Our Boy George: A Year in Industry with EE

Over the past couple of years, we’ve loved expanding the reach of our work and partnering with clients across the country – from Liverpool to London, between Dartford and Derby. But we’re a small, Wakefield-based business at heart and we’re proud of our roots. That’s why, when we got a call from local lad George looking for a university placement, we jumped at the chance to welcome him to the team.  

As the end of George’s twelve months with us is in sight, we caught up with him to find out all about his time with the team.  

Hi George! To start, tell us what brought you to EE in the first place.

“I’m studying Business Management & Marketing at Nottingham Trent University, and as part of my course, I had to do a ‘placement year’, which is spending a whole year with a business getting relevant work experience.  

My mum works in a school in Wakefield so I had heard about you guys through her. When I saw you were looking for a Digital Marketing Assistant I just reached out to see if you’d take me on for the year. Lucky for me, you did.” 

What kind of work do you do as a Digital Marketing Assistant?

“I get to work on loads of different projects, which keeps things interesting. I help to schedule social media posts, set up and populate new websites and look after all the existing websites as well.  

I’m also in charge of all the emails that get sent to the Digital Team, so if clients need us to update something on their website or post something specific, I can help with that, whether it’s doing it for them or talking them through the process.” 

What’s been your favourite thing about your placement with EE?

“I think the fact that I haven’t been treated like a ‘placement student’, I’ve been treated just like any other colleague. I have the same amount of workload and responsibility as everyone else and I’m fully included in the team.  

Plus, every day’s different so I get to really experience all the different aspects of the business.” 

And what’s been the most challenging part?

“Probably the attention to detail and quality assurance. In my role, basically everything I deliver is ‘out there’ for everyone to see. So I’ve had to learn to spot any mistakes or sticking points as I go to make sure everything’s perfect. But it feels good to finish a big project and know that it’s a really high standard.” 

Has anything about your placement been different than you expected?

“Yeah, I think I thought the role would be more about designing social media graphics and things to post out. But, since EE is an agency, we have separate Design, Media and Copy Teams that create the assets for us. It’s made me realise how much better content can be when you’ve got in-house experts working on it. That’s something I’ll remember for when I graduate.” 

What’s the grand plan for after your placement and beyond? 

“When my placement ends, I’ll go back to uni and finish my final year. Then my plan is to get some more work experience, learn more about how marketing agencies run, and then try going out on my own and setting up my own business. 

It’s been really nice working in a small business like EE for my placement because it’s helped me understand more about how agencies work. I wouldn’t have got that insight by going to work for a really big company.” 

Do you have any advice for other students looking for a placement in the sector? 

“I can only really go off my experience working at EE. So, if someone was thinking about applying for a placement here, I’d say go for it. The team’s great so it wouldn’t be difficult to fit in and get along with everyone. You get loads of support to learn everything, so you don’t have to worry about knowing it all straight away. And it’ll give you loads of experience and knowledge about marketing that you can’t pick up just by studying it.” 

What a guy – we didn’t even bribe him to say any of that. 

We love having George as part of the team. As much as he’s learned from us, we’ve learned from him. Like the fact that it’s okay to order a large Domino’s pizza for lunch, 1950s rock and roll is timeless, and some people born after the year 2000 actually don’t know who Peter Andre is.  

Joking aside, George has become a real asset to Team EE and will be sorely missed when he’s back in Nottingham. But we can’t wait to see what he goes on to achieve! 

Looking for work experience? Get in touch! We’re always happy to chat.