When leaving school, I was unsure about what to do next. University? College? Gap Year? I knew I didn’t enjoy sitting in a classroom, but I knew I still wanted to learn more and gain qualifications. Learning while on the job was the perfect thing for me. I didn’t know much about Modern Apprenticeships, but I came across a Digital Marketing role at Culture Perth and Kinross and thought I’d give it a go. I started the job a month after leaving school and I was thrown into the deep end! On my first week, it was the opening of the new museum exhibition, Jacobite Clans! And my first modelling job, which I continued to do a few more of through the year!

As a young person, museums, libraries and archives weren’t something I was hugely interested in. I feel like there is a stigma around them about being boring and for older generations, however, it does not need to be like that. Exhibitions are always changing so there is sure to be something you are interested in and there’s a lot more to a library than books! A year on, I am much more knowledgeable about the culture and local history and I think it would be amazing if young people knew more. I also got the opportunity to go to a few days out to meet lots of other Modern Apprentices in my area which is good fun and nice to meet other people my age doing the same thing as me.

The whole organisation is very friendly and welcoming. I was based in the Marketing office at Culture Perth and Kinross which is certainly a happy place to be. My line manager, David and other great colleagues always helped me if I needed it, but at the same time, I learnt to work on tasks with little support, which I think is a great skill. My day to day tasks would be creating content for social media, creating public and staff newsletters and attending meetings with my colleagues to gain knowledge of how a large organisation works and learning the processes of big projects. I felt comfortable in the office and knew I could talk to someone if I needed to.

Along with my office work, I also had a qualification to gain with a Sixth Sense Training. I did all my work on Google Classroom and I had an assessor who came to visit every month. At first, I thought the title ‘Assessor’ was quite daunting. Kelly from Museums Galleries Scotland was my assessor and she was nothing of the sort. Kelly was there to support and help me if needed and it was more like having a friend to speak to. Also, it was good to have someone out of my organisation to speak to who still had a good knowledge of the sector. At the start, I was worried the theory work would be hard as I didn’t know much, however, the way it is all laid out is clear and easy to work through at your own pace.

I also had the pleasure of running the Perth and Kinross Archive Twitter and Facebook pages. I will let you into a secret, a year ago I wouldn’t be able to tell you what an archive was. However, during the year I have brought the Archive social media pages to life, creating two interactive pages which are active every day and I also increased the engagement by over 20%!  Not only that, but I have also found it extremely interesting! Having lived in Perth all my life, I was surprised at how little I knew.

I was unsure what to expect of my apprentice however I couldn’t be happier that I have done it, I cannot believe how quickly the year has gone, I have gained many new skills and confidence and I would highly recommend doing a Modern Apprenticeship. I believe it’s a great way to learn on the job, to gain work experience and a qualification at the same time! I now know that Marketing is where I want my career to go and I can’t wait to see where it takes me next.