Weber Shandwick

A graduate intern from America has helped Weber Shandwick prepare for the 2007 Scottish elections

Weber Shandwick is one of the world's leading public relations and communications management firms, with more than 119 offices in 72 markets.

It has been established for more than 25 years in Scotland, where it employs around 40 professional consultants across offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Inverness.

The run-up to the May 2007 Scottish Parliament elections is a particularly busy time for the firm's seven-strong team of public affairs professionals, who have benefited from the knowledge and assistance of 23-year-old American intern Tali Deeb from San Francisco.

Previously an undergraduate at UC Davis in California, Tali fell in love with Scotland during a visit in 2005 and has just graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a Masters degree in Nationalism Studies. She now plans to stay in Scotland under the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland Scheme.

Tali explains: "I did an internship at the Scottish parliament for four months while I was working on my dissertation and got a really good working knowledge of the Parliament, the MSPs and the Chamber. I heard about Weber Shandwick and what a huge company they were and knew it would be a good thing to try and get an internship with them.

"The knowledge I'd gained from my Masters of European politics, international finance, the political economy and the national focus on Scotland as well as working with MSPs in the parliament helped with the internship and while I've been there I've worked on lots of constituency and database projects."

Moray Macdonald, Weber Shandwick director, heads up the public affairs operation in Scotland and believed Tali had the ideal experience to help compile research ahead of the Scottish elections about local and regional constituencies and candidates.

He said: "When it's coming up to the elections, all our clients are very keen to get a good understanding of what's likely to happen come May, so if there's a change they can make sure people in government understand how their business works and what they want from government.

"One of the fears we had about taking on an intern, especially an overseas one, was that our work is very specialised. It's not just about politics in general, it's about Scottish politics and what's happening at a local level, which is quite difficult for someone from overseas to get to grips with. But it was quite clear, certainly in Tali's case, that this wasn't an issue. She's clearly a very bright person and quickly understood the nuances of what we needed to know about Scotland."

Tali concluded: "It's been an amazing opportunity. You can only learn so much from a text book. By going and working in a professional environment, you learn so much more. It's opened my eyes to lots of things and I'm even more excited about the future."

Contact

Weber Shandwick Scotland
9 York Place
Edinburgh, EH1 3EB
United Kingdom
Tel: 0131 556 6649
Web: www.webershandwick.co.uk/links/careers