After a two hour delayed flight, we finally made it to Dublin after spending a couple days in Charlotte due to a previously cancelled flight. The flight flew over night and we landed in Dublin around 9 am, while barely getting any sleep. After checking into our apartments that we’re staying in, we changed into our business casual clothes to go to our first business site visit in Dublin, which was Enterprise Ireland.

Enterprise Ireland is a government organization that invests in start up companies and helps entrepreneurs get to where they need to be. They mostly invest in startups that are tech-related and have been very successful in this. They work with the startup companies by advising on fundraising, strategy, team building skills, sales development, and execution of their plans. Some of the examples of the companies they invest in include immersive virtual reality, data chemist, artomatrix, and more. If the companies are not where they need to be, Enterprise Ireland delivers a range of leadership and management development programs supporting the client companies to reach success.

Even though I felt pretty tired during the meeting due to the long plane ride and lack of sleep, there were many things that stood out to me as interesting and that caught my attention. The first man who spoke to us, Niall, introduced the company and made me want to learn more about it. Two things that stood out was the idea of virtual reality becoming a way to teach things, such as history, first hand. Another thing he said that stood out to me was that team is key. Entrepreneurs are more likely to be successful if there is more than one founder, with the co-founders having different strengths that could be used together successfully. I felt like that is true with a lot of other situations in the business world regarding team work.

The last speaker of the visit, Helen, also caught my attention with what she was saying to our group about what recruiters look for when hiring people. She told us that recruiters are looking for not only people with skills, but people who can adapt to change and are willing to learn more after being hired. This is a good thing to keep in mind as I’m graduating next year and will be looking for a full time job afterwards. She also that being able to work and communicate in a group is a great strength. With technology advancing, most people communicate over phones and laptops, rather than in person, so being able to communicate and express ideas in a group setting will go a long way in the business field. Lastly, something she said that stuck with me is that education doesn’t end after college. I feel like that also follows up with being able to adapt to change, which is something I will remember to take with me as I go into future careers.

With those being the topics that stood out to me, I’m not going to lie, a few of the topics and terms that the others speakers spoke about went over my head. It was hard to follow some of the technical terms being spoken of in the presentations, but I was able to pick up a few from taking Business Information Systems classes at Pitt. I also was confused about how the government played a role in this organization, because there’s an emphasis to separate government and business in the United States. Lastly, some of the topics they presented, they talked to us about it as if we already knew instead of explaining it more. I feel like if some of it was explained a little more, it would have been easier to understand and follow.

Going off of that, I feel as though some of us were in a situation where the people presenting were clearly extremely intelligent and cared greatly about what they do. In situations like this, where I do not understand everything that’s being presented, I try to follow along as best as I can and even try to take notes on the topic during the presentation/meeting. Although this sometimes leaves me feeling flustered and confused, I try my best to not let that get to me and to keep giving the person presenting my full attention. Hopefully it will be easier to keep up on future site visits, as our group will not be as jet lagged like we were earlier today!