Being offered my first interview was quite intimidating… I was excited with the prospect of maybe getting a job but I was also just overthinking any kind of question I thought that my interviewers would ask me.

The Phone Interview

I had a phone interview first, I was just expecting a ‘little chat’ but was asked quite a few questions I wasn’t anticipating like “so in your eyes, what is marketing?" My mind went blank. I’ve never done marketing before but I’ve been interested in marketing tasks at school and college so I had a rough idea that I enjoyed it. I just chatted away hoping that I was saying something that made sense. Then my interviewer told me that she would invite me to their offices for an interview!

The Interview

I breathed a huge sigh of relief, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what else I would be asked! I crammed in so many YouTube videos to know what marketing was, things about the company that I didn’t know, I even found my interviewers on LinkedIn.

I treated the whole process like an exam because that’s the only thing I could relate an interview to. I memorised so many things for example 20,588 vacancies advertised on the GetMyFirstJob website in the last 30 days. I was so nervous but thought that I could perfect any answer they needed from me!

I arrived at the offices 30 minutes before my interview because I didn’t want to be late and make a bad impression. If anything, I probably seemed a little bit too keen!  To get to the interview room you had to walk across the office of GetMyFirstJob, I could feel everyone’s eyes burning into my skin. The worst thing about me? I go red at anything, so before I knew it I was like a tomato while I was sat in the interview room waiting for my interviewers.

Trying my hardest to look less like a tomato. I ended up being so early one of my interviewers was still eating their lunch! I felt so bad. It actually ended up being really relaxed and my memorising of all the information wasn’t needed to the extent I’d revised...

The Outcome

I was quietly confident about getting the job, but even so every time I thought I’d done ok my head was full of doubt. I got home from the interview and I knew how much I wanted to get the job! I checked my emails every half an hour and every time my phone went off I was so apprehensive to see what the notification was. I was expecting this ritual to carry on for about a week but the next day I was told I had the job!

I was over the moon; my family even took me out for dinner to celebrate! I couldn’t wait to start… I went on a shopping trip, so I was all prepared for my first ever job. It was so tricky to buy smart-casual clothes without being too smart or too casual and also trying not to look like a school teacher! But I felt I’d pulled it off and happily went into start my first day.

The First Day

I met the other apprentice, Calum and I felt so comfortable because I knew I wouldn’t be the only new person and we were both in the same boat. I was introduced to all of the programmes and software that the marketing team use and spent a lot of my time familiarising myself with these and researching competitors and people the company work with to get an idea of what I would be working towards. As well as the rest of the company including the Managing Director, David.

Everyone was so welcoming and as soon as I got home after my induction day I was so excited. I couldn’t stop talking about the new offices and the massive canteen area. I’m pretty sure that everyone I’ve ever spoken too knows that the canteen area has Swingball and table tennis tables to play on!

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