Junior Graphic Designer Review

I work in the design team to design assets to be used in digital marketing, print marketing and in-store. I took on the apprenticeship in digital marketing as I was working with marketing teams to create designs for social media and wanted more insight into how those briefs came about, and how I could better support.

I've learnt so much in my apprenticeship and now have a complete understanding of the end-to-end process of creating a digital marketing campaign. I have also gained a much better understanding of how to interpret and generate analytics for email, social and other digital campaigns. Aside from the technical skills, I also feel a lot more confident within my role.

I really enjoyed my programme. The course was made up of online learning, training courses and building a portfolio of work based on on-the-job learning and shadowing. I particularly enjoyed the online learning and the training courses, and have been able to gain other qualifications in addition to my apprenticeship in Google Analytics, Coding and Marketing fundamentals.

I found that my programme was very well organised. My apprenticeship mentor provided me with lots of support as well as lots of extra reading materials and courses to complete that were relevant to the specific work that I was doing on social media. Internally, the programme could be slightly improved by providing some structured shadowing or secondment opportunities for learners.

My manager and my team were very supportive of my apprenticeship. I was always given the time I needed to complete my projects and courses, and my manager was involved in regular meetings to check in on my progress. At times I found it tricky working in a large business to gain exposure to some of the various areas that I needed to cover, however when I did find the right people I was always given the help and information that I needed.

I had regular catch ups with my learning mentor, and was always confident that I could go to him for help and advice when needed. We would have regular calls to check on my progress, as well as to talk through the projects that I was working through, and I felt that he was passionate about helping me to succeed.

I've gained a lot of confidence in my role since completing my apprenticeship qualification. I have a much better understanding of my briefs, and am able to contribute more now that I have a deeper understanding of how teams that I work with work. I also have a better understanding of best practices within the industry.

Despite now operating with a hybrid working model, we still try to get together with regular online team meetings, and occasional in person group social activities, like Christmas parties, summer barbecues, or just having a get together in town. These vary between specific team events, to functions or whole office events.

Yes

B&Q is a warm, friendly place to work, and in my experience everyone is always happy to help each other whenever they can, and I have experienced this a lot through my apprenticeship, as my team has been very supportive of my successes, and other teams have been happy to take time out to help me.

I would advise any future applicants just to be themselves. In my experience, everyone that I have worked with at B&Q is very down to earth and wants to help each other succeed. There are lots of opportunities to keep learning within the business and a huge variety of roles.