Blog by Work Experience Student, Sarah McGann
My school required students preparing for A-levels to complete a week of self-organised work experience. I decided to do work experience with Core Technology Systems (Core), because I wanted to learn more about marketing, and the importance of the marketing team within a business. This experience would also support me in exploring in new ideas for my future and gain an understanding of the role of a marketing and sales team.
My work experience with Core was different, because it was done remotely. This means all members of the marketing team were working from home, in different parts of the country, so I also worked from home. This also meant that the marketing team would have to find new ways to show me what they do, and set me tasks over the week.
I spent a lot of time shadowing the team, learning about what they do, collaborating on tasks, whilst also being given some independent work.
My experience and learnings
Throughout the week, I had calls with each of the team, where I learnt about what they do, how they do it, and how their role fits into the overall marketing strategy. This included the use of different websites and platforms used to create blogs, social media posts, emails, and calls with customers and prospects. I was also shown how to use different marketing platforms like HubSpot and Apollo. Furthermore, I was given the opportunity to listen in on meetings to see how the team would come up with new propositions or messaging to market new solutions. These calls also gave me insight on how they work together as a team to improve.
I was trusted to do work on websites, and support data cleansing and labelling. In being trusted to do this, it gave me confidence to do more tasks, and feel welcomed as part of the team.
Over the week, I was most surprised by how much a marketing team does, and the variety in their tasks. Also, I was surprised by how much time is spent in trying to attract new people through social media, webinars, in-person events, and content presented on Core’s website.
During the week, I was set interesting tasks by the team, to help them before the end of the week, which helped improve my organisation and time management skills. Surprisingly, this experience helped me with my social skills as well, giving me confidence to talk with a team of people and share ideas. The team spent time with me during the week to check in on how I was doing and have regular catch ups, which allowed me to feel comfortable and welcomed.
On day 4 of my work experience week, I was invited to visit Core’s shared office space in London. This gave me an idea of what it is like to work in an office, as well as remotely. It also gave me experience of working with a group of people in person, which I hadn’t experienced yet. Being able to work in person made it easier to ask questions and have any work explained to me. My line manager, Katie, and I got a hot chocolate together, and we went to Spitalfields Market for lunch.
One of the challenges I had this week was understanding certain terminology or abbreviations that the team used. However, the team were always willing to answer any questions that I had. So, by the end of the week, I felt comfortable with the new terms or abbreviations I had learned (like MQLs and SQLs).
The team not only spent time teaching me about their roles, but also how shared with me stories about their diverse career paths and experiences that led them to their current roles. Being able to see their wide range of experiences gave me insight into what I could do for my future.
Reflections
This experience was helpful in building relationships, knowledge, and new skills. Furthermore, this made me think differently about my options for the future. It also taught me that there is more than one option for the future career development, which I saw through the experiences of everyone in the team, and I don’t have to have it all figured out right now.
I would absolutely recommend work experience to another student, because it was an enjoyable week and I was taught a range of valuable skills. If I was to give advice to anyone doing work experience, it would be not to be nervous, as it will be great experience for you to learn valuable skills. Also, I would say it is important to be open-minded about trying something new and anything offered to you, as you never know what it may teach you for the future, whether big or small!