My name is Phoebe Harwood, I'm 19 and was born in the Isle of Man.  Last year, after finishing sixth form, I applied for the Marketing Apprenticeship being offered by Appleby in collaboration with The Marketing Partnership and The Department for Enterprise. The apprenticeship offered a one year paid placement at Appleby, working four days in the office per week and taking a day of study towards the CIM Level 3 Foundation Certificate in Marketing. 

As a student who was keen to start work, I was excited about the opportunity to continue my studies whilst gaining experience in a global organisation. A year later, I am extremely happy I decided to apply and incredibly grateful to Appleby for this opportunity, and I am looking forward to joining the Global Communications team permanently.

Monday

My week begins in much the same way as thousands of others on the Island with an early start and time to get my head back into work mode after the weekend. First of all I'll check my emails to deal with any queries that popped up over the weekend. Later on in the morning, I join a conference call with the Crown Dependency and Asia marketing teams where we discuss upcoming activities within each of our jurisdictions as we plan the week ahead. For the rest of the day the projects I work on are extremely diverse. This week, I have been creating copy for local communications, organising our CSR activities and helping to collate data for the monthly social media measurement report.

Tuesday

Today begins with preparations for our annual client event. This involves a more creative side as I work with our events co-ordinator. In the afternoon the social committee, which I am a part of, met to organise the office summer party. Being part of the social committee is one of the opportunities I enjoy most as we create a packed social calendar for the office. This year we are part of the business netball league and luckily the weather for our match today is sunny! We didn't win this time, but had a lot of fun playing together as a team.

Wednesday

On Wednesdays I do not go into the office. I spend the morning reading over the notes for the next chapter of my course ahead of my tutorial in the afternoon. This week I met a friend who is home from university at The Noodle Bar for lunch. I then made my way to the tutorial and catch up with my five classmates. Our tutorial lasts a couple of hours, which allows time afterwards to go home and brush up on the more complex parts of the syllabus. I am currently preparing for the final exam of my apprenticeship in July by completing past papers and finalising my notes.  

Thursday

Today begins with some proof reading for legal directory submissions, as well as working on putting together some key messaging packs with my colleague, Anna McChesney. The annual legal directory process is a great way to widen my knowledge and understanding of the business and the fantastic deals we have been involved in over the past year. After an interesting day at the office, my evening is spent taking part in the Children's Centre annual rounders tournament as part of the Appleby team. It was a brilliant evening spending time with my colleagues and giving it our best effort in the matches.

Friday

Today I had the chance to work on a new initiative we are launching across our Crown Dependency offices which consists of inviting a network of local contacts to attend four events a year with us. Working across the offices is great as it gives an insight and understanding into the different cultures within the business. This afternoon, in order to celebrate National Ice Cream day in July, an ice-cream van was organised outside the office where we were all invited for an ice cream cone. This evening I took part in the business shooting competition – although this definitely isn't my sport, I enjoyed learning a new skill all the same.

Appleby is supporting the Marketing Apprentice Scheme in the Isle of Man again in 2018. For more information about the role, please click here

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