PR & Communications Executive Review

As an apprentice, I was responsible for supporting the Product PR team to drive thought leadership campaigns to market. This included writing blog posts, social media plans, press releases and developing campaign assets. As a Comms Executive, I now manage a thought-leadership content program across the US and UK, support Corporate Comms to deliver quarterly financial results, manage two executive social media accounts and am supporting the team to set up and manage reporting dashboards.

YES - Sage prioritise the career development of all colleagues (including apprentices) which has meant that I have been exposed to countless opportunities, learning new skills and upskilling on comms tools such as TrendKite, Gorkana, Bananatag to name but a few.

The apprenticeship program and communication from PRCA was not very well managed, leading to a few delays in reaching my final assessment. However, my second mentor was incredible and dedicated a lot of time to help me reach my goal of a dissertation. From the Sage perspective, I could not fault the programme. It was everything I expected and more - I am so thankful for the opportunity to work with the best in the business.

I completed the PRCA Level 4 PR and Comms Diploma in August 2019 - at this point we were the first cohort to go through the programme and so it was a learning curve for all. However, a current apprentice in my team is completing the same qualification with Cambridge Marketing and her experience has been brilliant - modules clearly formatted, and a clear structure to reaching the end point assessment.

Sage hosted apprentice induction and networking events every quarter, where I was able to travel to Newcastle, speak to the Talent team, meet other apprentices etc. It was really well planned and the support was incredible. In addition to this, my manager instilled a lot of trust in me and supports me to reach my goals and become the best communications expert I can be.

Given that it is a higher level apprenticeship, the amount of support in completing weekly assessments/ projects was as to be expecting (little/ no involvement). My first assessor was not on top of my work and did not provide the required level of support/ feedback to help me complete the course. However, as mentioned my second assessor got me up to speed within 6 weeks and showed what level of support I should have been receiving.

The course itself is theoretical and your learning strongly depends on the experience your employer can provide as opposed to the training provider. I felt that in the time I was studying my apprenticeship I learnt many new skills and made good career progress, however, I would not attribute this to the training provider. A lot of PR/ Comms is about learning through experience, you cannot do this whilst writing an essay on the definition of PR.

Social activities - we have office level events (Christmas, Results, End of Year, Summer) and team-level events (virtual and physical - end of project, birthday celebrations etc.) Sage Foundation is a huge part of our culture - fundraising and volunteering to support local charities with 5 paid days a year - we often have big opportunities to get involved as a team.

Yes

I strongly believe in the values of Sage and think that we are making significant progress towards our vision 'To become a great SaaS company. With this in mind, I think that Sage is a brilliant employer, with the opportunity to progress, learn new skills, work in a global team... all of these things are attributes I would promote to my friends/ family when looking for a new job. Sage cares for its customers and colleagues - being part of the Diversity and Inclusion (Sage Belong) Council I can see how much effort our ex-co put into making sure Sage is a safe, welcoming and enjoyable place to work.

Be yourself - our CEO promotes 'being able to bring your whole self to work, not leaving anything at the door'. Be innovative - one of our values is innovation: we are on a mission to become a great SaaS company and we do that by bringing real innovation to market but also in each of our teams. Colleagues who think outside of the box and dare to do things differently often will be recognised with achieving great momentum for Sage.