Over the summer holidays, we were delighted to welcome Maddie to our Newcastle-under-Lyme office for a week of work experience. Currently on a break from her college studies, Maddie joined us to explore two potential career paths: HR and Marketing.
Working closely with our HR Services Manager, Megan, and Social Media & Content Executive, Sarah, Maddie immersed herself in both areas of the business. Throughout the week, she demonstrated professionalism, enthusiasm, and a genuine interest in learning more about Strategi and the work we do.
To round off her placement, Maddie kindly wrote a blog reflecting on her experience, sharing why she chose Strategi and what she learned during her time with us.
I chose Strategi as it is the perfect combination of all my interests, it was the perfect opportunity for me to get work experience in both HR and marketing. I am very grateful to the founder of Strategi, Wendy, for this opportunity to do work experience within her business as it has given me the best insight into what I would like to be involved with in the future. My aim this week was to learn the tasks involved in both jobs and discover which of the two best suited me from a hands-on perspective. I’ve always been interested in businesses but more specifically, the people aspects of business and analysing issues and working to find a solution. I wanted to get experience in both HR and marketing and just see which of the two I personally felt gave me the most of that analytical problem solving element
They are such a friendly and welcoming team that I felt comfortable to ask questions and thoroughly get involved in tasks. I was surprised by just how smoothly all aspects of Strategi work together- HR, Creative and Learning, having worked on a range of completely varying tasks I found that they all connected so fluently which is why I believe Strategi is so strong as a business.The team are constantly so supportive and work so well together that the environment is just so encouraging.
I worked on a range of HR tasks with Megan following the official HR procedure and getting an insight into how HR issues are resolved whilst also learning official terminology. For the marketing side, I worked on a filming session with members of Strategi to create a social media series. I did this with Sarah whilst learning all the processes of content creation and how social media marketing strategies work at increasing engagement within the company. On Tuesday, I went off-site to a meeting with Jane and Qash and observed how meetings are conducted whilst learning about gentle networking and the importance of this. This week was filled with tasks which truly grasped my interest and showed me all the elements within Stategi. I was particularly interested in HR and working through the necessary processes which enabled me to see every aspect of providing HR assistance.
This week, I have learnt about the Employment Rights Act and how every official change or new legislation introduced has an impact. It emphasised the need to be thorough and precise with everything and that the job is constantly changing, making it increasingly interesting as you must be constantly alert and invested in the work produced. The changing legislations paired with learning about how to classify disciplinaries and grievances was immensely interesting, equally I was enabled to use this learnt terminology and information to apply it to examples and case studies to check my understanding.
In marketing, I discovered a range of techniques used for content creation and how to clearly understand/comprehend social media interaction analytics. These highlighted just how crucial it is to have a business social media account as the amount of interaction and attention it produces for the business is unbelievable. It is so valuable to ensure that social media pages are clear and appealing as they serve as first impressions encouraging people to return and broaden their connections within the business and this is demonstrated so clearly and evidently at Strategi with all posts being relevant and intriguing to anyone viewing the page.
My favourite experiences were sitting in on meetings and absorbing the day-to-day tasks which people do when working within this industry. It was so fascinating to be involved in meetings and conversations whilst taking notes and absorbing the content of the discussions taking place. Equally, I found that I was able to get involved in the meetings where applicable and fully engross myself in the opportunity. Another strength I found from this exercise is that I obtained lots of personal business advice which I may not have gained without those meetings. It gave me an opportunity to receive advice from all different business sectors whilst also receiving the chance to sit in on a meeting and really get my first example of that environment and how to accurately conduct those types of professional conversations.
This opportunity has truly enforced my love for HR and my wish to get involved in business whilst being involved with people and analytical problem solving. It has strengthened my interest in taking an apprenticeship route for my future, as I will have the opportunity to be involved in a business and be a part of the business environment.
I will definitely retain the importance of meetings and how far a conversation can take you. I have also learnt about the importance of networking, and I will definitely take this away with me. This has been made much more accessible to me as Sarah assisted me greatly with creating my LinkedIn profile allowing me to network efficiently.
I am incredibly grateful for my time at Strategi, as it has given me such a rich and valuable week of work experience. The team is so friendly and welcoming and it is just such a great opportunity to get to be involved in. I would love for Strategi to have me back for some more work experience in the hopefully near future to get another opportunity to explore the tasks within the HR and marketing elements of Strategi. I would recommend this experience to any students interested in business as it is such a great way to get the real and full experience whilst equally being surrounded by such a comforting team that you will always feel supported and comfortable to get involved in any task.
