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Tom Thomson PR Apprentice Fact File

 

Name: Tom Thomson

Age: 20

Organisation & Description: Wessex Water is one of the top performing water and sewerage companies in the UK, serving 2.8 million customers across the south west of England. It is part of the Wessex Water Group, which comprises a number of other companies alongside our regulated business, including engineering and construction, property development and waste management and renewable energy services. 

Date Started the PR Apprenticeship: 23/10/2017

What were you doing before your apprenticeship? I did media studies, English language and economics at A level while also working part time at McDonalds.

What attracted you to the PR Apprenticeship? I was considering a career in journalism, PR or marketing when I was doing my A levels. At this point I also knew I wanted to do an apprenticeship as I didn’t think university was the right option for me. So, when I saw Wessex Water were advertising a vacancy for a PR apprentice and I read the job description, I knew it was something that I would enjoy and would suit my skill set.

What was the highlight of your PR Apprenticeship? The highlight of my apprenticeship was finding out that I had achieved a Distinction as my overall grade. This meant all my hard work throughout my apprenticeship and end-point assessment had paid off. 

What do you feel your apprenticeship helped you achieve? My apprenticeship has helped me become employable as it has provided me with almost 2 years of experience in PR environment and a nationally recognised qualification. Additionally, it has helped me make new connections and develop my skills which will hopefully help me progress my career.

 Top 3 skills a PR Apprentice needs:

  • Creativity
  • Communication skills
  • Writing Skills

I love PR because it is an industry that allows you to be creative. In PR you can influence peoples’ opinions by running campaigns and promoting key messages. Also, it is integral to the success of most businesses.

What are your next steps? I am now a junior content writer at Wessex Water which will involve producing content for a variety of their internal and external communication channels.

CAMPAIGN SPOTLIGHT

Describe a campaign you were involved in and the activities you performed to bring it about:

I worked on a campaign which involved promoting hydration to our customers to improve their perception of Wessex Water. During this project I created infographics, which I posted on social media, to make my messaging more engaging. Additionally, I carried out a survey to produce an interesting statistic that I could use to generate press coverage. I also organised the sponsorships and water bottle donations to local sports teams and then produced social media content, a magazine article and press releases about this. This helped to show our customers what we do to support our local communities.