PR Apprentice Review

The day to day role of a PR apprentice at Sage varies significantly. Some key activities that are completed include; creating and curating social media plans, event planning and execution, internal blogging, reviewing written content and liaising with external and internal stakeholders to ensure team progress towards campaign goals and company objectives. However, there are always fun engagement projects and learning opportunities to get involved with, including a high importance placed on personal development and training experiences.

Both. Existing skills which I have developed through on the job training include; verbal communication, leadership, time management and prioritisation. Another set of skills which have been required and as a consequence matured, are creativity, confidence to participate and innovation. New skills that have been learnt at Sage, include a more varied plethora of written communications styles, event planning and management as well as stakeholder relationship management.

In terms of my employer, I have loved every second of my apprenticeship. I have felt adequately challenged, able to learn and develop new skills, nurtured and valued within my team and the wider Sage community. However, my experience with the PRCA has been somewhat difficult. I would not recommend them as an apprenticeship provider as I feel as though major structural changes and communication improvements need to me made. As a result, Sage has explored using other PR & Communications providers for more recent apprentice intakes and so this is not something that should concern school leavers looking to join an in-house Communications team.

I believe that the criteria involved within the programme and the areas of study within the Communications and PR industry that have been focused upon are greatly aligned to those that are most useful for a junior member in any PR team. However, the organisation and structure of delivering the programme needs to be reconsidered.

Sage has been an excellent employer from the very beginning. My manager has shown a real interest in my personal development and making sure that I am completing the apprenticeship to the best of my ability, with the support of colleagues from various teams, to make sure I am given the opportunities to complete the criteria.

The project assignments and individual tasks are reviewed by a mentor and feedback is provided to suggest where improvements can be made. I also have bi-monthly face to face progress reviews in which my manager and assessor can highlight milestones or red flags and as a team we come up with a plan for the next two months. I also have access to several training videos/ webinars for every unit, some have been really insightful and helped towards my projects, others have repeated content and not been very helpful in terms of developing knowledge around the PR industry and best practices

I believe that the qualification has allowed be to reflect on the work that I do within my day job and really understand how it contributes to the wider agenda of any given PR campaign. However, I do not feel as though the qualification actually pushes me to develop my role within Comms.

Social activities are planned frequently at Sage including team events, quiz nights held by two of our current apprentices and networking at seasonal celebrations such as a Christmas and Summer Party. Sage Foundation is a part of the business that entitles every colleague to 5 days volunteering in chosen activities. The Sage Foundation team work to select and advertise activities that they have found in the local area and then colleagues get together to help the local community, but there are also opportunities to choose your own charity and volunteer for them.

Yes

Absolutely great culture to be submersed into at a young age - importance of personal development is a core value from the top down, everybody at Sage is always working to do the right thing and the exposure to senior stakeholders is second to none. There are also opportunities to get involved and master skills outside of your direct team which I think is important in the early stages of anyone's career.

Sage is all for diversity and inclusion - bring yourself and show the company what you have to offer. As an apprentice, make sure you have more to talk about than just school grades or work experience. Sage value true characteristics, life experiences etc. so if you have any hobbies or interests, be prepared to talk about those and how they have impacted your working style.