I was born in Spain and carried out my education over there. Having left school at 16, I decided to start working and finish my GCSEs part-time. As soon as I turned 18, I knew I would be coming to London to pursue my dreams and find an enjoyable industry that I could excel in - and this was exactly what I did.
Once I landed in London, I decided to start gathering as much work experience as possible at different PR agencies, soon discovering it was something I very much enjoyed and knew that it would be a great career to pursue. After getting a bit of insight into what the day-to-day is like in a PR agency, I started looking for further education so that I would be able to get a job in a well known agency, which was when I came across the PRCA Apprenticeships website. I applied and was luckily called to attend two interviews. The first one took place at the PRCA which, as well as being an interview, also helped prepare me for upcoming meetings and interviews with agencies. This involved getting you ready to answer all the awkward, curveball questions that can get thrown at you, as well as having the opportunity to work on a fun project. Unbeknown to me at the time, the preparation and practice I got at the PRCA was ever so useful in my interview at Frank PR. Well, it must have been because I got the job alongside another apprentice and started the week after!
When coming across the apprenticeship, I didn’t actually know that it would be a learn-on-the-job thing! This was a massive advantage for me, as English isn’t my first language, but when you are physically doing the work whilst studying it, it is so much easier!
The first few months at Frank PR largely centred on getting to know the accounts I would be working on and developing strong relations with the clients. Being thrown into agency life meant I quickly picked up on the way the team and the whole agency work. After this, it was so easy to get started and a great thing about Frank is that you get stuck in straight away. I found myself working on several campaigns from charity clients such as Save the Asian Elephants, global clients like Hotels.com, and my personal favourite Chessington World of Adventures.
The assessments and webinars apprentices must finish in order to pass their apprenticeship were thoroughly enjoyable and testing at the same time. As mentioned earlier, English isn’t my first language so this was a challenge for me, but also one that I revelled in and which has helped me in many other aspects of life. I started reading the newspapers everyday as part of my morning tasks, and my writing skills improved more and more everyday. My assessor Ryan, was a massive help and there for me every step of the way to ensure I passed the apprenticeship. Everything I was sent from the PRCA was very clear and the great thing about the Level 4 Diploma is that you are able to carry out certain assessments as a professional discussion or even a presentation.
After 12 months into the apprenticeship, I completed 100%, and recently received my certificates. I have now also been taken on by Frank as an Accounts Assistant, helping out the Finance team and gaining insight to the financial side of PR.
I would definitely recommend anyone thinking of applying to do so! This is one of the best things I've ever done and is a great way to get you set up in this fast-paced industry. So yeah, go and apply!