GetMyFirstJob Ambassador
Hello, I Am Francesca
If you’re unsure about starting an apprenticeship, I would definitely say to do it!
Tell us more about your experience
I work within the marketing department at Sage to help produce and edit content for our blog and podcast. When it comes to the blog, I have loads of creative freedom and get to create a range of different marketing materials. At the moment, I’m working on a downloadable guide which is really exciting! I also work closely with the social media team to promote media content and keep our messages consistent throughout our platforms. For the podcast, I work with internal departments and external agencies to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Additionally, I work on the promotional side of things for the podcast, making sure everyone knows when our episodes are launching, as well as creating the show notes for our blog. I do a lot of platform management tasks, ensuring that everything behind-the-scenes is working efficiently too. This includes running audits on our websites, conducting reports, helping with translations, and selecting new images. It’s a very creative role and no two days are the same.
“I love my job at Sage and I’m lucky to be involved in so many amazing things!”
I’m currently working on a really exciting guide that goes into detail about the experiences of different entrepreneurs. It’ll cover everything from how they started their business, the advice they’d give, and busting business myths people might come across. I have worked on this project the entire way through, coming up with guests that have interesting stories, creating questions, conducting interviews, and putting it all together to create the guide. I am so proud of it because I’ve worked on every aspect of it and had so much freedom. The stories and advice from the entrepreneurs are amazing, so I hope I do them justice. I can’t wait to finish it and have it live on our blog!
My proudest moment so far is when I presented my guide concept to the wider marketing team. Not only did I present the concept and how it’s different from other content, but I had to convince the other marketing departments why they should be involved. I used this time to explain to the social media team why they should promote this content and how. It was a daunting prospect to pitch my ideas to around 40 people, but I’m so proud that I did and how amazing it went. Everyone was so supportive and got on board straight away, they loved the idea and were more than happy to help. It boosted my confidence and can’t wait to have more moments like that in the future.
“I decided to go down the apprenticeship route as I knew I wanted to dive straight into a career for myself.”
I knew I didn’t want to go to university, but I was never really exposed to apprenticeships in detail or given much guidance in finding one. Once I finished college, I went straight into a job that I thought was perfect, but I felt unsupported and like I was thrown in at the deep end. After attempting a few different roles at different companies, I stumbled across apprenticeships and decided to take a more in-depth look at them. That’s when I realised it was the perfect opportunity for me!
Apprenticeships provide you with so much support and training so you never feel like you don’t know what you’re doing or that you can’t ask for help. There are so many people around you that are there to support your growth and help you get to where you want to go. It’s a great combination of gaining invaluable experience and learning new skills along the way. For me, it was the perfect middle ground between studying and taking those steps to build a career.
If you’re unsure about starting an apprenticeship, I would definitely say to do it! I have had quite a few jobs, and I can say for a fact that none of them come close to my apprenticeship experience. I enjoy coming to work every day, I feel so supported by my team, my learning provider, and other apprentices I’ve met on my journey. I have so many amazing opportunities available to me because of my apprenticeship and I wish I’d gone straight into one after finishing college.
“It’s hard work, having to juggle your studies and the workload, but it’s all worth it!”
My employer has given me amazing support with the apprenticeship and gets involved whenever they can. They’ve given me so much flexibility, so I can choose to cross into other teams and work on projects that align with my studies. I feel like my apprenticeship and role are balanced really well. My college has been with me every step of the way and I regularly have meetings with my tutor to discuss my progress, in my apprenticeship and at work.
There’s lots of flexibility and my college sets me tasks that I complete at work. I have met other apprentices studying my course and we meet monthly to discuss our roles and learn from each other – it’s a great community. One of the biggest skills my apprenticeship has taught me is to trust myself. I’m so much more confident than before! In other jobs I might have stayed quiet or hid in the corner, but now I’m happy to shout about my ideas and get involved where I can. I’m excited to try new things, even to make mistakes, because I know I’m in a safe place with room to grow.
“Both my tutor ad the staff at my college are so welcoming and they ensure my well-being is a priority.”
When I complete my apprenticeship, I’m hoping to become a Content Editor with Sage – this is something I’m actually already working towards. However, there are so many incredible opportunities with Sage, so I’m confident that if I change my career goals, they’d help me 100% of the way. I’m so excited to see where my apprenticeship will take me and the new experiences that are yet to come!
Interested in becoming an ambassador? Find out more!