My journey to becoming C4B Media’s Apprentice…
In 2014 Julia, the Marketing Strategy Director of C4B, came into my school and gave a presentation at a careers day. I was so engaged and drawn to everything Julia was sharing about working at C4B Media and what it was like in the marketing industry – I wanted in!
Knowing that we would be going to do work experience in a couple of months, I emailed her with my interest of doing my placement at C4B. I was very artsy and creative in school but was unsure what to do with this passion – since then learning about the roles within a marketing agency, I started to think about a career in digital illustration.
In 2015, I had a 2-week work experience placement at C4B Media. I enjoyed every day of my 2 weeks here and am truly grateful for the experience. I was lucky enough afterwards to be one of few people my age (14 years old) to have a rough idea of what the industry I wanted to work in after discovering my enthusiasm for marketing, social media and design. You can read about what I did during my work experience placement in the blog I wrote for C4B Media 5 years ago here!
Fast forward a few years; I stayed in contact with Julia, giving her life updates throughout the years and asking for advice about what subjects to choose when applying for my GCSE course’s to help with my dream of a career in marketing – and then again with my A-Levels. Unfortunately, A-Levels weren’t for me and I decided to look for apprenticeships. Forward on again to 2019, I had completed my apprenticeship in Customer Service at a local building society.
By coincidence (or fate?!) C4B started advertising for a Digital Marketing apprentice!
I went through a series of interviews with the directors and spoke about my ever-lasting dream to work for C4B and to be part of a design team – still with the mindset of wanting to become a digital illustrator. After a couple of weeks, I got the news that I had been successful; I was going to be C4B’s apprentice!
Not only was this my ambition, but it also showed more hope and confidence in my future. After learning college wasn’t for me, and not having any experience or qualifications for my dream career – I felt I had lost all chances of doing what I ACTUALLY wanted to do! Of course, I knew I would get a new job eventually, but I didn’t think I would ever get closer to my daydream of being part of a marketing team.
Six months on and I can safely say my ambition is continually growing! My career goals have changed after learning more in depth information about different roles in a marketing team and the experience I already have. Although my design eye is still alive, there are other directions I want to go in to push myself further. This is from the help of being around inspiring people daily, being given responsibility and opportunity regularly, and the knowledge I have learnt on my apprenticeship course in Digital Marketing.
I truly believe that apprenticeships are the way forward – college and university isn’t for everyone. Even if you have a glimpse of interest for a particular job/industry or even, want to get into a work environment while getting something out of it (not just money!) – go for it! The opportunities apprenticeships can welcome are endless. I personally cannot be more grateful for the genius that came up with the idea of apprenticeships, and more importantly everyone at C4B Media for helping and supporting me every day – thank you team C4B!
Alice x
