Sophie Ogle, Digital Marketing and Operations Assistant, talks about how work experience has provided her with the right skills to go on and find her dream marketing job after graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University.

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3) The importance of analytics.

At university, it’s common to just submit your assignment or sit your exam, receive feedback, glance at it once then just move on to the next assessment. In a real-world marketing department, this is not how things are handled! Every post on social media is analysed and we have to consider what we could have done better, how to improve engagement and a number of other things. Analytics helps so much with all of this- it gives insights, so you can identify exactly what does well and what doesn’t, and you can start to notice trends. This is something we never got the chance to play around with on my course, but something that is an every day, super important task at The Candidate.

4) Once it’s out there, it’s out there!

A big part of my job is posting on social media and updating The Candidate’s website. Having the responsibility of your work being published online for all to see is a big one, and it can be quite scary at first! At university, no one apart from your markers were looking at your work, but now I know anyone will be able to access it online. Knowing this really makes me pay more attention-to-detail and has improved my ability to spot mistakes, and I’m getting quicker and more thorough as time goes on. This is something else that I wouldn’t have to worry about at university but practicing this at The Candidate is improving me as a marketer.

5) Free software training- take it while you can!

Working at The Candidate has taught me a number of practical skills, but some that I am SO grateful for is helping me gain the ability to use a variety of software I have never experienced before! Each day at work, we use different software to create infographics and store information. University never really taught us to use photo editing software, Excel, Google Docs or any programmes like that, so gaining this experience in the workplace and seeing it’s use in a marketing department has been fantastic training for me. It’s also saved me a lot of money on expensive online courses I would have had to take!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a Digital Marketing Intern turned Marketing and Operations Assistant at The Candidate! It has taught me so many practical, real-world skills I simply couldn’t pick up from learning theories and reading books. I would absolutely recommend the internship to anyone, The Candidate is a great place to learn and grow, and the skills I have learned here will continue to benefit me for the rest of my marketing career!

If you are interested in gaining some work experience within our marketing department, get in touch today on 0161 833 1044 or email [email protected]

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