Ray Don

Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland Scheme

Name: Ruiming Dong (shortened to Ray Don in English)
Age: 31
Born: WuXi city, in China's JiangSu province
Time in Scotland: Since 2002

After graduating with his first degree in Clinical Medicine from the Bethune Medical University in China, Ray Don realised he wanted to follow a different career.

" I found it wasn't the right direction for me in life," he explained. "To follow my heart and my nature I knew I wanted to be a business person."

He spent two years as assistant manager at a company in China producing electronic equipment for power stations but wanted to do more.

"I wanted to challenge myself, advance my career and develop my experience and knew that studying abroad was one of the best options for doing that," Ray said. "I applied for several prestigious universities in Scotland and got several offers. A friend of my parents' had a daughter studying at Heriot-Watt at that time and her feedback about the university and about life in Scotland was absolutely excellent. My parents suggested I should go to the same place rather than somewhere I didn't know anyone, so I feel destiny brought me here."

His one-year MSc in business management at Heriot-Watt was "intensive" and covered everything he would need in a commercial career from marketing, accounting and strategic planning to economics.

About two months after graduating, Ray successfully applied for the job of Project Manager at Macdonald Air Tools in East Kilbride, which needed help sourcing forged metal components for its range of products, including pneumatic drills, from overseas. He joined the company in September 2006 as one of the first overseas students to benefit from the two-year Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland Scheme visa, and was subsequently granted a work permit.

"The scheme has been very helpful and very useful," Ray said of Fresh Talent. "The Scottish government absolutely did the right thing to give overseas students a chance to find their place and contribute to society, after all these years of learning."

Ray now goes back to China every two months to source suppliers from WuXi city, his home town and one of China's top three engineering centres.

"The job needs someone who knows both markets quite well, and while I was born Chinese in WuXi, I also have local knowledge of Scotland because I've lived here for about seven years. When I go to China, I know the people, I speak the language, I talk with them easily and understand them. They also understand me and they trust me."

Ray also understands the importance of good customer relationships in China - known as 'Guanxi' - and part of his role involves developing these with suppliers and partners.

His job also involves drafting contracts, organising shipments, stock and supply chain management, placing orders, making payments by international bank transfer, talking to workers on the shop floor and reporting to the board.

"There are so many things I've learned that I wouldn't get from a text book," Ray said. "The most enjoyable thing is feeling challenged every day. You may have to do something perfectly that you've never done before; there are always problems to be solved; projects requiring a watchful eye and people to talk to and explain your ideas to."

Since joining the company, Ray and his chairman, Alan King, have also started a new business, MacRay Trading, to provide consultancy and support to companies looking to source products and manufacture from China.

"Scotland is part of my life now," Ray said. "I have been living in Edinburgh and Glasgow for over seven years, which is almost a fourth of my lifetime, so it feels a like second home to me. I am proud to be a Chinese and also love Scotland very much. If you ask me if I have any long term plans to stay in Scotland, my answer is absolutely, yes."

Related links

• MacDonald Air Tools