When I was first put in touch with Feli I had been looking for entry level jobs in digital marketing for a good few months.
I graduated from Edinburgh Napier University last summer and spent the later part of 2019 travelling South East Asia. When I returned home in mid-December, I spent the Christmas period getting my CV ready to apply for jobs in the new year.
Whilst I definitely didn’t expect to waltz into a job, I was perhaps somewhat naive in thinking that after a little bit of time and persistence, and some inevitable rejections, I would be able to secure a graduate job in digital marketing.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Whilst I had a degree, it wasn’t a degree in marketing or PR. And whilst I had worked from a young age, I had never worked in digital marketing. I became stuck in the modern-day chicken or the egg scenario of how to get experience when you need experience to get experience?
When I was put in touch with Feli I had a few questions prepared but the truth was that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Part of what makes digital marketing so exciting is that it is constantly evolving but it is also what can make it so hard to grasp hold of when you’re first getting started.
Being able to work and learn at Serps Academy has helped me gain insight into the bigger picture of digital marketing exponentially, as well as helping me to figure out what area I want to work in within it.
Below I’m going to list all the ways in which Serps Academy has helped me take the first steps in my digital marketing career. If you find yourself in a similar position to me or if you want to know more, I would definitely recommend getting in touch to see if there’s a place at Serps Academy for you too.
Personalised Training Programme
At Serps Academy your training programme will be tailored to the area of digital marketing that you are most interested in and the areas that will be most beneficial to your career path. Whether that be SEO, PPC, Social Media etc.
My programme has been centred around Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). I am an aspiring copy and content writer, so it has been really beneficial to know what goes on behind the scenes of the written content you see online.
I have my own blog and have previously written copy for small local businesses, but I had limited knowledge on how best to optimise that content. Working at Serps has given me knowledge and insight into SEO best practices that will help my writing feature on search engine result pages (SERPs).
Weekly Virtual Training Sessions
I receive weekly one to one online training sessions with Feli. The subject matter of the sessions varies from week to week and they are usually planned out ahead of time on the training programme.
My sessions have covered topics such as on page optimisation, content strategies, technical SEO audits and more. Whilst the training is scheduled ahead of time, it’s still pretty flexible which has been really helpful if there’s a particular subject area I’m struggling with or want to know more about.
During the session Feli will give some background information before sharing her screen and giving a practical demonstration of the task at hand. I’ve found the later part particularly useful. It’s easy to find information on SEO techniques but it’s harder to see how they are put into practice.
More than just watching Feli carry out the task herself, at the end of each session I am then assigned my own task to practice what I’ve just learned. This leads me nicely onto…
Learning While Doing
My favourite part about Serps Academy is getting the opportunity to do some work myself. It gives me the much sought after practical experience I mentioned at the start of this blog post.
When I first started at Serps, I was working on tasks for smaller pro-bono clients. Now I’m working with a range of clients, both large and small, from a variety of different sectors.
The variety of both the tasks and the clients keeps everyday interesting. I’ve carried out keyword research, created metadata, written blog posts (like I’m doing now) and more for clients ranging from the Investment Companies to Independent Children’s Book Publishers.
Feli is always easily available throughout this process if I need any further assistance and her feedback is always constructive. I really value being able learn and enhance my skills through this experience. The combination of personalised and practical experience is what sets Serps Academy apart from other online training methods.
CV and Interview Assistance
Lastly, I’ve been given full support and advice in searching for a permanent position elsewhere.
Feli has proofread and made suggestions for my updated CV. Thankfully, with the help of Serps Academy, it is now much improved and includes all the new SEO skills and experience I have gained so far.
Final Thoughts
I really can’t overstate the skills and confidence I have gained over my course of time at Serps. Being able to interact and carry out tasks for real clients has been invaluable and I look forward to seeing where my career in content and copywriting goes from here.
If you find yourself looking to start a career in digital marketing, I definitely recommend getting in touch and attending Serps Academy.
Photo Credit: You X Ventures
