Why I Chose to do an Apprenticeship

Written by Professional Academy's Digital Marketing Apprentice Estelle Naderi

I get a lot of people asking me the same questions about my choice of path that I've decided to take. The most common are ‘why didn't you go to university?’, ‘Why are you doing an apprenticeship instead of working full time?’ and ‘well what are you going to do when it finishes?’.

Having finished two years at college I would have never imagined that I would be back in education. University was something that I never thought about until everyone I knew was getting offers, it made me realise that I had no actual plan after I finished my two years at college.

For me, I chose an apprenticeship because I wanted to learn more and gain experience about the Media industry, mainly the Marketing side of things, although I could of done this at University I felt that getting hands-on experience whilst learning would give me an advantage when I want to progress with my career.

Even though I'm only 5 months into my Digital Marketing apprenticeship, I've learnt many valuable skills whilst being at Professional Academy as well as being more confident in what I do. As part of my role at work, I must post material on social media (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). I sometimes create email campaigns, as well as creating content such as infographics or blogs (just like this one).

I have been given the independence that I wanted at Professional Academy alongside getting the training that is helping me to finish my apprenticeship. My manager recently helped me create a project / marketing plan for when he went on holiday and I had to keep a track on everything such as speaking to the PR company, taking calls (something that I wasn’t very good at when I started my apprenticeship) and making sure that the campaigns that I had been put in charge of ran smoothly.

I am so glad that I chose to do an apprenticeship as I wasn’t thrown into the deep end of things, I’ve been given the opportunity to learn more and more every day and been given more responsibility as the months go by.

“Well, what are you going to do when it finishes?”

As I’m almost at my half way point, I must start deciding what my next step is. The first thing on my to do list is to complete my apprenticeship assessments, so I can receive my Digital Marketing Level 3 qualification. I also hope to stay at Professional Academy and continue to learn all the ins and outs of Marketing from my Marketing Director, as well as progress onto Level 4!

If you would like to find out more about the apprenticeships that we offer visit our apprenticeships page. Our business development team would be happy to have a chat at any time on 01223 365 505 or via apprenticeships@professionalacademy.com.