First Month as a Junior Content Producer Apprentice at Apprentify!
My First Month as a Junior Content Producer Apprentice at Apprentify!
I can’t believe I’ve been a Junior content producer at Apprentify for a month now, whilst I feel like I haven’t fully settled in yet, I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable about where I fit in and what I’m doing. I’m also getting more used to working from home, but as someone who’s never really used Microsoft Teams before, I have found it rather challenging to reach out and establish relationships with everyone. I suppose if we were in office there’d be more chats than there is over Teams. I do rather like being at home, as it means if I don’t have any calls, I can just sit in my pyjamas doing work (the comfy factor is a plus). It also gives me space to be creative due to having all my own software at home. However, it does have some draw backs…… whilst I was doing voice recordings the other day, my younger brother started screaming at his video game, which was particularly frustrating as I was struggling not to get tongue tied reading the script I had written. (Note to self - next script - not as wordy and fewer S’s).
I’ve started a few projects this month. I’ve been into the office a couple of times and taken my filming equipment to record introduction videos for the development coaches, though the first time I did forget my SD card (Sorry Dale). I’ve also made some videos with an animated character (say hello to Apprentify Annie).
Apprentify Annie
In total I’ve made about 10 videos this month, some still need some further edits, and some have been completed and approved. Ten videos might not seem a lot, but the render time of these videos has been ridiculous sometimes, it’s really demonstrated that I should go into these projects with a clear idea of what needs to be included and some of the video specifics. Before joining Apprentify I would create videos for my Instagram, I was just editing clips of shows and characters I liked, and the creativity would just come to me naturally. Now I’m making videos for more practical purposes, so I really must think about how to make it more engaging - right now I’m thinking about how to make data look interesting! My boss Dale told me that campaign planning is up next in my online lessons, so I’m sure I’ll find this useful going forward.
I’ve started doing some of the social media plan ideas that I started in my first week, the first one being for International Women’s day. At Apprentify we have a team catch-up meeting on Monday, so I suggested in support of the day we should all wear purple, as it’s one of International Women’s Days colours. I did find myself writing my message in word before posting it to the Team Apprentify chat, just to make sure I didn’t embarrass myself by not making sense or (god forbid) a spelling mistake. I am also starting work on a project with Rebecca, (a development coach at Apprentify), on promoting health and fitness to apprentices. Rebecca had an idea of having a post each month to promote a different way an apprentice could improve their health (mentally and physically). Rebecca herself is an avid runner, so we thought it’d be good to do a post on running, maybe something about couch to 5k.
One of the great things about working for Apprentify, is I’m surrounded by development coaches and so every time I speak to any of them, they are super helpful and always make sure I know I can come to them for more help if I need it. This reassurance and support are exactly what I need as a young person in my first job. I think having that extra support has really helped me feel more comfortable doing the small things, for example just speaking while I’m in the office, on my first few times in the office I struggled talking, asking for help, etc, as it made me feel anxious. But now I do find myself talking in an office environment and on Teams even though I may not still be the best at speaking up, it’s nice to not be as anxious speaking and having a little more confidence in myself.
Something I have noticed to be more challenging from a non-work-related perspective is that there’s been a massive change to my work-life balance, especially considering before my apprenticeship I had much more free time on my hands to talk to my friends, most of them either still being in college or at university, so we now have quite different schedules. I find it strange that now we have to plan time to talk rather than just randomly calling one another.
In other news, I had my first coaching call with Sharon (Development Coach) and it was nice to tell someone what I had been struggling with (mainly time management) and she gave me some good tips in how I could manage my time better by using SMART targets. Getting along with my Bud work as well, I completed my Google Digital Garage. I was supposed to complete it over the course of my Apprenticeship, i.e., doing a few modules a month, but being eager and not a very attentive reader I mis-read the part about only needing to do the first few. So, I’ve completed the lot, oops!! Hopefully, this will save me sometime in future though! I still have a few tasks to complete like updating my LinkedIn with more about me, my experiences, and interests etc.
I have really enjoyed my first month at Apprentify and my first taste my working life (although I must admit I do miss my daily lie-ins massively). Working has given me more of a sense of purpose – as strange as that may sound, especially in the current COVID world we live in, and I’ve started enjoying my hobbies more again. Before, all I was doing was my hobbies, and I was starting to get some hobby burn out, if that’s even a thing. If you want to read more in depth on what I did in my first and second weeks make sure to check my other blogs!
How do I find out more?
If, like me, you want to start your career in digital marketing through an apprenticeship then get in touch with the team through our Contact page.
-Julia ?