My apprenticeship story: 1 in 150

Before Queen's College, I started another apprenticeship. I left after a month. It was not because I could not do the work - it was because I was not being educated or supported enough to do it well. I was expected to perform without being taught, and the knowledge I needed was not shared with me.

That month taught me something important. A good apprenticeship is not just a job with training on paper. You need people around you who answer questions, explain the work, and let you learn out loud. If you are not getting that, it is worth walking away.

I wrote the covering letter myself, in my own voice, without a template. I built a small portfolio of anything I had ever made - the good, the mediocre, the weird - because a portfolio of proof beats a polished CV every time. I asked three people to read the application. I edited it four times.

Then the numbers came back. 150 people had applied for the Marketing apprenticeship at Queen's College. I was one of them, and I made it through. Standing out is not about being the loudest. It is about being specific, prepared, and able to show what you can already do.

The process had two stages. First, a phone call. Then, an in-person interview. I treated both like real opportunities, not boxes to tick.

I over-prepared. I researched the school, the marketing team, the recent campaigns, the tone of the website. I walked in with a printed one-page plan of what I would do in the first 90 days if they hired me. Nobody expects that from an 18 year old. It matters.

The hardest question was "why not university?" - the honest answer, that I wanted to build things instead of write about them, went down better than any rehearsed line would have. Honesty is under-rated in interviews.

The difference at Queen's was immediate. I was given real work, but I was also given guidance. New tools, new team, new pace - and people who answered my questions. I said yes to everything for the first month, then started to specialise. I closed loops. I turned up early. I asked questions in writing so nobody had to repeat themselves. I built a personal system for tracking every project.

Nine months in, I was owning the school's SEO, running email campaigns, shooting content, briefing agencies and speaking on panels. Not because I was special - because I had said yes to the boring work first and earned the interesting work second, in a place that actually supported me.

I work in Marketing at Queen's College full time. I freelance on the side. I write on LinkedIn to try and pull the ladder down for the next school leaver. I have no student debt, real experience, and a career I actually chose rather than one I fell into.

If you are reading this and thinking about applying somewhere, apply. If you have applied and been rejected, apply again. And if you start somewhere that does not support you, know that leaving is not failing - it is part of finding the right place.