When we started the process of recruiting a Digital Marketing Trainer, we knew it had to be someone special. At Starting Off, we strongly follow our core values of support, honesty, ambition, passion and excellence – and within minutes of the initial call to Sarah Chisnall, we knew she was someone that we needed to know more about.
At her first Zoom interview, Sarah impressed us with her professionalism, warm nature and positive attitude. At her second interview she blew us away with the technical digital tasks and workshop we asked her to prepare and deliver. Luckily for us, Sarah loved the sound of the job and we were delighted when she accepted the job of Digital Marketing Trainer.
Sarah has joined the company to support those currently completing a Level 3 Digital Marketer apprenticeship and work with new employers and apprentices joining the programme.
What was your job before you joined Starting Off?
I was PR and Content Executive for Fledglink – a mobile app that works like a LinkedIn for young people leaving school and unsure about what their next steps might be. I was introduced to Fledglink through its wonderful founder and CEO, Ellie Yell, by doing work experience with her during university in 2017. Back then, the app was still only a prototype so it’s been an exciting and rare honour for me to witness and contribute to the formation and growth of an entire business.
My role was predominantly running the digital marketing strategy for Fledglink, with a little PR on the side. I wrote copy for the product and website, negotiated collaborative content with partners, managed the app’s live feed and content, designed push notifications, email marketing and built the website’s SEO. Working in a small team in a start-up meant that I really did a bit of everything!
What attracted you to the role at Starting Off?
After more than a year working at Fledglink, I had come to realise that, while my values strongly align with its mission: to empower all young people to achieve their full potential, I wanted a more hands-on approach to achieving it. However, I also did not feel ready to leave the creativity and freedom of marketing and everything I’ve learned in the past two years behind. So, when the opportunity to join the team at Starting Off as a Digital Marketing Trainer came along, it seemed like a dream come true.
Moreover, working at Starting Off would enable me to work in a team that shares the same enthusiasm for apprenticeships as a fantastic first step into the world of work for education leavers. Working in a locally based organisation also gives me the opportunity to contribute to my community through work. I feel that many people are led to believe they must go to university or move to London in order to build a successful career and I believe my work in Starting Off would help to combat this.
What are you most looking forward to in your new role?
I think the biggest thing I look forward to is meeting the trainees who I will be training and learning about them and how I can help them, but really, I’m just excited for the whole thing. Even just the chance (lockdown depending) to work in an office; I haven’t set foot in one since March.
I am also looking forward to the chance to expand my knowledge horizons more. My work in Fledglink heavily involved informing people about their options, providing advice and guidance on how to choose and promoting apprenticeships was a big part of that. It will be interesting to find myself on the other side of that coin too, providing the ‘aftercare’ once someone has already chosen what they want to do.
Why do you think digital marketing is important for businesses?
The internet is a wonderful place. There is no other way in the world that you can almost instantaneously reach millions of people. Accessing them, however, that is an ever-evolving problem to solve. Digital marketing is the solution to that problem, it allows businesses to home in on specific audience groups and grow their online presence in a meaningful way. If successful, digital marketing can open a business up to the world’s largest audience.
If you are interested in recruiting an apprentice for your business or have an existing staff member that would benefit from completing the Digital Marketing or any of our apprenticeship programmes, please get in touch at Katie.goodall@startingoff.co.uk or call 01604 622855
