Matthew Case

Matthew on his University reunion camping trip at Lyme Park in the Peak District

I chose BSc (Hons) Heritage Conservation as it sounded a unique and interesting course and BU was also close to my family home in Dorset. The University had a great learning support department; this was really important to me as I'm dyslexic. The course was great - one of the highlights was the amount of field trips - the best being a trip to Malta for a week. The Library (which opened during my first year) is an amazing facility and great source of information.

After graduating, I studied abroad in Canada and completed an outdoor leadership course there in ecotourism and outdoor sports. When I returned to the UK, I was accepted onto MDS Ltd, a management training programme for graduates in the fresh food and produce industry. There are only 12 places available each year and thousands apply so I was really pleased to be accepted. I worked in four different food companies; Flamingo UK, JP Fresh (now Dole UK), Barfoot Farms and PGS Ltd., over two years. This included roles such as Quality Manager, Operations Manager and Assistant Farm Manager, which came with lots of responsibility. I was in charge of around 80-100 people and responsible for harvesting runner beans, sweetcorn and courgettes! One role involved living in Holland for six months, which was fun.

At the end of the two years, I was offered a full-time job based in the UK as Technical Manager with PGS Ltd (part of fresh produce company G's Marketing). We supply mushrooms to the UK retail industry. The products are packed in Holland by a contract packing company and imported to the UK straight to all the large supermarket depots. This involves travelling to Europe about 20-30 times a year, overseeing anything and everything to do with the quality, legality and safety of fungi. When visiting Holland, I conduct farm and factory audits and quality checks. I also help set up packaging and quality trials to develop new ideas in packaging for the future. One major company goal is to reduce packaging to lower the carbon footprint. So in some ways I still help the environment, which is important to me.

I love my job; it covers so many different areas - from operations, logistics and marketing to farming, quality, safety, and transport - so multi-skilling is critical. Every day is different. The job is not what I set out to do when studying Heritage Conservation but life takes you in different directions sometimes. One day I may go back into conservation but at this point in my life, I am happy working with food.

There is no doubt BU prepared me for work. It encouraged me to have an open mind, as well as equipping me with technical skills. However, a real bonus was how Uni life helped me develop my interpersonal skills and taught me how to network. I was fairly shy in sixth form but meeting like-minded people helped me develop better social skills. I still meet up every year with my fellow students (the picture above was taken in the Peak District on our Uni reunion camping trip which takes place in a different location each year).

My advice to current students looking for work is to make sure they are prepared to have open mind, and try and volunteer beforehand to gain experience in the workplace. And it's good to have something different on your CV, like my outdoor sports course. It will make you, as a candidate, stand out from the crowd.