Part of my Year 10 curriculum was to complete a successful 5-day working week of work experience or WEX. To try to get my WEX, I had called company after company, but much to my disappointment, I had received rejection after rejection. It was a week or so before the period I was expected to complete work experience, and I was full of despair.
Then, I stumbled across Futuretheory while I was scrolling on Google. When I called, not only were they instantly on board, but they were welcoming and ready to show me how things worked.
This excited me, as I had been looking for something in line with business and marketing. I wanted to see if that pathway was the one for me, and being allowed to experience this company was news I had been hoping for.
When I arrived, I received more than I expected: an email, a key, and my own desk. Here I was thinking I just had to stand over someone’s shoulder and take notes, or get people’s coffee and clean.
But no, I was offered my own tasks to complete and given constructive criticism. The notes they made on my work are things that I can take on board and use in so many ways in the future.
Not only was I given tasks, but they were varied. I wasn’t stuck doing the same thing over and over again. They ranged from writing glossaries, articles, product descriptions, and filming content. And they let me do things for their other companies, allowing me to write in varied tones and learn the importance of different structures of texts depending on the business’s goal.
They taught me how to use programs like WordPress and SurferSEO. They also took time to educate me on their importance in certain fields. And I was always allowed to ask questions and ask for help if I was stuck.
I think that it’s also important to note that the tasks they gave me were informative on two levels: the use and the information I learnt through them.
What I mean by this is, I learnt about everything I was writing about. When tasked to right product descriptions for LAYR, I learnt about 3D printing, which I had no prior knowledge of. When I wrote an article about social media for Futurtheory, I deepened my understanding of how much of a big role social media has in business.
Being able to try all these different things showed how much they were taking care of me. Other places may have just let me sit and scroll on my phone, but here, they let me be active and contribute to their company.
Although I didn’t do everything under the sun, I was able to start confidently understanding what marketing entails.
It’s extremely difficult to compress a jam-packed week into only one page, but to sum it up: it was an eye-opening experience and a great introductory step into the working world.
