Brightsparks Academy Graduates: Charlotte
Brightsparks Academy is a unique opportunity to gain ten weeks of market leading work experience in a fast paced and vibrant business. Designed to build both skills and confidence in its trainees, Brightsparks Academy is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be guided and supported in finding your next career move and build a portfolio of experience in one of York’s Top 100 Businesses.
The first group of Brightsparks Academy trainees have just graduated from the programme and we asked them to share their experience to help prospective applicants learn more about it.
Charlotte graduated with a Masters in Marketing and Advertising but a long-term health condition scuppered her career plans. Since then her two children have kept her busy but once her youngest started school she had been considering her next move. Then. of course, the pandemic hit and she found herself a full-time homeschooler. Once schools reopened, she found the time to think about her future again when her friend told her about the opportunity to join the Brightsparks team.
When asked what made her apply for the Brightsparks programme she said ‘I was really intrigued by the company’s social mission, which reflected my own values and interests. That, combined with the chance to refresh my knowledge and learn new digital marketing skills, was too tempting an opportunity to miss.’ She was reassured when ‘Brightsparks made it clear that they wanted to make the course accessible to everyone and set aside any concerns I had about combining the course with my responsibilities to my family.’
Having known little about digital marketing beforehand, Charlotte describes how she has learned many new technical skills over the course of the programme, including how to ‘put together a website and adjust it for different platforms……... I’ve gained a good understanding of some of the key concepts of marketing on different social media platforms and delved into some content marketing work, too’.
Charlotte explains how the programme has allowed her time to rediscover her old talents and recognise how she could use them in the workplace. She feels much more confident about presenting herself at an interview as someone who could bring value to a team. Furthermore, she describes how ‘people have commented about how my confidence has improved and how happy I seem. The course has given me a sense of direction and purpose and it was genuinely enjoyable and inspiring.’
Thinking about the future, Charlotte explains how she would love to find a role that combines her values with her new digital marketing skills to help a local organisation. When asked what she would say to someone thinking of applying for a spot on the Brightsparks academy programme she advises them to ‘jump right in.’ She added ‘I’d say that any fears you might have about putting yourself out there, (perhaps after having taken time out of your career for whatever reason) will quickly be set aside by the people at Brightsparks, who really go out of their way to build confidence and self-esteem.’
Applications are now open for the next round of Brightsparks Academy