Georgia Beaton - Arranta Bio

Georgia Beaton is currently in her fourth year at Aberdeen University studying Joint masters with honours in Anthropology and International Relations. She secured an internship with Arranta Bio in 2020 following a detailed application process managed by the Saltire Scholar Programme.

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THE OPPORTUNITY:

Earlier this year, Georgia approached the careers service at her university because she wanted to do something different with the summer of her third year of studies, and when speaking with them she heard about the Saltire Scholar programme. She had never heard about this before but after researching it in more detail she decided to apply as the opportunity of a fully funded global internship really appealed to her.

Applications to The Saltire Scholar Programme can be made online, following which, applications are screened, and a number of shortlisted candidates are invited to speed interviews, where they have 2 short interviews. If applicants are successful in this stage, they are then placed in the candidate pool. Once in this pool, if they apply for an internship, they will then be invited for an interview with the host company for the specific opportunity.

Georgia was offered a Human Resources internship at Arranta Bio in Massachusetts where her main project would be to design, manage and analyse a companywide employee satisfaction survey, which would be the first to run across the company since the merger with Captozyme in 2019.

She was also tasked with a wider portfolio of smaller projects in conjunction with a fellow Saltire scholar, a communications intern, that involved assessing the biotech market and setting up an art competition for the organisation. As a result of the C19 pandemic, the internship was switched to a Virtual format and Georgia completed this over summer, from her bedroom at home.

The programme has boosted my confidence as completing it remotely during a global pandemic has made me realise that you can learn and develop wherever you are. It has taught me resilience and how to problem solve in a workplace environment. It’s also been motivational for me. The experience has made me realise the importance of the potential career horizon at an early stage.

IMPACT:

Georgia felt strongly that working in a rapidly growing international company afforded her a huge amount of insight into the career opportunities available to her. Running a cross-departmental survey for a pioneering company also provided her with a great opportunity to develop both her inter-personal and professional business skills.

As a scholar sponsored directly by Peter Armitage, she felt immensely inspired that someone so successful felt passionate about supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs and she hopes that one day she will be in a position to do the same and give back to help others in the same way that she was supported. Georgia said,“I loved connecting with my sponsor. It was invaluable to hear about his past professional history and what I could learn from it.

The internship also enabled Georgia to build some meaningful connections with employees in both the HR and Communications departments and they have encouraged her to keep in touch. Mark Bamforth, the CEO of Arranta Bio, was extremely supportive throughout the internship and has asked Georgia to remain in contact in the future.

Georgia would recommend this programme to anyone interested in applying and after completing it she now believes that it’s so important for young adults to learn about business. “The Saltire Scholar Programme takes Scottish Students to the next level, giving them an opportunity to secure globally funded placements in a variety of exciting businesses. Whilst the application process and interviews were challenging and difficult, once I was accepted into the project, Entrepreneurial Scotland did all of the groundwork, they found the placements, worked with the company to create the opportunity for me. There is no way that I could have done this myself. I really hope young people can benefit from this for years to come.”

Georgia now believes much more in her ability to take on any challenge and her key takeaway from the Internship is that the intern experience has made her realise just how capable and resilient she is. She is now focused on completing her dissertation and thinking about her next steps post-graduation.

This Internship has completely changed my perspective about the world of business, and it’s made me rethink what I am doing in terms of my career. I recently applied and became Institutional Liaison and Outreach Officer for the Scotland Branch of 89 Initiative, Saltire provided me with a boost of confidence to seek out as many opportunities as I could during university.

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If you would like to talk to Entrepreneurial Scotland about hosting a Saltire Scholar, and how this can benefit your business, please email: gillian.mcgill@entrepreneurialscotland.com

If you would like to become a Saltire Scholar, find out more here.