View a short video of students who have participated in the Southwestern programme here

During my revision period for my final exams in May this year, a fellow student approached me on campus about the job. I was initially hesitant because I thought the meetings might interfere with my revision time, but it emerged that the whole process only involved three twenty minute periods over the stretch of a week, including two meetings and one interview, so it caused no disruption and he was sympathetic because he was also studying! I was attracted to the job because of the opportunity to gain some vital experience to add to my CV and to earn some money. Immediately I was impressed by the high-quality, intensive training I received along with all the other recruits at "sales school" and by the friendly nature of all the people I met associated with the company.

Adrian Dennis
Law and Business Graduate
Nottingham University

After my first summer I was offered a place in the Fast Track Management Program which allowed me to build a team of students and manage them throughout a second summer. I attended awards banquets and training seminars during the winter in Preston and Edinburgh, where I learnt about the detail of recruiting and advanced sales concepts. During my second summer I ran an organisation of 14 students which generated £84,000 of retail business based up in Scotland. With the help of experienced sales managers, I made decisions on sales areas, coached first year students, processed cash flow and sales statistics every morning and evening: On Sundays I ran meetings to give sales and motivational help. I also increased my personal sales and learned some management techniques. Running the organisation pushed me further and allowed me learn more about myself than anything I have ever done.

Alan Gray
Business & Economics final year student
Trinity College Dublin

Through my summer with Southwestern I feel I have gained many qualifications and skills to help equip me once I graduate. As an English Literature student my course is extremely academic, so this experience has allowed me to gain a sense of business and management skills. I have developed many transferable skills, such as time management, handling money, controlling discounts and profits and improving at sales.

The summer was not solely about learning business skills for me though. I was eager for a challenge, and this experience was one that truly stretched me. Emotionally I have developed a much greater confidence in myself, a sense of focus and direction in achieving my ambitions, and amassed a huge amount of life experience.

Laura Theobold
English Literature Student
Newcastle University

"I'm still doing my Ph.D. at Cancer Research UK. It's been nearly four years now, and I'm writing my thesis for submission in October. Having to collate nearly four years worth of data in three months has been a daunting task, and I'm so grateful for the skills I learnt in my summers with you at Southwestern. I've set up my own schedule, just as I did while selling books. And I've broken the work down into short-term goals, which are helping me gradually get the whole thesis done. Just as the summer is made easier by dealing with one call at a time, writing a thesis is easiest paragraph by paragraph! The skills I learned are so transferable."

Alex Davies
Cancer Research UK
Lincolns Inn Fields
London

Certain lessons stand out from my time with Southwestern as things that not only helped me while searching for a job but will also help me throughout my career and in my life as a whole. The importance of self-motivation and persistence helped me through the inevitable moments of rejection I faced through the setting on goals and ensuring that I was doing the basics. My improved confidence and communication skills helped throughout the interview process, helping to relate to the interview and other interviewees with whom I had to work with in group exercises. In my future career as a consultant it is vital that I can work well and communicate with a wide variety of clients and adapt quickly to a large number of situations and environments, all of these are key skills learnt with Southwestern. Finally consultancy is based on solving complex business problems, and if there is one lesson that stands out form my time with Southwestern it is how to have a problem solving attitude!!

I would recommend the program to every student no matter what stage they are at in their degree, what they study or what they want to do once they have finished, the values and lessons learnt with Southwestern were second to none. Few other people have the opportunity to travel to a foreign country and successfully run a business and work with such a wide variety of people. Prospective employers are looking for candidates who stand out, Southwestern certainly does that. Finally the people I have met and the friends I have made in my three summers in the program I amongst the best I have ever made and I hope will be for a long time to come.

I remember many of the people I met from both countries to this day, not to mention the friendships amongst my work colleagues. My experience deepened each year and it is only now looking back, that my last two summers (seven and eight) that I gained that final dimension in "connecting" with different people, whether they be customers or team members. In hindsight the savings I made were not insignificant either, and this enabled me to get onto the property ladder. The assignments my firm is involved today centres around helping our clients implement many of the principles I became exposed to as an Organisational Leader and Sales Manager. I cannot recommend any better "training ground" for any client-facing career than a SW Sales Manager experience.

I have been very busy not only with my university work but also on the campaign trail!
On Friday after a tough week I was elected as the new Student Union President as from 1st July!!! One of the great things about the week was when I was approaching some people and asking for votes they told me I would be a great saleman, I know where I gained those skills!

"I am now living in London, working in conferencing which I love. I even have to get up in front of everyone to open all of my conferences - can you believe it? Just after I got the job, my boss sent me up to Aberdeen to meet some people in the industry and get them to speak at our events. He told me that new starters normally have to have a supervisor for their first meetings but that if I can sell books in America then I can pretty much do anything. Since I started in November, I have been to, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Holland and Algeria with work. These are all things which I never thought I would be able to do, but my confidence has soared since I first agreed to join Southwestern.
I was genuinely terrified before I started and I thought my lack of confidence would ruin my chances in interviews and in the workplace, but pushing yourself through such a punishing schedule against all odds really puts life into perspective and I feel that my life has been changed by it.
This job was my first interview and I have since been told that a large part of my getting the job was my experience with southwestern."

Wendy Parker
Conference Producer
SMi Energy Conferences

"Of course I'd be glad to write nice things about myself. Here goes:

• Graduated 1994, moved to London to train with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) as a chartered secretary.
• Won an Institute Prize in 1995 (runner up to another in 1996), qualified in 1997, made a manager in 1998.
• Team leader then client manager to companies including Goldman Sachs, British Telecom, Commercial Union, Kingfisher and United News and Media.
• Seconded for 6 months to Deutsche Morgan Grenfell investment bank doing corporate restructuring work during debanking process from Morgan Grenfell to Deutsche Bank.
• Embarked on a master's degree in commercial law in the University of London in 1998, graduating in 1999.
• Took a six week career break with Crystal holidays working part of a ski season in Meribel, before joining Chelsea Village plc, holding company of Chelsea Football Club, as assistant group secretary.
• At Chelsea provided in-house legal support on commercial transactions. Highlights included involvement with group's senior directors in preparation of business plan for our joint venture with BSkyB to exploit media rights, securing a multi-million licensing deal in respect of FMCG in Asia Pacific, and commercial work to lease the Science Museum's Science of Sport exhibition and set it up as a highly interactive visitor attraction at Stamford Bridge.
• Finally moved back up to Glasgow and started last year with the University of Glasgow in its Research and Enterprise commercial arm, whose role it is to commercialise research and transfer university technology into the business sector. Main task is to provide guidance and support to student entrepreneurs to set up their own business ventures.

• Developed my people skills, particularly to get along with people, build teams and be a confident leader.
• Harnessed my organisation skills, in respect of managing projects, people, budgets and deadlines - all at the same time.
• Instilled a certain air of confidence in me, enabling me to believe that I can do anything, conquering any fears of failure.