Work based learning
Year 2, Chester University student
By student placement – HM Legal
Half way through my experience
Before I began my 5-week Work Based Learning placement I didn’t know what to expect due to it being a law firm, and I have never worked in a highly professional environment. I was really worried about my surroundings, the type of work that I will be doing, and asking stupid questions!
On my first day, everyone was really polite and give me a warm welcome which made me feel confident and relaxed. I then met Kathy and Richard, who I am working alongside throughout my placement.
When I started we worked through a work plan including long and short-term projects to gain practical experience of marketing in real situations. This included looking at different channels for different marketing messages, audience profiles, targeting messages and measuring the effects so we could improve.
My marketing role
My main duty was to perform marketing which included market research, blogging, doing competitor and sponsor analysis, creating website pages, and managing content for social media.
The task that I enjoyed the most was market research because I found it interesting reading about different sectors, how they market their business to their target audience, and the development of the business. I have also enjoyed learning about how to build web pages and the most challenging task I have taken up so far is blogging because I need to find something of interest. Research was really stimulating.
Experience, experience, experience!
I began my placement during Mental Health Awareness Week so straight away I had the chance to get some experience of writing content for the website and social media. I used Hootsuite to set up tweets and posts in advance, and added copy to a landing page using the CMS.
I have also been to meetings so I can learn about planning marketing from the very beginning. In one meeting we talked about ideas to promote Chester Arts Fair in November.
Another platform I gained some experience of sending an eShot invitation to clients for an event on a branded template.
Working in the Liverpool office
Half way through my placement, Kathy and I worked in another branch for a day. Again, I had a really good day working in Liverpool. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming. During that day, I performed further market research, and began researching for a new blog informing businesses about settlement agreements.
