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Courses taken by Craig
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In 2004, Craig began his HND Business (Management) and has since gone on to complete his
BA (Hons) Business & Management (University of Sunderland) and enrolled onto the MBA (University of Wales) in 2008. Below is his story.
Q) Where do you live?
A) Like my name I originally came from Glasgow, staying on the
outskirts in a famous shipbuilding area called Clydebank. 4 years ago I
moved, along with my wife Jayne & son Gary, to a small town in the
countryside of East Ayrshire (40 miles South of Glasgow), called Darvel
– birthplace of Sir Alexander Fleming.
Q) Where do you work?
A) I have worked for a company called Air Liquide for the past
16 years. Air Liquide is a French based company with subsidiaries all
over the world employing around 30,000 people. They are the largest
manufacture of Industrial Gas in the world turning over approx €650M.
I’m employed as the Sales & Marketing manager in the UK’s welding
division. This division is based in Daventry, Northants, employing 38
people with an annual turnover of ~£18M. I started my career in 1994 as
an area salesman working up to the current position.
Q) Did you think you’d study to MBA level?
A) The quick and honest answer to this is no. When I left school
at 16 years old I had 5 ‘O’ levels. Coming from engineering /
shipbuilding family then the natural course for me was to follow my
father and brother into the sector. I ended up as an apprentice welder
in the world famous John Brown Engineering. I was sent to college to
study for a City & Guilds Qualification; at that point I felt that
I had a job for life. Business was never on the radar screen until
approx 10 years ago when I was made redundant from the shipyard and
took a job in sales.
Q) Any adversity or issues along the way?
A) In 2004 we merged with another welding company that was
bought over by Air Liquide. As with most mergers then job duplication
led to redundancies. During that time the senior management of the
company were from the company that was taken over, this meant having to
work hard to prove myself during the transition. Thankfully it has all
worked out well.
Q) How has higher education changed your life?
A) Higher education has changed me as a person over the last 5
years (hopefully not in a bad way!!!) by giving me much more confidence
as a person. In the sales environment which I work confidence is key.
The learning has allowed me to be a much better manager by allowing me
to put better processes in place thus improving customer service and
focus – this is key to business success. By deploying a process of
continual improvement as a person this has helped me climb the career
ladder and give the benefit of increased earnings as the areas of
responsibility has grown.
Q) How has it affected your family / personal life?
A) I have seen my earning increase by around 25% from the start
of the distance learning courses. The extra earnings gained from
promotion have allowed me to move to a house and life in the country,
something both me and my wife have always wanted to do. We have also
enjoyed the other things which increased earnings offer such as
vacations, car etc…It’s worthwhile highlighting that with any
additional responsibility comes increased demands and pressure – this
is the same with taking on any study, especially through distance
learning. There is a great deal of sacrifice from the family over the
duration of the study as many nights and weekends have to be given up
to ensure sufficient time is given to the study. This becomes more
intense as you progress through the various levels of higher education
HNC, HND; undergraduate etc…At the end of the study, graduation is as
much for your family as it is for you.
Q) How has it changed you personally?
A) As touched on earlier it has given me the confidence to take
on any part of the business responsibility given to me. By getting more
into the business and seeing change implemented I get a great feeling
of achievement and reward.
Q) Finally, what will an MBA give you and where next?
A) I used to think that an MBA was all about getting 3 letters
on a business card that would impress – I’ve changed my mind. Of course
this is a nice accolade but the higher feeling of self satisfaction is
the most important. An MBA will give me the opportunity to ensure that
the business I work for gets the benefit of my learning and thus will
ensure that change is viewed as a continual process. I also hope that
it will spur others in the company on to maximise their potential. On a
selfish note it will also help open doors should my career go down a
different path. I would like to continue my studies on to Doctorate
level but the priority now is to get the MBA finished successfully over
the next 2 years!!.
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