George- Social Media And Digital Marketing Apprentice

Hi, I’m George and I work in the Marketing Department of Tameside College and I am doing a Level 3 Social Media and Digital Marketing Apprenticeship. My day to day tasks involve creating content for the College’s Facebook, Twitter, Google+ blogs, taking photographs around the College (for events and promotions) and dealing with queries on the College’s social media sites alongside assisting other team members if needs be.

After leaving Audenshaw School and completing my A-levels I decided that instead of going to university and having to spend another 3 years in full time education I would look for an apprenticeship so that I could earn some money and get experience in a real job but also so that I could get a qualification whilst I was doing it.  By chance I saw that the College were advertising Social Media Apprentice jobs on their website so I applied straight away.

The favourite part of my job is meeting new people and going to new places such as visiting companies for photoshoots. Before I started my apprenticeship I was very quiet but now my confidence has grown tenfold. The fact that I also really enjoy using social media at home is also a massive bonus and this makes me even more passionate about my job. The experience of working as part of a team and doing things that I would never do normally has been excellent.

My advice to anyone looking to be an apprentice would be to just go for it and make sure you try your best at everything you do. It is hard work but in the end its worth it because you will come out with a fantastic qualification and experience working in a real business which in the current economic climate companies desperately want. 

George’s manager said that “Having George as our Social Media Apprentice has been really beneficial because it means we can train him in the way we do things – it’s a pragmatic approach.  The extra resource allows us to take advantage of opportunities that appear in the College on a daily basis. It also benefits our brand because we have consistency of message and tone through one person. It also benefits the whole marketing team as it means our social media plans are executed on time and we can listen to our online community effectively. It’s great for George too because he can learn best practice while he earns and in the future he will be able to turn his social media skills into a career.”