Ever considered a digital marketing apprenticeship? In this blog we ask our own digital marketing apprentice, Sarah King, 10 questions to understand how her apprenticeship has benefited her career so far.

1. What inspired you to pursue a digital marketing apprenticeship?

“I knew that I wanted to further my career in marketing once I began working at Supplytrain. Yet, I didn’t want to go to university to do learn. Instead,  I wanted to gain on-the-job experience and the skills that come along with that, and I knew I would be supported well in the work place. An apprenticeship seemed like the right option. 

2. How has your apprenticeship been different to what you expected?

Because it’s taught remotely, I thought there would be a lot of independent work and not a lot of socialising. However, I have 3-4 lessons a month with other people and when we are not in a lesson we are set group tasks. So, even though I am doing this apprenticeship virtually, there is still that opportunity to come together as a class.

 3. What skills have you learnt through your digital marketing apprenticeship that you would not have learnt otherwise?

I have learnt a lot about reading analytics, understanding your target audience and how to market a business/service. I am the only one here at Supplytrain that studies marketing and is doing a Digital Marketing Apprenticeship, so I would not of gained that knowledge and insight just through solo research.

4. How has your apprenticeship impacted your career goals?

I never went to university because I had no idea what I wanted to do or what the right career was for me when I was 18. I have always been interested in social media, writing and the idea of marketing but I never got involved with anything like that until I got this job. So, when the opportunity of doing a Level 3 Digital Marketing apprenticeship came up, I jumped at the chance.

The further into the apprenticeship I got, I realised marketing is definitely where I see my career going and it has made me think more about where I want it to take me. I would love to move into a full-time marketing role in the future!

5. What advice would you give to someone considering an apprenticeship?

I would advise that you find out as much as you can about the apprenticeship and what you will be studying. This is so that feel more prepared and less nervous about starting.

Also, everyone at the company knows you are learning, so do not feel afraid to ask questions if you are confused or need help with something.

6. What kind of support and guidance have you received from your training provider?

I have a one-to-one coaching call with my development coach every month where we talk about what I have learnt during my Digital Marketing Apprenticeship and what I am working on. She also shares links to loads of different sites that can help me with writing blogs, posting on social media and different marketing tactics.

I also get asked in these sessions how I am finding the apprenticeship, any issues I have or anything I feel I need more help and support with. I find having these sessions really useful because it is comforting knowing I have that one-on-one support. If I ever feel stressed about task deadlines, my development coach will always go away and alter the dates for me to help balance the work load.

7. What has been your biggest challenge during your apprenticeship and how did you overcome it?

At first I found it hard to manage my time – juggling work and my apprenticeship studies. What really helped me was that one of my apprenticeship tasks was to take a time management course. This course gave me tools to prioritise my tasks.

I also spoke to my development coach and my manager about time management and we put a weekly schedule together to help me manage my apprenticeship work and my work with Supplytrain better.

8. Can you describe a typical day in your apprenticeship?

As I do a digital marketing apprenticeship, a lot of my work revolves around social media but it is not always as easy as it sounds.

Fridays have been dedicated to my marketing day and I use this time to put together a social media plan for the following week for Supplytrain. I go off and find out what news articles are trending, I create different adverts to help promote our services and the jobs we are advertising, I write blogs and then upload them onto our website (like this one!) and I research any national holidays coming up that we can create a post around them.

I will then schedule these posts on Buffer to come out at certain times and dates and then have a look at our analytics for the week just gone to find out what has worked and what has not worked. My typical day involves a lot of researching, creating posts and engaging with our audience online.

9. What type of training have you received during your digital marketing apprenticeship?

My manager and I decided it would be useful for me to learn more about Google and Facebook Ads. We mentioned this to my development coach who then went away and found a class I could join for this online. I also get to receive on the job training by implementing what I learn through my apprenticeship in my role at Supplytrain.

10. What do you hope to accomplish by the end of your apprenticeship?

 I would like to accomplish my qualification in Level 3 Digital Marketing and then be able to move into a full-time marketing role here at Supplytrain. I would like to have also gained lots of knowledge and skills to be able to confidently handle Supplytrain’s website and social media which can then gain us more work and support our growing business.