Next Steps after The Juice Academy – a Degree Apprenticeship?

We spoke to Lydia Ward from BDB (a specialist B2B PR firm) about her huge success of gaining a place on Manchester Metropolitan University’s degree apprenticeship course. Deciding where you want your career path to lead after your apprenticeship can sometimes be a difficult decision because of how many options there are. However, having the option to progress onto MMU’s degree apprenticeship course made that decision a lot easier for Lydia. Lydia has always been an extremely hard worker throughout her apprenticeship and received highly commended for the Apprentice Award at the MPA awards 2018. Lydia starts her course on the 9th September and we wish her the best of luck!

Here’s what Lydia had to say -

How did you first find out about The Juice Academy?

I found out about The Juice Academy at a careers event at Event City near the Trafford Centre.

What does your day to day role involve?

My day to day role involves setting up and running social media campaigns where I monitor the performance, optimise the audience and then produce a campaign summary report at the end. Some of my other work includes SEO research, building landing pages and the creation of automated email journeys.

What made you want to further your education and apply to do the MMU degree apprenticeship programme, following graduating from The Juice Academy?

I’ve always wanted to broaden my skillset and gain more qualifications as it will help me progress in my career. The best thing about the course is that I can gain experience on the job, apply my knowledge and add value to my company, as I did with Juice. I love working and I have come so far in the year and a half that I have been an apprentice for. Before this opportunity, my plan was to continue working and look at any additional qualifications I could do to help me progress. This came about at the perfect time. I am looking forward to learning more about digital marketing and being able to bring new skills and knowledge to the business.

At the start of your apprenticeship did you think you would end up doing a degree apprenticeship?

I have definitely thought about doing it, but I never thought I would have the opportunity to do so. I am fortunate in that my company are willing to invest the time and money into my training and what will be my career.

How have you progressed throughout your apprenticeship so far?

I have become more confident in myself and in my work, I have been able to conduct training sessions and have most recently presented a report to one of our clients which is something I am very proud of.

What advice would you give to somebody wondering whether to do an apprenticeship?

Apprenticeships are a great route into work, and they provide you with a range of skills. I would say, take every opportunity given to you and be confident in yourself.

How has your apprenticeship at The Juice Academy helped you progress your career before your degree apprenticeship?

My apprenticeship at The Juice Academy has taught me what digital marketing is and all the various aspects of this job role. This apprenticeship, along with the training from BDB, has enabled me to become a Digital Marketing Executive.

We also asked Lydia’s manager what they thought about the progress she has made throughout her apprenticeship. Here’s what they had to say -

What are your thoughts on Lydia’s next steps of her career?

Lydia has made a lot of progress since she first started working at BDB back in 2017. She is always eager to learn and has demonstrated on multiple occasions that she can retain knowledge and apply it in future projects. She has great organisation skills and manages to stay on top of her workload. We would love to see Lydia continue to develop her knowledge and skillset and we believe that the MMU degree apprenticeship will help her to take the steps towards the next stage of her career.