For many September is the ‘new January’ – a time for seeking new experiences and challenges after the summer holidays are over. That was definitely the case for me, when I joined Headland’s apprenticeship scheme in the autumn of 2022, having completed my A Levels, ready to embark on my career in public relations. Commuting from my quiet hometown to London to start my first job at the age of 18 was daunting at first, it was out of my comfort zone and a different career path to my peers in school.
Despite my original fears over whether a job in the city had my name on it, my apprenticeship provided me with experiences, learnings and skills that equipped me to take on new responsibilities and challenges as a Trainee Account Executive.
Communicate, communicate and communicate some more…
Communication was no doubt the biggest skill I learned as an apprentice. It is no surprise that successful communication comes from well-managed and built relationships. As the newest (and most junior) member to all of my teams, I ensured to follow a piece of advice that almost every colleague had told me: “Be a sponge and absorb as much as you can.” This piece of advice was crucial, it encouraged me to challenge myself to start conversations with colleagues and clients to help find my feet.
Working in PR means communicating internally with colleagues and externally with clients, journalists, influencers and government officials. Whether it be virtual calls, in-person meetings or emails, I had to adapt to engaging with different individuals using numerous formats.
This took some practice with a portfolio that spans Headland’s range of clients in different sectors where one day I could announce a business’ financial results to another where I am working on a toilet roll company’s new (cheeky) campaign. Through practice, alongside support of my colleagues my communication skills developed significantly.
Collaboration is crucial
Working on a range of internal and client teams means adapting to different demands and varying my skill set to meet expectations. In order to achieve great results for our clients, collaboration is crucial. I have learned the importance of sharing information, keeping colleagues updated and working together as a team to produce high quality results for clients.
Early in my apprenticeship, I had attended a client planning session, hosted and organised an event and was managing a client’s social media channel. A year later, I had supported with the planning of a Capital Markets Day, managed an influencer campaign, went back to my school to speak to sixth form students about my experience and supported a client with a huge decarbonisation funding announcement.
While I worked hard to help all these things happen, I couldn’t have done them on my own. Collaborating with my colleagues across the agency was essential.
Confidence to embracing new experiences
Starting my apprenticeship involved all the typical ‘back to school’-type fears, asking myself what do I wear or what does my week look like? The timings of a work world were new to me – having been in a school environment for 14 years the lack of a bell ringing to tell me my day was complete, was slightly strange…
I also had to navigate commuting in and out of London, alone – something I hadn’t done before. Most importantly, I was given the opportunity to work with well-known businesses, FTSE250s and industry bodies. Naturally, I was so excited and eager to start working with incredible businesses but also worried about how I could make an impact as someone so junior.
Embracing new experiences, despite my fears led to the development of my confidence skills, which played a role in my career development when graduating as an apprentice and becoming a Trainee. Being a Trainee, comes with more responsibility, more clients and more opportunities. During my first few months as a Trainee, I have been a speaker on a panel event, worked on a digital campaign across several platforms and even attended my first client trip!
As I moved from an apprentice to a Trainee Account Executive, the three key learnings (or the three Cs) I took along with me were to communicate, collaborate and (have) confidence.
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