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2020 The Year That Changed Everything

2020 The Year That Changed Everything

The past 8 months have been a whirlwind and not one I think anyone could prepare for, this blog is about my life, I am sure many can relate.

This Is Me

I am Rachelle Smoker, I work in the EMEA Supplier Marketing team at RS Components. I work 30 hours a week and am a mother of 3 children.

At the start of this year, my manager approached me with a fantastic opportunity, to complete a digital marketing apprenticeship which would build my knowledge in Digital Marketing as well as provide me with the skills and knowledge needed to develop my own career in the future. I am sure many would jump at this challenge and would be as excited as I was when I was provided with my acceptance email. When I was accepted, we were working in the office and I was surrounded by my team some of which would also be fellow students on the same apprenticeship. Little did I know a few short months later I would be working from my home with a makeshift office located in my living room, 3 children who needed help with different school home learning projects as well as a constant request of being hungry and 8 months into a digital marketing apprenticeship.

EMEA Supplier Marketing Role

As job titles go mine is one that I am always asked “so what do you actually do?”, I am responsible for tracking all supplier funded marketing activities which run in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. I maintain a spreadsheet of all invoicing requirements to our suppliers as well as being the main contact between the Supplier Managers here at RS Components and our finance departments. Like many roles, I collaborate with my colleagues around Europe. The second part of my BAU role is to support EMEA Marketing Supplier Managers, I assist with purchase order requests for companies such as Google, Facebook & other digital platforms to help maintain a report of budget spend.

Another part of my role, I manage a relationship with external suppliers for online banners, this is supplier based and I arrange for the banners to be created, provide the URL’s to the external suppliers and report back to RS Supplier managers the results at the end of each month. The online banners are advertised on specialist engineering websites. They are designed for engineers and have a vast audience reach, the banners advertise a new supplier product and a link through to the RS Components website where they can read more about that specific product and make an order.

As you can see my role has some areas of Marketing included already however not so much digital focus, so the apprenticeship was a fantastic opportunity.

Being A Student Again?

At the age of 36 (old if you are my teenage daughter), I never thought I would be a student again. 8 months into the apprenticeship I feel my knowledge has grown around channels of delivery for digital marketing, customer lifecycle, audiences and target marketing all from my front room. Have you ever wondered how Facebook knows that you had been looking at that handbag online yesterday and now there is an advert on your Facebook news feed??

I left school 20 years ago with fair GCSE’s and never looked back. When I applied for this apprenticeship I was advised I would need a C in both English and Maths to be accepted on the course. However, not all is lost as you can sit an entry exam and complete online training in either or both subjects to support this. What I am trying to say is, don’t give up on something just because you didn’t get the grades you needed there is always options and support available.

What has 2020 taught Me?

Working for a company with the level of flexibility and opportunities RS Components has offered me is extremely important to me, being able to be a mum, still complete my job role and learn something new is possible! I have had days over the past 8 months where I have sat at my desk all day and not realised, then I have had days where I have needed to attend a call for one of my children which could only be completed during working hours and this is possible, I have worked late in the evenings and have learnt so much, all of which will support me in having a successful future. If I could offer any advice at this point it would be, challenge yourself every day, we live in a world of many opportunities and you can do anything! Being a parent doesn’t mean you have to take a back seat on your career if you want to go back to learning something new it can be achieved. Life is short and no one can say what the future holds for us however we can put steps in place to make the future be what we want it to be.

What Next?

We live in a crazy world so who knows!! For me I have another year on my apprenticeship and a lot more to learn and new challenges to face, I am looking forward to being back in the office and seeing my team face to face rather than via a screen however I believe having the option of being in the office or working from home is important, I always thought I wouldn’t be productive working from home and I should always be in the office, Covid19 has taught me this is not the case, I can be just as engaged and productive working from home and I get to spend more time with the children which is something I have never had.

Key Takeaway

Be organised – create a to-do list each day and schedule time in your diary to action these

Take Breaks and lunch – At the start of working from home a break and lunch were not in my day, after a few months of doing this I realised if I was in the office, I would be having these so being at home should make no difference.

Talk to people – it can be lonely being at home all day, schedule in calls with your colleagues and fellow students

In Summary

The past 8 months have flown by, moving into December I am looking forward to new challenges in my apprenticeship and focusing on business as usual activities. One thing the past 8 months have taught me is anything is possible if you are willing to put the work in to achieve this. 2020 the year that changed my life!

 

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