My name is Will Pritchard. I go to a school in Harrogate called St. John Fishers where I have been going since I was 11 years old. At the school, I enjoy maths and science however, out of school I also like to play rugby, cricket and football for my local clubs. Every year, all the Year 10’s at my school do one week of work experience during the last week of term before summer. For my week of work experience I chose to come here, Network Marketing Leeds.

Networking Marketing is a recruitment company that specialises in marketing, digital and creative jobs and is part of the Pertemps Network Group that turns over £750 millions each year. They have been building strong relationships with a range of employers and finding jobs fit for individuals for the past 20 years as well as expanding the business to have offices in Leeds, Manchester and London. Over the years they have worked with companies such as Sky Bet, Irwin Mitchell and Robot Food. Currently, the two directors of the company are Jonathan Hirst and Julie Storey who are supported by other managers and directors in the three offices. Alongside Network Marketing, there is also the Book Recruitment which is a partner company that focuses more on recruiting people in the creative sector. Both businesses are based at West One on Wellington Street.

During my week at Network Marketing I have learnt various skills needed for working in offices as well as the recruitment business. On Monday I spent some time with Lynne, the company’s digital marketing manager, who taught me about what she does on a day to day basis and how marketing works. Some things she showed me include what she posts on the company’s social media pages and what posts receive a higher interaction, what she blogs she puts on the website to keep people interested in going on the website and finally how she can track the amount of people going on the website using Google Analytics.

Throughout the week, I answered the phone and by doing so I understood how to answer a phone correctly and how important it is to present yourself properly over the phone. I learnt that communication is 70% visual, 20% how you say it, and 10% what you say so communicating well verbally whilst on the phone is very important. Other things I learnt about this week were business development which was where consultants try and gain business off new or existing clients. Finally, I spent a lot of time sourcing candidates for consultants on websites such as Reed and LinkedIn Recruiter but also the database called Bond. When using these websites I read a lot of CVs and what makes up a good CV as well as how to look for people that fit the brief using a Boolean search.

On one day as part of my work experience I spent a day down in the Manchester office working with the team there. After catching the train down to Manchester and getting to the office, I began looking for some clients for two consultants once again using Reed and LinkedIn Recruiter. Then after that David Walsh gave me a course on how LinkedIn can be used and why it is so important for someone with a job in recruitment. In the afternoon, I continued to look for candidates before I caught the train back to Leeds. My time working in Manchester was very enjoyable because the team was so welcoming and I was able to develop my understanding of sourcing and finding candidates for consultants.

On Wednesday, I spent the morning at a nearby business and also one of Network Marketing clients called ResearchBods that specialises in creating software for surveys. The company was founded by Jonathan Clough and Robin Hilton who have been growing the company for the past 5 years. Recently, they opened an office out in Australia and they now have around 45 working for their company. The surveys that their company creates help other companies conduct market research so they can understand what their customers want. They have worked with companies such as Costa Coffee, Seabrook and Nickelodeon. At the start of the day, I spent some time with Shannon Berry, the Manager of PR and Marketing at ResearchBods. She taught me what she does day to day and eventually got me to write a press release for her about children being left at home alone without adult supervision. Afterwards, I sat in on several meetings with Jonathan and Robin where they talked about a range other things from what they were doing today to how they were going to push the company forwards while I listened and took notes on the whiteboard. To end the morning, I shadowed the account manager and a project manager where I learnt about what they spend their days doing and how important it is to stay organised with time and files and documents otherwise it can disrupt other colleagues and distract people from actually working.

After working at Network Marketing I know that I’ve gained many valuable skills from my time their whether they are related to recruitment or not. During this time I experienced many new situations which I had faced before and sometimes felt uncomfortable in. From these situations I learnt various new skills and most importantly how important it is on how to present yourself as this is quite often how people judge you. These new skills will be extremely useful when I start my first full time job or end up doing another work experience or internship further in the future.