Remembering My First Month at Blue Whale Media

The Apprenticeship Route

I guess the best place to start is why I chose to join Blue Whale Media as an apprentice. When I was about to leave college, I was determined to go to University. All I heard was how good it was and how it can get you any job you want and if you didn’t go, it was basically the end of your career. I started to look into courses at different universities and found one that seemed best suited to what I wanted to do.

After doing Information Technology at college, I had explored all areas and had an interest in Digital Marketing. I attended one open day at a university (not naming anyone) with my mum and dad. It seemed great living away from your parents and getting this big degree but the minute I found out the prospectus, I was instantly unimpressed. The course was based on everything but Digital Marketing and at the end of the presentation, they mentioned how part of the course was work experience and how this was the most important part of the course. Now you’re probably thinking exactly what I was thinking…isn’t that basically an apprenticeship?

After coming to that conclusion and talking to my mum and dad about, I decided to look into apprenticeships. At this point, I was still at college and hadn’t taken my exams yet so I had enough time to have a look around and find what was out there. I applied to many Digital Marketing apprenticeship roles with the help of different training companies.  I attended many interviews and got offered almost all of them but none of them felt 100% right for me. They were either not enough money, not fully focussed on digital marketing or there was simply no experience that I would gain by working there.

I was searching every day for just one role that I found exciting and that was close to where I lived! Finally, I found a job role at Blue Whale Media for a Digital Marketing Apprentice. Being the persistent person that I am, I wasted no time and called the office straight away. After finding out what I needed to do to apply, I got in contact with the apprenticeship training provider and booked in for an interview. After my interview, I was offered the job that day and then signed up to the apprenticeship course. I have recently found out that Blue Whale Media had already hired 2 other apprentices and wasn’t looking for a third one! I guess I was lucky and my advice is to go for it as persistence is key! 

My First Month at Blue Whale Media

When starting at Blue Whale Media, I was obviously nervous as it was my first real job, other than part time jobs I had when I was in college. My first month went so fast and I learnt so much to help me develop in the company and in my apprenticeship. As you already know, I joined as a Digital Marketing Apprenticeship whilst completing my course with a training provider. This meant that I would spend the majority of time at Blue Whale Media and would attend college lessons 2 times a month at the academy.

On my first day, I got to know everyone in the workplace and was given my very own workspace with my very own desk…this sounds so normal now but I was very excited! My first tasks were great to help me settle in and including setting up a work Facebook account, adding an email signature and the big task that scared me the most was creating statuses for Blue Whale Media. I had a bit of knowledge in what a good status was but I was still a bit nervous as it was my first day and I wanted to make a good impression. Once I started though I got the hang of it! After completing my first day, I was looking forward to see what other tasks were coming my way.

The World Of Blogs

Over the next few weeks at Blue Whale Media, I progressed by getting involved with more digital marketing tasks. One of the big tasks that I was given was the creating and scheduling of blog posts. This didn’t involve writing the blogs but instead adding the content to into the set-up layout in WordPress, using backlinks in the content, creating blog images using Photoshop and doing the SEO Yoast for the blog. I had no experience in doing this so I was exciting to be learning something news! I was taught by a step to step process with the Operations Manager/Website Designer, Stef, who explained what everything was and how to do it correctly. This became a regular task and helped me to understand WordPress a bit more.

Even though I now have now changed my job role within Blue Whale Media, blogs are still a big part of my working life. I now have the pleasure of teaching others how to create blog posts just like Stef taught me. I also get to check blog posts to make sure they are set up correctly as well as creating the actual blog strategies for clients and being the front person in creating them, contacting clients and passing them over to our content writers and my team. Don’t get me wrong, I still have to put a blog on WordPress from time to time!

How I have Developed

Even though I love reminiscing on my first day/month at Blue Whale Media, I also love where I am today! So, you’ve obviously guessed that I’m still at Blue Whale Media as I’m writing a blog for the website! I am now a Marketing Executive with a team of my own.

At the minute, I have 2 people in my team but hopefully as the company grows, so will my team! I have learnt so much since I’ve been here and can now pass this knowledge onto people in my team. I also have more responsibility within the company! I decide marketing plans, action ideas, have meetings with the MD to discuss progress and what we can do next. I understand that I still have a lot to learn but I am so grateful of the opportunity I have been given and am so determined to show what I can do and develop for not only myself but for Blue Whale Media too!  I could go on about so many things I have learnt and how I have developed, but I will honestly be here for hours!

The best thing about Blue Whale Media is how much experience I have gained by either the courses I have completed but mostly from the guidance and training I have received from the team members in the office!

What’s Coming Next?

No one can really say what’s coming next but I’m the sort of person that loves planning my future. Since I’ve been at Blue Whale Media, the team has grown so much and I’ve got a feeling we will continue to grow! When our team continues to grow, I hope to have more people in my team and more people to teach and manage. I enjoy managing my team at the moment and am looking forward to developing a bigger team. I am also looking into more courses to complete to widen my knowledge and help the company grow with my ideas. I also can’t wait till we have huge offices with a reception and a big fish tank! I can imagine a Google-like office…but that’s just me dreaming too much! I guess all I can do is keep you up to date!

If you would like to see how Blue Whale Media is developing or require any of help, you can always call our office on 01925 552050 or check out the rest of our website to see what services we offer and the latest events happening at Blue Whale Media! You can even contact us to see what my Marketing Team can do for you!