NATIONAL CAREERS WEEK - ERIN, DIGITAL MARKETING APPRENTICE

Whether you’ve been thinking about applying for an apprenticeship or you’re considering taking on an apprentice in your business we’re excited to be kicking off National Careers Week with this interview with Erin! She's one of our Digital Marketing Apprentices working at Pendle Sportswear in Ilkley:

‘I started out at university studying Biological Sciences. I completed a year and found I wasn’t enjoying my course. When I was at uni, I got involved with societies and had the chance to make some social media posts for those. That was when I realised that I liked the social media side of things and enjoyed graphic design. When I left uni, I was looking for creative roles similar to that and I came across digital marketing. I knew that I wanted to do an apprenticeship and learn by doing. I found uni very time consuming and I didn’t think I would get anything out of it in the end; I'd just get the degree and be in no better position if I didn’t want to go into my field of study.

I saw that Pendle Sportswear were advertising a digital marketing apprenticeship with Shipley College so I applied and started in December 2022. My favourite module has been the digital marketing principles, it covers the essential parts of planning campaigns and how to engage people on different platforms. My tutor Tim works in the marketing space and has a lot of knowledge about new technologies like ChatGPT and how marketers can use them. It's really interesting to have that knowledge from him.

I would definitely recommend doing an apprenticeship, I know what it's like to be at university and do an apprenticeship so I have an insight into both. An apprenticeship works better for me because I get to be in a workplace and understand what daily life is like for a digital marketer. I’m also getting first-hand experience of the skills I am learning in college which really strengthens my understanding. If I’d done this course at uni, I feel it would have been more difficult because it's more theoretical and less practical than an apprenticeship. The cost side of things also influenced me, I'm getting paid for working whilst studying rather than building up student loans I will need to pay off. I don’t think I realised how much debt I’d accumulate by going to university!

We're always encouraged to watch webinars and keep up to date with what's going on in the industry so I definitely want to keep up with that when I've finished my apprenticeship. I can then help to implement new tools that will improve the efficiency of our work at Pendle. Also, keep on top of the best ways to target customers on different platforms since it’s such a fast-moving industry.

My manager Nathan did this course and my other co-worker Laura also did an apprenticeship so it's nice we have all had a similar experience. I already create social media posts and emails for Pendle and more recently, I've started on the SEO and analytics side of things which I’m finding really interesting.