Digital marketers celebrate their career choice as they mark National Apprenticeship Week
Added by Love Business East Midlands | 11 February 2025
A young Derby marketing apprentice says he is happy to be learning his trade at a high level and fast-tracking his career rather than getting into debt by going to university.
Tom Bull, 17, has embarked on a Level 3 digital marketing apprenticeship at JDR Group, a digital marketing company which devises online campaigns for hundreds of small to medium companies all over the UK.
This week the country is marking Apprenticeship Week, its annual recognition of the career opportunities for young people – and older employees – who want to learn without going to university.
This is certainly a description which fits Tom, who decided at college that the world of mortar boards academia was not for him, preferring to look for a more vocational role.
He found it soon after leaving Castle Donington College last year and signing up on a digital marketer apprenticeship with Velocity, which soon found him making the 10-mile journey to JDR Group’s offices in Stephenson’s Way, Derby.
His duties now include supporting the marketing team with search engine optimisation, email marketing, and using automation software to integrate different marketing channels and customer relationship management systems.
He said:
“I enjoyed doing media at GCSE and marketing was something I was interested in, but instead of going to university to study it at degree level, I decided to do an apprenticeship so that I would start earning straight away and develop my skills and experience at the same time.
“Although you do learn a lot at university, you don’t get the experience of working at a company, and I didn’t want to finish my training with thousands of pounds of student debt either.
“I’ve been doing my apprenticeship for a year now and I like the mixture of tasks I get involved in. I also enjoy seeing how what I do benefits our clients and being able to put together plans for their campaigns. You don’t get that kind of practical experience when you’re studying a degree at university.”
Another employee who also joined the company as an apprentice is Sophie Teece, who has recently finished her 15-month study period and is now employed as a digital marketing assistant.
She said:
“My apprenticeship helped me to build up courage and confidence. I didn’t want to go to university because I felt I needed one-to-one support to help me develop as a marketer and as an individual too.
“I definitely made the right choice. Working at a company I get regular catch-ups with a manager and if I don’t know anything, I can just ask. There’s also a self-development plan and a learning platform that I can access, all of which has really helped me.
“You don’t get that at university. Working here has helped me to figure out the right career pathway for me and has helped me to understand a wide range of aspects of digital marketing, including working with clients.”
Both Sophie and Tom are more than happy with their choice, although Tom admits some regret on missing out on the social side of university.
He said:
“The social life sounds good, and students’ calendars are a lot more flexible when it comes to going on holiday.
“But on the upside. I think my career progression is going to be better. I’ve been in a job for a year already and I know it’s what I want to do. A lot of students go through university and then when they leave, any still don’t know what job they want to do.”
Tom and Sophie are mentored at JDR Group by Charlotte Thornton, who is head of operations but is a former apprentice herself, having joined the company six years ago and worked her way up through the ranks.
She said:
“All my family expected me to go to university and made every effort to persuade me to go, but I decided early on I didn’t want to go and that I wanted to do an apprenticeship.
“There was a misconception that they are a cop-out and a lot of employers still disregard marketing apprenticeships in favour of marketing degrees, but if you’re with an employer which does everything properly then they are harder than studying at university.”
JDR Group, which was founded in 2004, employs 40 staff and offers a full range of digital marketing services including SEO, web design, social media and content marketing.
It has built more than 1,000 websites for its clients in its time and has analysed and audited the marketing operation of more than 250 businesses.
It is also one of just a handful of UK firms to have been awarded the prestigious Elite Partner status by world-leading customer relationship management platform HubSpot.
To find out more www.jdrgroup.co.uk
