Last week, Rutherford Cross held its latest Planning Your Career Journey event, featuring Laura Wilson and Emma McLaren, of Loch Lomond Group.
Both Laura, Director of Corporate Services & HR, and Emma, Head of Commercial Finance at Loch Lomond Group shared their experiences of building a career in finance within the drinks industry, sharing several useful tips with the audience.
Laura also gave our attendees an insight into the Loch Lomond Group drinks portfolio, and we had a mixologist on hand to showcase these with a cocktail selection.
Laura Wilson, Director of Corporate Services at Loch Lomond Group, has built an impressive career that spans Scottish Water, Business Stream and Loch Lomond Group. Laura started her career in Accounts Payable at Scottish Water progressing through the ranks to Group Financial Accountant before joining Business Stream as their first Finance Manager following their spin-out from Scottish Water. She went on to be their Financial Controller before moving to Loch Lomond at a key point in its growth trajectory starting as Financial Controller and further building out her role and experience with her every passing year at Loch Lomond.
Emma joined Loch Lomond in 2015 after qualifying at Deloitte and has played a key part in the growth of the Commercial Finance Function with it growing to 6 heads from 2 in her time with the business. Emma provided valuable insight to our attendees on the transition from practice to industry and what it is like to join a PE-backed business on an aggressive growth trajectory. Both Emma & Laura also provided important insight into what it is like to be a working Mum and how they managed the transition back into work from maternity leave.
Our speakers shared a wealth of career advice and experience on the night; however, we have summarised some of the key points:
- Take pride in your work – hold yourself accountable for your own success
- Don’t be afraid to take risks to get ahead.
- Step outside your comfort zone – challenging yourself to take on duties that you are not accustomed to will provide you with a wider skillset
- Make sure that you are continually taking action and taking responsibility for your own development.
- The people that you work with are the most important part of any role, hire people and choose to work for managers you don’t mind socialising with outside of work.
- Consistently assess your circumstances – keep an open mind both regarding your current situation as well as additional opportunities
- Do something you are passionate about – enjoying what you do can significantly improve how you feel about your career
Whilst our speakers all work in the drinks industry, they had different paths in how they arrived there. Our speakers all agreed that taking pride in your work, ensuring that you work with and for people you like and not being afraid to take risks will serve you well in advancing your career.
For more information about this and other Rutherford Cross Planning Your Career Journey events, contact [email protected]
