It feels weird to be writing my final blog, uploading my final social posts and to even be counting down the hours to my final day. I’ve not felt like the intern at all, I don’t drink tea or coffee so I guess that helps, but not once have I felt like ‘just the student’ which was probably my biggest worry. I’ll now be heading into my fourth and final year to complete my Advertising and Marketing Communications degree at De Montfort University, and HeadRed has definitely positively influenced my degree, my career and me as a person.

Why did I choose HeadRed?

I had a plan before University that I wanted to secure a commutable placement, as it was something I was already used to by living at home when attending University. I wasn’t very specific with the exact area of marketing I wanted to go into, but HeadRed offered a practical taste into the real world of work with a huge range of different areas that I could explore, from SEO, Web Analytics to Social Media Marketing and Conversion Rate Optimisation to name a few. I’m quite a fidgety person, and I always need to be busy and doing something, I weirdly get really bored on days off, and right from the interview, I knew there would be something new to do and learn. All of the previous placement students were from De Montfort University too, so I knew they must have been doing something right.

What’s the biggest thing I’ve learnt about myself?

That I’m too young, according to Dani (Because I haven’t watched The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Friends, or anything TV-wise they talk about). But in all seriousness, I didn’t really know what SEO as an industry was before I joined! I knew what the term meant, but had no understanding about the huge impact upon a business it really had, and without the HeadRed experience, I would have never understood this properly. I also kept my old job whilst working at HeadRed, so I’ve learnt that I am able to work 6 days a week if needed with my future career. The entire experience from completing the placement year, to having two jobs, adds a range of flexibility to my CV that without the placement year I would never have had.

What was the most enjoyable aspect about being a Digital Marketing Assistant? 

Its cliché, but I learnt something new every day, may it be content structure, social post tone, to what affects the Google rankings and the newly learnt knowledge that I probably have too many clothes? As I’ve said before, there’s always something to do and something else to learn and develop which exactly mirrors SEO as a function that always changes and moves. But specifically, I was able to apply my Photoshop skills to create social media content for a range of clients across the board, helping out where I can with clients that I wasn’t managing either. For the majority of my clients, new social media templates and posts were produced alongside the team to modernise and match their branding.

How will my placement year benefit my future career aspirations?

I’ve now got a very good understanding of a huge area of digital marketing, with practical experience and evidence to back this up. SEO wasn’t explored in my first years of University, so without doing a placement, I would never have known the huge impact it really has on businesses! It’s also helped me to highlight skills that I have or ones that can be developed within digital marketing, as some areas came to me more naturally than others. Finally, a massive thank you to Liam and Phil for continuing to offer a placement for students, with an office environment that’s so welcoming for literally anyone! I’d also like to thank Hannah for giving me the nod in the first place and the entire Digital Marketing team, including Beth and Dani, for teaching, developing and laughing with me throughout the year! That last bit was cringe for me to type too. I’ll come back and visit, I promise! Thank you!

Ben