Reflecting on my first week as a Social Media & Admin Apprentice

Reflecting on my first week as a Social Media & Admin Apprentice

Hi, I’m Gracie! I am the newly recruited Social Media and Administration Apprentice for Lighthouse Personnel Ltd. 

Starting a new job always brings some worry and anxiety to everyone, especially going into something that you have less experience in and therefore, a lot to learn. This is something I always struggle with, especially as an introverted, extrovert! I view myself as outgoing on a day to day basis, however when put in an uncomfortable or worrying situation, I find it hard to express myself and my opinions. However, my first week at Lighthouse hasn’t been one of those worrying experiences that make me sweat, in fact it has been completely the opposite. The team at Lighthouse have been so inviting and I have completely fallen in love with the job, so much so that I’m looking forward to the next day before the current one is over. 

When I finished my GCSE’s, I was pushed by my school at the time to take my A-levels. Although not wanting to go to uni or study anymore, I took the convenient option and stayed on to study at college. I ended up with 4 A-levels, all of which were completed in the midst of the pandemic. College ended early due to covid restrictions & I came out with grades 5 months earlier than predicted, therefore with no where to go from there. 

I got myself a part-time, contracted job as a Catering and Bar Assistant at an Assisted Living Home local to where I lived. I loved my job at first but it soon became apparent that this wasn’t what I wanted to do or where I was meant to be long term. I ended up becoming unhappy in my job role, with only my colleagues keeping me sane. Therefore, I began my job search into what I’ve always been interested in – Social Media Marketing.

When looking for a new job role, I was really struggling to find the perfect one with the support I needed due to being fairly new to this career path. Ironically, as I was changing careers, I have ended up working for the best recruitment agency in the business! (Well we think so anyway!). Although I have got a Business GCSE and A-level, ICT GCSE and A-level, and photography GCSE to support these, I struggled to find Social Media Marketing jobs that didn’t want specific experience for the job. I had multiple interviews, accepted 2 jobs, handed my notice in once and then retracted it due to companies being dishonest about the roles they had available. I was struggling to trust any employers that contacted me due to being mucked around and lied to previously by employers that wanted to make a quick buck off of people. I then had a phone call one day off of Gerard. He was interviewing for a role he was recruiting for, for another business. Although I had no experience, I had the qualifications behind me so I decided to interview. Once I’d interviewed for the role, he sent over the documents to the company but soon after he heard they’d found the fitting candidate and were no longer looking. That’s when he contacted me about a job he had available within his own business – Lighthouse Personnel. I was super excited at this opportunity and completed all the paperwork, came in for an interview and to meet the team and was offered the job on the same day! After beginning to give up hope of ever finding the perfect job for me, I was so excited to start my new role, gain as much experience as possible and start putting my new ideas forwards. Gerard and his team have been super accommodating, supportive and I am feeling super lucky to have landed this opportunity!

So basically, the moral of the story here is to not give up the search for your perfect job, even when you’re left disappointed, your messages are ignored or the job isn’t as described. Fantastic opportunities are out there, and if they’re there, you’ve just got to find them! Or, let them come to you.

·         Be prepared – ask your new employer if they require you to bring anything with you on your first day or whether it will be provided. It’s always good to know what you need, just in case it’s something important!

·         Set priorities – make sure you know what you want to accomplish at this job and what your objectives are. Write them down and work towards them, it’ll help set out a clear plan.

·         Decide on manageable expectations – learning everything in the first week isn’t viable, nor is it recommended. You are likely going to take in half of the information, but completely forget the other half in your first week. But this is ok! You will recap everything & you’ll pick things up as you go along. 

·         Don’t be afraid to ask questions – your manager/supervisor should be approachable and you should feel as if you can ask as many questions as you need too. There is no such thing as a stupid question (something I’ve learnt from Beth – thanks Beth 😉) and therefore, ask as many questions as you can. At the end of the day, you are always learning and asking questions plays a massive part in that!