I’m Eva Mae Cadet – a 17-year-old Marketing and Service Support Apprentice working for Opportunity Sheffield, the Employment and Skills Service within Sheffield City Council.
I have been in post for six months since joining the Council promptly after leaving secondary school and am loving my role here. My interview took place the day after I finished school and I am proud to have been offered the position the same day!
Admittedly, swapping the classroom for a large working environment such as the Council was a shock to the system initially, but I soon found lots of reasons to feel more comfortable in this role than I ever did in school. What I valued the most about entering the workplace at only 16 was the trust I received from my colleagues. I find they respect me as an equal and consider my suggestions, whereas I often felt overlooked in education.
I immediately knew this organisation was going to be the ideal setting for my personal and professional growth and I am already extremely proud of what I have achieved in my short time working here.
I knew I wanted to embark on an apprenticeship journey throughout my time at secondary school. Having researched further education options, I came to appreciate the many benefits this route can bring. I was a strong performer in both academic and creative/practical subjects in school, therefore this way of learning suits me perfectly. Not only do I get the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge through my apprenticeship lectures, but I get to apply these theories into my everyday work practices to consolidate my learning further.
About my job role
My role is essentially to oversee Opportunity Sheffield’s marketing efforts to ensure all our services are promoted to the public, giving them the chance to register with us and find out more about what’s taking place locally and nationally in the employability sector. Typically, this involves creating and posting content to social media, writing articles for our website and embedding these into our weekly newsletter, and designing new posters and graphics for our programmes.
I meet regularly with our Programme Managers to see how I can fulfil their current marketing needs as these are ever changing depending on the time of year and when new projects arise. This has seen me be involved with organising and promoting events, writing press releases for new programmes and even contributing to the updated communications strategy and plan.
My favourite aspect of this job is designing graphics for social media posts – this provides me with a real platform for creativity. I get a sense of satisfaction when I investigate the insights our content receives, in terms of views, click-throughs, likes and shares, especially when these convert into participants enrolling onto our programmes.
My role is very diverse and involves engaging in a wide range of marketing activities, filling every day with exciting new prospects.
Since spending time with the Communications team at Sheffield Theatres on my work experience, I was confident I wanted to pursue a career in marketing. Therefore, I will forever be grateful to Sheffield City Council for providing me with the platform to be able to do this full-time whilst gaining a Level 3 qualification.
I am excited to see where this apprenticeship will take me in the future and would like to thank the Opportunity Sheffield team for supporting me throughout my studies.
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