Member Article

Teenager clinches social media apprenticeship with Tangerine

An Oldham teenager has beaten off stiff competition from hundreds of fellow applicants to snap up her first job after leaving school – a social media apprenticeship with Tangerine PR.

Rebecca Parker, 18, has landed a place with The Juice Academy, the UK’s first employer-led social media apprenticeship programme, based in Manchester.

The Academy – which was launched to increase youth employment and fill an industry-wide skills gap by training young professionals in the practical application of social media - opened its doors to its first cohort of apprentices in July.

Rebecca is one of 14 apprentices accepted into the Academy’s second cohort of applicants, after receiving her A Level results from North Chadderton Sixth Form in August.

The year-long course – which is being run by Tangerine PR, a multi award-winning PR agency - will include a mixture of theoretical and work-place learning, covering all elements of social media management.

As her practical part of the course, Rebecca is now working for Tangerine PR to gain vital ‘on the job’ experience.

Based in Castlefield, Manchester, and with an array of B2B and B2C clients in its portfolio, Tangerine works across a number of industry sectors, delivering national and pan-regional campaigns.

In 2012 and 2013, Tangerine was named PR Agency of the Year at the National B2B Marketing Awards, and was listed as one of the world’s top 10 fastest growing PR agencies by the 2013 Holmes World PR Report.

Rebecca said: “Social media is a huge part of my everyday life, so it made perfect sense to use these skills as a platform for my career.

“I made the conscious decision not to go to university as I was raring to get going with my career now, so this apprenticeship was the perfect place to start.

“Social media is no longer just a hobby – it’s a powerful tool that businesses can use to engage with customers and create a tone of voice, and I’m really enjoying putting my skills into practise at Tangerine, especially as the Academy is its very own apprenticeship programme.”

The Academy is already welcoming applications from businesses and apprentices for the January intake, as the programme looks to grow further.

Tangerine’s head of integrated and digital strategy, Anna Wilson, who is leading the programme, said: “The Academy has gone from strength to strength since the launch in July and it’s been fantastic to welcome our second cohort of apprentices through the doors.

“We’ve had so much positive feedback about the programme already and that’s why we’re encouraging other businesses and apprenticeship candidates to step forward and be part of our January intake.

“It’s a brilliant opportunity that will provide great benefits for all parties involved, and it’s the perfect chance to be part of something that’s revolutionary in the industry.”

Modules covered include: Social Media Management, Keyword Analysis and SEO, Developing Content for Social Sharing, Developing a Digital Strategy and Social Media for Mobile.

The course will also cover a range of professional skills and techniques - delivered by Ian Pettigrew of Kingfisher Coaching - and the apprentices will graduate with a City and Guilds Level 3 in Social Media.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .