How I secured a digital marketing apprenticeship at a $265 billion company

From Passion to Profession: My Dive into Digital Marketing and the Birth of a Successful Social Media Agency

My journey started with me taking a genuine interest in digital marketing, and how the biggest brands in the world promoted themselves online. I was particularly fascinated by how powerful social media is as a tool to connect a business to prospects and build loyal communities. I would consume as much content around this as I could, following experts on social media and YouTube, and I did any social media course I could find.

Like most people in my generation (Gen Z what’s up), I have a lot of friends who have their own startups and small businesses and in the casual conversations where these would come up I’d find myself making suggestions based on what I have seen work for experts/successful organisations, modifying to work for their specific business needs. They’d love the ideas, try them out and see results so would come back to me for more ideas. Word spread and before I knew it I was receiving paid proposals. Due to the demand, I decided to start my own social media agency which I ran for 3 years, taking on a total of 24 clients and achieving results like growing a client’s social following by 1000% within 6 months.

Navigating Digital Marketing: Certification, CV Crafting, and Apprenticeship Applications

I decided to delve further into the world of marketing by exploring courses that taught other aspects of digital marketing, after using sites like coursera, udemy and digital marketing institute to research the best beginner courses I opted for the ‘Fundamentals of Digital Marketing’ by Google as my first certification. This was a great introduction as it covered a broad range of topics such as; websites, email marketing, SEO, SEM, social media marketing, paid search, paid social etc. You also receive a certificate from Google once you successfully complete the final assessment, and it’s free. Meanwhile, I put together my CV, ensuring it was specific to digital marketing and started applying to apprenticeship programs on sites like gov.uk/apprenticeships, findmyfirstjob.com and directly with training providers that offer programs like Multi-Channel Marketer, Marketing Executive, or degree apprenticeships. When applying to roles I was able to draw on my previous experience, this coupled with the knowledge gained from courses gave me a comprehensive understanding of the marketing industry which set me apart from other candidates; I had more talking points, I had answers to questions that I wouldn’t have had otherwise, and I came in knowing this was a career I truly wanted to pursue.

Preparing for your apprenticeship interview: apprenticeship interviews are job interviews

My next tip is to prepare thoroughly for your interviews. As my prep I researched the company I was interviewing with, using google, linkedin, glassdoor and any publications or other pieces of information I could find. I also researched the most asked interview questions for an aspiring digital marketing apprentice and made an extensive list on google docs, I then came up with answers to these questions and created bullet points to summarise. This meant that instead of memorising my answers word for word and regurgitating them like a robot at interviews, I would have an understanding of what it is I’m trying to convey and let the answer flow naturally. I made sure to practise my answers over and over before each interview till I was comfortable answering without using the prompts. Continuously iterating my list of questions and answers based on what was coming up in my interviews. These actions made me feel calm, confident and gave me conviction when speaking with interviewers. Which in turn allowed me to secure my Digital Marketing Apprenticeship with Salesforce, a cloud-based software company, in 3 months. In all my interviews I asked what they were looking for in a candidate and let me tell you a secret… Every single organisation was more concerned with the personal qualities of the individual rather than whether you had all the skills – it is an apprenticeship after all, and they believed the right candidate could be taught the necessary skills. The recurring answers were “a genuine interest in digital marketing, the motivation to succeed, determination to learn, and most importantly values that align with the company’s own”. So make sure you highlight these in your interviews and do adequate research on the business so you can draw on parallels in yours and their values. 

An extra piece of advice I would give you is to make sure you ask for feedback from your unsuccessful interviews so you can gain an understanding of what you did well and where you can improve. Do your best not to take any criticism personally, if it’s valid then take time out to work on it – it’s only going to benefit you in the long run.

Key takeaways:

1. Study – courses, youtube videos, certifications (Google Fundamentals of Digital Marketing)
2. Gain experience – freelance, volunteer, friends and family.
3. Create CV and apply – make your CV marketing specific.
4. Use sites like – gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship, getmyfirstjob.co.uk, or specific apprenticeship provider websites.
5. Interview prep – research company and research/practise common questions.
6. Ask for feedback – knowing what you did well and where you can improve will only make you better.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! If you’ve found this article useful, be sure to connect with me on LinkedIn.