Each month we will bring you behind the scenes to put the well deserved spotlight on our staff that help us make a difference to communities throughout the North East. With this week being National Apprenticeship Week, we will showcase our three fantastic apprentices, first up, meet Danny Walker, Creative Media and Digital Marketing Apprentice!
Can you give an overview of your role?
I've been with PCP now for 15 months, and I work in the marketing and communications department, where I am responsible for a variety of content creation for the company that includes social media, traditional print marketing and press releases for the PCP and all of our projects. This also includes writing the monthly Staff Spotlight blog series, which I hope you are all enjoying.
I mainly work with internal staff from across the organisation on a daily basis, but occasionally I will communicate with external companies. Daily, I work alongside my line manager Jenny Lee, and Operations Manager, Vicky Browning. From when I started to where I am now, I have developed confidence, not only in my work, but also as a person, where I feel I have matured (not too much though), and that is thanks to everyone at PCP.
Describe a day-to-day in your role
A typical day will see me focus on the social media content that needs to be put out, either on that day or in advance. We promote a lot of health campaigns, being able to create content for these and promote PCP's message alongside it is a really fun task and does get your creative juices flowing every day.
Monitoring our social media statistics, including our website and individual project pages can be a task but also fun. This means we can see from day to day, week to week, month to month, how content and pages are performing. Then we can adjust campaigns and content to suit the needs at the time.
I work full time and work from home three days a week. I work the final two days in the office at the Pioneering Care Centre. When I first joined the company, I found the balance jarring at first as I'd never done a hybrid working split before, but now I quite like it. It has its benefits, like being able to have a slightly longer lie in on a Monday morning, which is always welcome. I am also kept company by my dog at home those three days which is great company. Not to take anything away from Jenny or Vicky on a Thursday and Friday though!
Has there been any additional training you’ve done since you started working for the PCP
I have done a variety of additional training, mostly with the apprenticeship agency where I am working to complete my Level 3 in Digital Marketing. This included doing projects that were done on PCP social media and other means of marketing.
As well as this, within the organisation I have undertaken some courses such as maximising YouTube and TikTok growth, pitching press releases to journalists, and many health and wellbeing related courses for staff, which are hugely beneficial.
What are rewarding aspects about your role and what do you like about working for the PCP?
A rewarding aspect of the role is knowing that promoting our content across our main channel and our projects is that information is going to positively impact someone's life. It could be them finding out about our courses and classes we run, or finding out about a specific project they didn't know we had available for them.
These are all to do with health and wellbeing, which highlights looking after ourselves is the most important thing. I can say for sure our mission statement of health and wellbeing for all is very much targeted to the staff as much as it is the community. That is what has made a positive impact on me since I started working here too.
Working for the PCP is great and I'm not just saying that, I genuinely do really enjoy working for this company. All staff are great and are always available for a chat and a laugh, which made me feel welcome and at home straight away when I started in November 2021.
The culture and feel of the place, especially when you're at the Centre makes for no day being the same. You can be certain you'll leave at the end of the day with a smile on your face. Jenny is great and gives me loads of extra tasks to do each day, which always keeps me busy! On a serious note, I have her to thank for a lot of my development, along with Vicky, Carol Gaskarth, Chief Executive (brownie points thank you Carol) and El, who left PCP November just gone. They have all shown immense faith in all my work which has given me the confidence to be where I am at now.
And I can proudly say I have been offered a promotion to Marketing and Communications Officer, once my apprenticeship is completed!
If you are interested in joining our team, we have lots of opportunities across the North East and in sectors inclusive of health and wellbeing.
For more about what the PCP offers, visit www.pcp.uk.net, email enquiries@pcp.uk.net or call 01325 321234.