Coming from a dairy farm at home I always knew that I wanted to go into agriculture eventually. This placement basically ticked all the boxes.

Last year I was on placement with Dawn Meats as part of the McDonald's Progressive Young Farmer placement program, which is a bit unique in the fact that I applied to McDonald's to work as a placement student there and they selected one of their processors for me to be based with. I was based with Dawn Meats, who are a major beef processor in the Republic of Ireland.

 

 

What was a typical day on placement?

I didn't really have a typical working day, I spent a lot of the Year rotating around different parts of the company. Some days and some rotations I was based on different beef farms in the Republic, I also spent some rotations working with the agriculture team at Dawn Meats and then finally I spent some of my rotations in factories.

 

Did you have a favourite moment?

There were lots of different things that I enjoyed throughout the placement. I had the opportunity to go to lots of different conferences and agricultural shows and to hear lots of different experts speak. I'd say that was probably where I learned most from the year and that's probably my main highlight.

 

 

What did the application process involve?

It was again a bit of a unique application process.  I went through an initial stage of CV and cover letter and after that I had to answer a few recorded interview questions. After that there was a final stage which was an assessment day where I had to travel to McDonald's headquarters in London. It seems more daunting than it was, in reality it was quite casual and they made me feel quite comfortable during it.

 

Would you recommend a similar placement?

I would definitely recommend the McDonald's Progressive Young Farmer placement. I feel like it has really benefited me, it's given me the sort of total supply chain experience that I don't think you could get through any other placement in the UK and Ireland.

 

Nathan McClure

BSc Biochemistry