Marketing Automation Apprentice Review

I develop email marketing campaigns in Eloqua and landing pages in Sitecore from briefs provided to me by Campaign Managers. I also work on form and webinar setup. I am also working on developing an internal blog to collate our team's experience with marketing, testing and email design best practices.

As part of my day to day job role I will gain three Eloqua marketing automation certifications and a HTML qualification - this is alongside my apprenticeship which, over the next year, will give me two BCS certificates and a Google Analytics certificate as well as the overall level 3 apprenticeship award. I am also developing and refining my stakeholder communication skills.

I am really enjoying the parts of my apprenticeship programme which are more technically-oriented (eg Principles of coding) - I find that with my role being geared more towards Marketing Technology than campaign management/planning, its a lot more difficult to find projects to undertake that are actually relevant to the apprenticeship standards

I think the course is well-structured, with guidelines on what to do each week to stay on a good trajectory. Maybe more guidelines for the employer could be provided to inform them about what kinds of projects the apprentice will need to do, as the work i do in my 80% time and the work in the 20% apprenticeship time often feel quite separated and don't mesh together well.

I get quite good support from my employer, initially I had to be a bit more firm with keeping the 20% time separated but we've got a good way of working now. As i've said in another answer, there's a bit of disconnect between the project expectations from my training provider and what my employer was anticipating, but we're starting to find our feet with it as time goes on

Both tutors i've had so far have been very supportive and genuinely interested in my project plans, especially in the coding module - definitely my favourite so far! They've been easy to reach out to and talk to, and my Coding tutor has been great at helping with my troubleshooting.

I find that the marketing knowledge i'm gaining from the apprenticeship helps me to understand why the campaigns I set up are created; and helps me to contextualise how the wider marketing department is structured. I find that with my specific job role, its not as relevant as it would be for someone who is an apprentice campaign manager.

There are lots of Sage communities to join eg Pride, Ability to socialise and network with other like-minded colleagues who you may not meet in the course of your day to day work. There are also Sage foundation days, which allow you to give back to the community on company time by volunteering for charity work

Yes

Sage is a very supportive, inclusive company, and I feel that even outside of what is offered through my apprenticeship, there are lots of professional development opportunities and courses available. They are always striving for growth in terms of both business and employee support and inclusivity and I think its a great place to work.

The assessment centre part of the application can seem daunting, but once you're there it feels much more like a friendly team building type event than an interrogation or competition. The onboarding process is great and introduces you to the company as a whole, so you have a good idea of what you'll be contributing to before you start in your role.