the GAA club to get to know a few other Irish people that helped me get settled and the rugby club which was mainly Dutch lads and was a great way for me to meet some locals. The level of English here is very high and I've never had any problems communicating but locals really appreciate the effort and I'm sure with some more lessons I'll be able for more than just swear words and ordering drinks. Outside of Amsterdam, Schiphol airport is a big hub and flights are generally quite cheap out of there whilst Paris, Berlin and even London are only a train journey away.
If you'd like to know more about what I'm doing on the programme please feel free to contact me on LinkedIn.
If you're interested in learning more about Bord Bia’s International Graduate programme or any of the other programmes in Bord Bia’s Talent academy, please visit the website here.
You can follow any updates and see what my classmates' experiences have been like so far through Bord Bia Smurfit's Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn pages.