As a first year A Level student, I find the idea of determining my future at the ages of 17 and 18 daunting and overwhelming.
There are many different paths you can take after completing your A Levels such as degree apprenticeships, university, gap years, and more.
Personally, my week of work experience at J&PR has massively assisted me in deciding what path I want to take. This is thanks to the advice of team member Sophie Coombs.
As we sat eating lunch, Sophie informed me on some websites I can use to aid me in my search for a degree apprenticeship; https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship and https://creativealliance.org.uk/apprentices/
Before my work experience week, I had changed my mind a number of times about what direction I was going to take after school. Throughout years 10, 11 and 12 my ideas for a future career ranged from physiotherapist, to studying law, to taking a creative writing course at university!
Once I obtained my placement at J&PR, through Managing Director Kirsty Smallman, I couldn’t wait to start. I felt happy knowing I had found a placement somewhere that did exactly what I was interested in, and after my first day my interests were heightened…
My time spent at J&PR
My first day at J&PR began with Clarissa showing me the ropes. She introduced me to the different tools the team uses like Canva, a graphic design website used to create various social media posts and a useful website called Sendible, a social media management tool which schedules posts to be sent to various accounts.
I also got the opportunity to sit in on a team meeting between Kirsty, Rhea, Sophie, Freya and Clarissa where I was able to learn more about the company and what the team does. My final activity of the day was learning how to use Canva by creating some infographics for a new client’s Facebook page.
On Tuesday, I finished my infographics for the client and had a go at creating some written content for it.. I was later offered the opportunity to sit in on a fascinating meeting with this client.
One of the smaller jobs I was given was to attend to some minor details on the Canva file for the Shropshire Chamber Business Awards 2023.
My final job of the day was to add my research of different estate agents in the area to a spreadsheet on Google Drive for a client of J&PR’s who is a mortgage advisor. This day confirmed to me I had chosen the perfect place for work experience, mainly due to how involved they let me be and how welcoming the environment was.
My final two days at the company were spent writing this blog to be put on the J&PR website and attending the team’s wellness day at Alderford Lake where I got to socialise more with the team and partake in some fun team-building activities!
Overall, my experience at J&PR has been amazing! I had so much fun getting to know the team and learning more about what each of them do. This experience has majorly helped me in setting out the guidelines for what I’d like to do in the future after completing my A Levels.
