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Graduate Profiles
Emerald Dickson
"After graduating from Heriot-Watt, I was recruited by a company in Brussels to translate from French,
German and Spanish (and later Dutch) into English. I was expecting it to be a lot harder to find a job
straight after university but the LINT programme is a very professionally-oriented course which really prepares you for the world of work. In addition to the translation skills which were vital for a job as a translator, the LINT programme also gave me a sound general knowledge and helped me to hone other important skills such as synthesis and public speaking.
"After two years working as a translator I was approached to head the German department of a trademark case law company in Brussels which collects and analyses all the trademark rulings handed down since 2000 in the European Union. This job involves contacting and negotiating with courts in Germany and selling to German law firms and trademark offices. I still do some translation work, but this job is much more varied since in addition, I get to use my languages actively; I speak French, Dutch and English with my colleagues and German with my German contacts and undertake some interpreting.
"The LINT programme was hard work but well worth it. There aren't many language courses that give you as much practical experience and the LINT programme has an excellent reputation, even outside the UK, because of the high standards expected from its students."
Kirsty Hutton
"I studied French and Spanish on the degree as I had enjoyed both subjects very much at school and wanted to continue studying them together with management, which I felt might open up more doors to me in the future.
"After graduating, I spent a few months working in Barcelona and on returning to the UK I secured a job with Standard Life.I work in the Group Financial Reporting team supporting the management of various projects run in the department, namely those relating to quarterly reporting and the production of the company's annual report. I am also responsible for reporting the team's compliance to Group policy, as well as other governance activities such as the verification of the financial statements released to the market.
" I enjoy my job, have plenty of responsibility, a sense of contributing effectively to my team, and opportunities for promotion within the company are good.
"The IML degree gave me a great grounding in business and management which has been very useful. Studying languages during my degree gave me a focus on communication, good writing and speaking skills, etc and has certainly helped me to speak and act more confidently and to be more proactive in a work environment".
