I’ll be honest, when I was growing up there weren’t apprenticeships for anything in the marketing field. Apprenticeships were for manual trades, and something people did instead of A Levels. Until a former employee applied for her role having completed a Digital Marketing apprenticeship, I didn’t know they existed. Although Golden Frog was her first role since her apprenticeship, and she didn’t have a degree or any other work experience, I could see from the moment I interviewed her that she was switched on, and knew exactly what she was talking about.

Personally, I took the academic route into my role, I did a degree and then a postgraduate diploma in Public Relations. In total six years of academia. Now about to show my age, I am lucky that my degree wasn’t at a time when we came out tens of thousands in debt due to tuition fees, and I was also very fortunate that my employer funded my diploma as part of my CPD (thanks Cranfield University).

Nowadays, I would consider six years of academia in digital marketing, or any marketing for that matter, a pointless waste of time and money. Facts and strategies that were learnt in the first term would have the potential to be outdated by the end of the first year. Give another five years, and all that’s happened is a huge waste of time, and an enormous debt build up.

When our lovely former apprentice decided to move on, it seemed to me a no-brainer to look into the possibility of hiring an apprentice ourselves, and so we started the process. We went with VQ Solutions through a recommendation. I was absolutely bowled over by the level of interest in the role (we had hundreds of applicants), and when I met Joe and Evie I knew they would be absolutely right for the job.

I’m a firm believer in being able to teach skills, and hiring on the basis of attitude. Joe and Evie had bounds of enthusiasm, and a sunny disposition that I could see fitting into our team immediately.

As part of the apprenticeship, Joe and Evie undertakes a day a week (or 20% of their time) of applied study. The study they does is supplemented by assignments which reflect the day to day work within our company. They have access to tools and resources that we don’t, and every bit of their learning is relevant now, and able to be immediately applied. I firmly believe in empowering my team to work to their strengths. Through a combination of this, and the ongoing support of VQ Solutions, Joe and Evie will complete their apprenticeships with a full understanding of the role they want to play in a digital marketing agency, as well as having earnt throughout, not accruing the tens of thousands of pounds of debt that she might have gathered during a degree.

In addition to bringing on an apprentice, I have been able to bring one of my existing team into a mentoring role, something which has been a boost to his confidence as well. We’ve never looked back, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the apprentice route to other agencies, or candidates.

Here’s what the team said about hiring an Apprentice:

Why be an Apprentice:

The benefits of having a Mentor | Apprentice View: 

The benefits of having an Apprentice | Mentor view: