Lucy King, 19, from Plymstock, has joined Plymouth-based marketing agency, Fuel Communications as a digital marketing apprentice.
Lucy was studying A Levels in history, psychology and sociology at Notre Dame School but didn’t want to continue her studies at university, so recalling a positive work placement at Fuel, she spoke with her Dad, Martyn, who co-owns the agency.
Martyn said, “Making career and education decisions is really tough which is why we encourage work experience here at Fuel. Of course, that works both ways, sometimes you need to experience things to find out that it isn’t for you. For Lucy, she found out that the A level and university route wasn’t for her and, because she enjoyed her work experience with us, decided to look at a different route in order to gain a great career in marketing. Naturally, myself and my business partner Steve Gyseman, were keen to help.”
Lucy’s time at Fuel made her rethink her education choices and she developed a real passion for digital marketing. Lucy said: “I figured out that I wanted to work in digital marketing and found out that I didn’t need to go to university to reach my goal. Dad took me to an Open Day at City College and I heard all about Apprenticeships – the idea of earning money whilst learning – rather than having to work at the weekends – really appealed to me!
Fuel values developing young talent and was keen to take Lucy on as a new member of the team. Martyn said: “We’ve had a number of work experience and placement students from the College over the years so we have already seen the advantages of having younger members of the team, but Lucy is our first apprentice.
“Apprenticeships offer a fantastic way to recruit young talent and invite them to understand the culture of your business and contribute towards its development. For us, this is really important.
“Setting up the Apprenticeship with City College Plymouth was reasonably easy with a small amount of funding paperwork. I’d recommended taking on an apprentice to any business considering expanding their workforce – however, make sure you understand the role you are offering as Apprenticeships have really developed and are about more than making cups of tea and filing!”
Six months into her Apprenticeship and Lucy is enjoying working at Fuel. “I really enjoy coming to work. There are lots of different jobs within the team and my role requires me to do a bit of everything. I schedule social media, create content for e-newsletters, attend meetings, monitor client campaigns, and generally support my line manager, Ross. It’s varied and is helping me to learn what goes on in a professional environment, which is something I wouldn’t have experienced at school.
“The College has been really supportive. Once a month my assessor, Jon, comes in to the office to see me and to run through where I am with my coursework and talk about what projects I’m working on. These meetings leave me motivated to do more and I like that my coursework relates to the work I’m doing on a daily basis.
“I would recommend an Apprenticeship to anyone looking to earn money, gain experience in the workplace and not burn the candle at both ends in the process!”