Recruiting an Apprentice – Was it the right decision?

Why did I want to employ an apprentice?

As a manager looking to recruit young marketing graduates into my team, I was disappointed to find that many of the applicants, while they had good business qualifications, most had no relevant digital marketing skills and experience. As our job requires digital marketing skills, this essential requirement left me with a skills gap.

By employing an apprentice, we could offer a job with training to develop a very specific set of skills. As a College who supports employers with apprenticeship training, I thought it would be good practice to employ an apprentice, and help to develop Ayrshire’s young workforce. An apprenticeship appeals to those who know that a full time course is not the best way for them to learn. Instead, they learn on the job. Some are put off going to university, because they are worried about building up student debt. With an apprenticeship, you earn while you learn.

We were lucky to get funding for the post from the Ayrshire College Foundation, and I recruited Ayrshire College’s first apprentice – Catriona Cook. Catriona was also the first person in Scotland to be registered for the Diploma in Digital Marketing, and is likely to be the first one to complete the qualification.

In case you missed it, you can catch up with how Catriona got on, by reading her latest blog, ‘I am a Digital Marketing Apprentice. Do you want to know what that is?’ which she wrote for Scottish Apprenticeship Week 2018.

How have we benefited from having an apprentice on our team?

I asked my team what were the top three things Catriona contributed to our team and here’s what they had to say:

ENERGY, ENTHUSIASM AND “BREATH OF FRESH AIR” CHANGING THE DYNAMICS OF THE TEAM

Knowledge has increased – from day one Catriona has been learning specific digital marketing skills and has made a positive contribution to our team. She developed a specialist knowledge, and has been a great support to her colleagues.

Motivation has increased. I genuinely think I have a more motivated and satisfied workforce, as everyone has contributed to her development, and we are proud of her progress and achievements.

Productivity has increased. Catriona is creative and wrote posts for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. She created video content and contributed ideas for all our campaigns. As a result, we were able to increase the engagement and reach of our social media. Ayrshire College has been crowned the best college in the UK for Twitter over the past two years by the social media ranking tool, Edurank. It’s been a team effort and our modern apprentice has made a significant contribution to winning this award.

What are the outcomes of this apprenticeship?

Positive learning experience – Catriona tells us that she feels she has finally found out what she is good at. Digital marketing is something she developed confidence in and enjoys. From someone who had no knowledge about marketing and had limited experience using a computer, she has surprised herself with her new skills. You can listen to her thoughts on this here:

Networking opportunity – through all the work Catriona has been involved in, she has begun to develop her professional network and all the support and encouragement this brings.

Inspiring others – One of Catriona’s proudest moments is returning to her old school, meeting one of her teachers, and making a good impression in her presentation about working as an apprentice. By delivering several school and college presentations, I am sure Catriona has inspired many others to either become an apprentice, or consider digital marketing as a career.

Her motto is – Go for it and learn in a way that suits you.

Here is a podcast with Catriona giving her advice to anyone thinking about a career in digital marketing:

Shared learning opportunities for our team – as Catriona has learned about digital marketing, we have invested in more training so that the whole team has benefited. It’s been the catalyst we all needed to enhance our skills too. There has been a huge increase in training requests from the wider team.

Innovative projects – Catriona focused on our #ThisAyrshireGirlCan campaign to tackle gender inequalities in STEM. She established a network called Ayrshire Connects to support women studying or working in STEM in Ayrshire.

Creative Communications – One of Catriona’s legacies is the creation of the Ayrshire College Foundation website, newsletters, blog and social media sites. Sponsorship of her apprenticeship has helped the foundation raise awareness of their work.

Job success – the best outcome of all for Catriona, has been securing a full time job with South Ayrshire Council, as a Communications Officer promoting sport and leisure. It’s a great job, and with her enthusiasm, confidence and new skills she will help them make a difference to many peoples’ lives.

The next adventure begins

Of course, we are disappointed we can’t keep Catriona in our team. (We have no vacancies) Was it the right decision to recruit an apprentice? Absolutely! In the ‘Year of Young People’, we have helped Catriona to start her career. We feel privileged to have helped her realise her potential, and we’re proud of her achievement. She has developed into a fantastic digital marketer, who has a bright future ahead of her. And when a vacancy comes along – I hope she applies!

Meanwhile we continue with our development of young people who aspire to have a career in marketing. We welcome Scott Clark HNC Photography and Angela Leishman, HNC Administration and IT students who are starting a summer internship with us. Watch this space…

#digitalmarketing #modernapprenticeships #StartHereGoAnywhere #internships