Anna Lelashvili

As part of our new Graduate Coffee Chats series in collaboration with Foresight Business Group, TBR’s Chief Financial Officer and Foresight President Anna Lelashvili spoke to James McDonagh, Market Executive at Enterprise Ireland to get insight into life as a graduate at Enterprise Ireland. 

The Market Executive Role – What is it?

Enterprise Ireland is the export development agency for the Irish government, working with Irish companies for over 20 years to help them on their export journeys. As a Market Executive at Enterprise Ireland, James’ role involves helping Irish companies develop their exports in global markets, offering support across 4 categories: information, introductions, events and PR. Based in Enterprise Ireland’s Copenhagen office, he acts as ‘boots on the ground’ with Irish companies across the Nordics, helping them with business development, marketing, localisation and cultural differences in the region. James described the role as one that is ‘hard to define’ due to its general nature, saying ‘the broad role in an organisation that touches all aspects of Irish business is what attracted me.’ 

James gave us an insight into his first big project as a graduate, working on Slush. Slush is the largest startup investor conference in Europe, held in Helsinki, Finland, bringing together 15,000 attendees from all over the world each year. James’ work on the project involved  bringing a delegation of 11 Irish companies to Slush, hosting an event with the embassy in Finland and completing business development activities at the conference itself.

‘It was a really good experience to be involved in managing a project of this scale from the start, while taking responsibility for maximising our clients and Ireland’s presence at probably the most exciting Tech event in Europe. It was a very rewarding project.’

The Graduate Programme

The graduate programme at Enterprise Ireland is 2 years long and is a great opportunity for a graduate to start their career in business. The agency offers 2 programmes, a national programme and an international programme, which sees placement at one of nearly 40 offices worldwide, including France, Germany, the UAE and Canada. The national graduate programme sees graduates working in the Dublin headquarters, focusing on investment and job creation in Ireland. Unlike other graduate programmes that take well over 200 graduates a year, the Enterprise Ireland international programme only takes a handful of students, with there being only 12 graduates during James’ intake. With hundreds of applicants, this makes it a very competitive role. 

The Interview Process

While the interview process at Enterprise Ireland is longer than most with 6 stages, James put us at ease saying he ‘felt completely comfortable with it and never found it too much or intense’. The stages are: 

1. Written application & CV submission
2. Video interview (if you speak a language other than English, which is required for some offices, you’ll also complete a video interview in that language)
3. Verbal & numerical reasoning tests
4. Assessment centre in January, including a business case you work through as a team and presentations
5. Psychometric test 
6. Final interview – 30 minutes presentation, 30 minutes interview questions

The process takes a couple of months to complete with James applying to the role in October 2022 and getting the job offer in February 2023. 

Work Culture 

Due to the international nature of the programme, the work culture at each office will differ. At an organisational level, James has felt a very positive work culture at Enterprise Ireland where everyone’s opinion is valued, whether you are just joining the organisation or have been there for 10 years. At the Copenhagen office, James enjoys the Nordic way of life, having a really good work-life balance, with a non-hierarchical, consensus-based, flat-work culture where he works on a hybrid working model, with a minimum of 2 days a week in the office. 

Relocation

James found out he was placed in the Copenhagen office in April 2022, with ‘not a word of Danish, knowing nothing about Copenhagen other than the fact it was a beautiful, expensive city’. While this may seem overwhelming, James was offered a lot of support from his team, who had also made the same move from Dublin, and were also provided with an amazing handover package from the previous graduate at the Copenhagen office accompanied with recommendations. To make the move as stress-free as possible, Enterprise Ireland placed him in a hotel room for the first few weeks, allowing him time to find accommodation. Although finding accommodation was difficult, James said it’s ‘not quite so bad as renting in Dublin.’ James ended the interview on a very positive note, saying that while he had his eyes set on moving to France, he is ‘really happy with his move (to Copenhagen)’ and is really glad he ‘threw himself into it.’

Advice to Students 

Here is some advice from James to ensure success in your application! 

1. Communication skills: For the role, you must be interested in working with other people and need to have good communication skills. You work with a variety of people from clients to potential buyers to the Enterprise Ireland teams worldwide. Working with people from different cultures and backgrounds also requires adaptability. 
2. International experience: Whether you’ve studied abroad, completed an internship abroad, or lived somewhere new for a few months, the experience of living away from home will be of great benefit when applying to the international programme. Experience in an international company and having language skills is also great! 
3. Passion for Irish business: The role involves promoting Irish business’ interests abroad; having an awareness of the Irish business ecosystem and having a passion for it is important. 

If you don’t have one of these, don’t worry, having the willingness to learn and adapt is just as important!