Tell us a bit about yourself, what course did you study in UL, what has your career looked like to date?  

I am a native of Birr in Co Offaly. I studied Business in UL between 1974 and 1978. The college known as NIHE at the time was in its early days and college life revolved around Plassey House where we attended lectures and the library and canteen were housed. 

I completed my Co-op (work experience while learning) in 1976 and 1977.  Ireland was a very different place then; imagine a world with no mobile phones, no google, no e-mail and no motorways.  On the positive side the country was in an economic upturn following our inclusion in the EU in 1973. 

When I graduated, I was fortunate to offered a place at Fordham University in NYC where I studied for my MBA at night and worked with Interpool (Container Transport Management) by day in their credit dept.  I returned to Ireland in 1981 and joined ICC Bank and in all I spent 29 years in banking; the highlight of which was opening a new branch network in the west of Ireland headquartered in Galway where I have lived since 1992. Since 2010 I have operated my own financial consultancy business specialising in debt restructuring. 

Tell us a bit about your co-op placement, what organisation did you work with and what year it took place? 

1976 - ICC Bank Limerick; position - account executive    

1977 - ICC Bank Cork; position – account executive  

What impact did your co-op placement have on your future career? 

ICC Bank was a small government bank aimed at providing financial assistance , mainly loans to SME’s. I was fortunate to spend 12 months in total with them in their offices in Limerick and Cork during my two co-op placements.  This experience introduced me to the importance of team work, interpersonal communications, customer service, procedures and flexibility.  The latter was most evident in 1976 when during a 2-month bank strike I was moved to the cash desk taking in deposits from clients and later bringing that cash to the post office to convert to money orders     

What piece of advice would you give to students going on co-op now? 

Be open minded and flexible. You may or may not end up working in an industry that interests you but career choices can change at this time of life if you adopt this strategy.   

 Due to co-op placements being relatively short, the job you get may seem be low-key  simple and repetitive.  Show initiative and you may get more responsibility quickly.  Be clear of what is expected of you; don’t take short cuts.  Use every opportunity you can to chat to and observe fellow employees and to interact with customers.  Be always learning and if the opportunity arises don’t be afraid to make suggestions that can benefit the business or customer experience.  Most of all enjoy it – you may not realise it but everyday you are adding to your existing skills and developing new ones