Caitlin Valentine, a senior secondary school pupil in Aberdeen visited Absoft for a two week work experience placement in August to see first hand how the Absoft marketing department functions. Caitlin plans pursue her interest in studying marketing at University next year and kindly wrote a blog on her experience at Absoft.
My time at Absoft by Caitlin Valentine
My two weeks spent at Absoft have not only been work experience but have also been an incredible learning experience. ​
In just ten days, I had the opportunity to gain an insight into working life and also developed some knowledge and experience of the workings of a busy marketing department.
My experience at Absoft introduced me to a range of marketing techniques and has allowed me to explore digital marketing and analytics tools that I wouldn’t otherwise have access to. I learned about Google Analytics and how such tools can be used to track potential leads and how the data they gather is important in analysing the strengths and possible weaknesses of a website. I also enjoyed engaging in more creative and personal activities such designing my own digital campaign for upcoming Absoft events.Â
An aspect of marketing I have become very interested in as a result of my time at Absoft is social media marketing. I was surprised to discover just how impactful social media platforms are in advertising and encouraging brand awareness as well as reaching an advanced, global market.
Closely linked to this is the company website, I spent part of my first week focusing on the importance of a website in attracting potential customers and giving a positive and professional first impression. As part of this activity I reviewed other company websites and became aware of the importance of website attributes such as; consistent brand colours to represent a unified company, offering features that make it simple and easy to navigate the web site and also making sure that information is relevant and up to date.
A more unfamiliar marketing method I was very interested to learn about was events and how attending events can be useful for engaging potential customers and for entering new markets.
Towards the end of my work experience, I also obtained more general skills as I carried out a variety of small tasks for Absoft such as data cleansing and data collection. This improved my IT skills as I learned how to manage leads, accounts and contacts using Salesforce – Absoft’s CRM system and I improved my spreadsheet skills as part of cleaning up contact data.
Overall this experience has taught me numerous aspects of marketing and has encouraged me to have confidence in my plans to go on to study marketing at University in the future.
I am very grateful to Absoft for the opportunity and am sure that it will help me in my future academic and working life.
