Developing my PR ‘skills for life’ with Babel

Happy National Apprentice Week! This year, the theme is centred around ‘skills for life’ which reflects on how apprenticeships provide individuals with the opportunity to develop key skills and knowledge and enjoy rewarding careers. This theme also highlights the fact that apprenticeships help develop a talented workforce equipped with future-ready skills. 

After being at Babel for just under a year and a half, and a year has gone by since my last apprenticeship blog, I feel that I have really developed both personally and professionally in that time. Being at Babel has taught me some truly valuable ‘skills for life’, and in honour of the 16th annual week-long celebration of apprenticeships, I thought it was once again time to talk about my experience and how I have developed skills for life during my time at Babel. 

What has my PR apprenticeship taught me?

Since I started my apprenticeship at Babel back in September 2021, I feel that my  PR skills and knowledge of the industry have really improved. Studying on the job has given me a totally different perspective on things. Not only am I learning the theory behind PR and industry best practices, but I am putting that theory into practice, and learning even more as a result. 

When thinking about this question, media relations immediately popped into my mind. Not only has my ability to talk with the media improved greatly over the past year, but my confidence in doing so has improved alongside it. I no longer hesitate to pick up the phone and speak with a journalist, as I vividly remembered doing towards the start of my apprenticeship. But this new-found confidence when pitching to the media has not only had an effect in me in my day-to-day role, but it has also had an effect on many other areas, such as my networking skills. At our inaugural women in tech drinks, I felt confident in introducing myself and speaking with various different journalists, and this is just one of the skills that Babel has helped me to develop.

What is something that I wish I knew before starting my apprenticeship? 

As I’m sure everyone is before starting a new job, I was really nervous to start my apprenticeship. Although the idea of it was exciting, I had always had it in my mind that University was the only way to go, and the idea of doing something completely different to the majority of people was nerve-wracking.

The one thing that I wish I could have known was how much would I love working with the amazing team at Babel. The Babel team have never failed to provide me with the coaching I needed, whether it was helping me with my apprenticeship work or supporting me when I felt out of my depth. 

In hindsight, my doubts were unnecessary –  I now know that worrying was wasted energy because this was the best choice I could have made for myself.