Mowi’s new managers
Mowi puts its new trainee managers through their paces
THREE graduates have recently joined Mowi Scotland as trainee farm managers, embarking on a development programme on their way to careers in the salmon industry. Mowi decided to restart its graduate recruitment programme in 2016, to attract new people with a strong interest in becoming salmon farmers and who show potential for quick learning, said Donald Waring, learning and development manager at the company.
Fitting the bill are Connie Fairburn, Shannon Graham and Hilary Turnbull, who are now deployed across Mowi’s sites in Scotland and who are, said Waring, ‘a great joy to work with’.
The three key characteristics Mowi seeks in graduates are: high educational qualification, hardworking employment from an early age and, ideally, some current or past link to animal care.
‘But above all, they will have a very clear motivation to start at the bottom and work their way up,’ Waring added.
Graduate recruits are put through a 75-week programme that exposes them to every aspect of the business, from egg to sales.
‘They will be implanted in a structured way, for various time periods, into targeted operations and expected to learn and understand the processes quickly,’ said Waring.
They are performance assessed at each step and required to demonstrate their rapid understanding.
‘As the programme proceeds, they are also expected to show their demonstrable influence on our operations.’
Here, in their own words, the new recruits explain what attracted them to the industry and to Mowi.
Connie Fairburn
I’ve been working at Inchmore Hatchery as part of the Mowi graduate programme for the past six weeks.
Prior to taking on this role, I attained my BSc in Environmental Science from the University of Stirling in 2018. Here, my final year hydrology based dissertation sparked my interest in aquatic life and a desire to understand more about it.
This led me to working as a fish vaccinator in
Norway for Aqualife Services over the following summer, where I first learned about aquaculture, including RAS systems and fish health.
Returning to Scotland with a desire to learn more about the industry, I received a scholarship from the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) to pursue an MSc in Sustainable Aquaculture at the Institute of Aquaculture (IoA) at Stirling and began learning Norwegian in my spare time.
I recently achieved a distinction in my master’s thesis, titled ‘Stress and inflammatory modulation by dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in Atlantic salmon’.
I’ll be graduating in November this year, and after a successful year of further education I’ve been keen to kick-start my career within an industry setting.
The graduate programme offered at Mowi is one of a kind, allowing graduates like myself to experience every part of the business and meet a network of professionals in the aquaculture field.
What attracted me most to this continuously evolving industry was its growing importance, both globally and at home in Scotland.
After 18 months I’ll be a seawater farm manager, and hope to contribute to the sustainable growth of the salmon sector throughout my career with Mowi and the aquaculture industry.
Shannon Graham
I joined Mowi as a graduate trainee manager in July. I am from Fort William and graduated from Inverness UHI in October 2018 with BSc Honours in Geography.
Even though my degree is not directly related to aquaculture, there are still many topics I studied which are useful in the industry; these include global warming and sea level rise, protection of the environment, sustainable farming, climate, land and weather.
Prior to my employment with Mowi, I worked as a shop assistant in a local, family run business where I acquired skills in business management, employee and customer relations.
I can bring these transferable skills with me to Mowi as I develop towards my management position.
Over and above my personal experience and qualifications, Mowi was fast in putting me through training, where I have achieved important tickets such as Powerboat, Sea Survival, VHF Radio and First Aid.
Before the end of the year I will have also completed a six-day innovation programme with the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre.
Shortly into 2020, Mowi has enrolled me in a nine-month Aquaculture Management programme and also a Fish Health and Welfare course.
Opportunities like these are one of the aspects that attracted me to join the business. I am learning every day, while working at the same time, and am lucky enough to be given opportunities to attend courses and further my studies.
Growing up in Fort William, I have always been aware that Mowi are a great, reliable company to work for with many employee benefits.
I enjoy being outdoors and travelling the scenic country and Mowi has given me the opportunity to do just that.
Hilary Turnbull
I grew up in south-west Scotland with boats, sailing, water sports and fishing as regular summer activities and graduated with a biology degree from the University of Dundee in 2014.
I then somehow found myself managing two very busy hotels on North Uist, which I absolutely loved.
Fast forward four years and the time had come for a change when I saw the Mowi graduate management programme advertised.
Fish farming is vital to the fragile economies in the rural and sometimes very remote communities of Scotland.
The industry provides local employment and living in Berneray, North Uist, I have witnessed first-hand the importance of this.
I saw the graduate programme as an opportunity to marry together my degree, management experience and love of where I now live, while also offering me a fantastic insight into the industry, opportunity to gain new skills and experience, and work alongside some very passionate people.
“What attracted me most to this continuously evolving industry was its growing importance, both globally and Scotland” at home in