One year on…a little bit taller


My name’s Emily and probably about this time last year; you may have seen a big picture of my face slapped on Tall’s social and website as I introduced myself to the world as the new apprentice Digital Marketing Executive here.

A year at Tall has entirely flown by. So, I thought it was the right time to reflect back on this year to see how much the apprenticeship has really helped me.

What were your goals at the start of the apprenticeship?

I was already really interested in Digital Marketing, so I wanted to be able to gain experience in my desired profession while being able to learn about an incredible, ever-growing industry at the same time. My main goal at the start of the apprenticeship was obviously to succeed! I wanted and still, want to thrive within my job role to give back to my employers and thank them for putting all of their faith and time into me. I have achieved and grown so much over the last 12 months. I can’t wait to see what the next 12 months bring.

How has the apprenticeship helped you and where are you now?

I chose to do an apprenticeship because I’m a hands-on learner. I really wanted to get stuck into the job and make a real career for myself while also gaining qualifications through my apprenticeship provider, Intraining. To be honest, classroom-based learning has never been for me. I wanted to gain experience in my desired profession and be surrounded by people with years of wisdom to help me. Being an Apprentice has genuinely been the perfect fit for me, and I couldn’t be any happier with where I am now.

Would you recommend an apprenticeship to other learners?

100%! It’s the best decision I could have ever made. Despite questioning myself before starting at Tall that I’d made the wrong decision of following an apprenticeship path, I stuck to my guns, and it’s more than paid off. Everyone I’ve come across within my workplace, as well as through my apprenticeship provider, has been so supportive and I think the progress I’ve achieved really speaks for itself. I’ve found that within digital in particular, an apprenticeship is a perfect way to gain a qualification and invaluable experience at the same time.

One of our Directors here at Tall, Behrooz Saeed, was also able to shed some light on why an apprentice was the right choice for the company and how it’s helped both myself and the business.

Why did you choose to take on an apprentice and what skills were you looking for in your apprentice?

We realised that there was a gap in the business resources; one that someone with rounded “Digital Marketing” know-how could fill. While we weren’t ready as a business to employ anyone senior in the role, we did, however, want someone. We started thinking about bringing an apprentice on board and training them up to fit the role we had. You find that with apprentices they’re always hungry to learn and so long as they have a genuine interest in our industry, they’re great to have in the team.

How do you think the apprenticeship has helped Emily?

It has undoubtedly helped Emily! While she has already learnt a lot from working on live projects with high profile brands, the apprenticeship itself helped to give her a lot of structure around what she’d already been learning, and it’s helped her connect all the dots between the disciplines.

How has the apprenticeship helped the business?

It has helped us plug a resource gap efficiently and cost-effectively. It’s also great to have someone in the business with Emily’s youth and energy; she’s considerably younger than most of us which is great because it gives us insight into how the younger generation lives these days!

Would you recommend taking on an apprentice to other employers?

Absolutely! In training, in particular, has been great to deal with, Emily has made significant progress within work, and her course and all the communication we’ve had with her tutors has been very professional. I would recommend Intraining and apprentices to anyone thinking about using them. I think we already have!

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