My apprenticeship journey: growth, challenges and success
I am writing this having officially completed my Level 3 Marketing Assistant apprenticeship. I was expecting to wait 2 weeks to hear back from the assessors about my result, however they came early – and with the amazing news that I had been awarded a distinction! I am so happy, and relieved that all my hard work over the last 18 months has been recognised, and coupled with the fact that I’ve been shortlisted for a Multicultural Apprenticeship Award AND I have been offered a permanent job role in my current team, it’s been a really great month! Thank you to my team at Mindful Education and my tutor Georgie at Weston College for all your support over the past 18 months.
While it’s still fresh in my mind, my manager suggested I write about my apprenticeship experience to capture all the opportunities and challenges I have faced along the way. I wanted to start at the beginning, and address why I chose the apprenticeship route. I made this choice when I was in my final year of sixth form because I knew university wasn’t for me, and I wanted to try something new where I could study, but also develop my career and gain a lot of experience in the world of work.
My interest in marketing originated during the pandemic. During this time I observed the world around me going through so many big changes and uncertainties. Loads of businesses were struggling, however some were seeming to thrive. It left me pondering, what were the factors driving the fate of these companies? I came to understand that marketing was playing a huge role, which really got me interested in it as a possible career.
So, what are some of the main things I’ve learnt during my apprenticeship? The truth is I have learnt more than I could have imagined over the past 18 months, both from my tutor and my team at work.
Firstly, I’ve become a lot more confident in communicating concepts, ideas and opinions to my colleagues throughout the company. I have also worked on tailoring content and writing to different audiences across a range of platforms – from social media, website and email, to face to face events.
I’ve also developed project and management skills by being involved in a number of cross-collaborative projects with other teams. These have really helped to diversify the way I approach my work.
Time and priority management is something which I have continuously built upon throughout my apprenticeship. There have been lots of times when work has become very busy, and I’ve had to prioritise what I’m working on. This is especially difficult when working on projects with different teams who have different priorities.
However the main challenge for me was not being perfect at everything on the first try, especially when I started my apprenticeship. However, I knew that learning is a process which takes time, especially when diving head first into a totally new environment. Needless to say, I was quite eager when I started! I simply had to adjust and show patience when everything wasn’t as straight forward as I hoped.
If I were to give some advice to anyone considering an apprenticeship, I would say they are a wonderful opportunity and offer so much in today’s day and age. I suggest that any aspiring apprentices do their research and take up free training courses. I personally did two traineeships in marketing prior to my apprenticeship here, which gave me a basic understanding of marketing and solidified my decision to pursue it further.
My second piece of advice is to openly and clearly communicate what you want from your team at work. Have clear goals of what you would like to do and achieve within your apprenticeship and how you would like to go about it. My apprenticeship journey may have concluded, however, if there is one key thing I have taken away from this is that learning is a lifelong journey and will continue beyond the realms of education.
Now…onto my Level 4!
Salka recently completed a marketing apprenticeship with us, she is now a permanent member of the team. She supports with various projects from social media and events, to digital advertising and copywriting.
