Italian Graduate profile: Peter Sherrard
Peter Sherrard graduated in Italian and French in 1998, and went on to work in senior management with Ryanair. He was Country Manager for Italy, and later became Director of Communications with the airline before switching to the same role with the Football Association of Ireland. He took up his post with the FAI at the same time that the Irish national team acquired its first Italian manager, Giovanni Trapattoni.
We asked Peter how Italian studies had worked out for him. He replied: "Italian is a huge asset and helped to open many doors early in my career. Being a niche skill, it gives rise to all sorts of experience which would not normally be available to most arts graduates. With self belief, luck and desire to learn quickly, Italian graduates can soon find themselves managing complex business situations and given responsibilities far greater than offered to their peers. There are so few of us, that employers can often have little choice but to do so. "In my own case, I was made county manager for Italy, (Ryanair's second largest market after the UK) at the age of 26. I would never have had this opportunity so early on, were it not for my knowledge of Italian. Although my last two jobs were not dependant on Italian and drew instead on the other skills it had allowed me to access, I still try to use it wherever I can. The current Italian flavour of Ireland's football team management means that I am not short of opportunities."
Peter Sherrard speaking at the Cork Chamber of Commerce