Louise couldn’t believe her luck when she landed her dream job. We can and it wasn’t luck! It was her winning formula of combining a love for heritage with new digital skills, that saw Louise become Web Editor for National Trust property Waddesdon Manor.
Louise was determined to change her career path. Due to ill health, Louise had to take time out from working and believes this had a knock-on effect on her career path. Working mainly in administrative roles, Louise was looking for something that would stretch her creative and analytical skills, but struggled to see how she could get a job in this area with her current experience.
Now Louise says she pinches herself to realise she is working in a place like Waddesdon Manor today.
“I remember visiting Waddesdon Manor and thinking gosh can you imagine working here! It was my dream to work in a place like this when I was young.”
Combining a passion with digital skills to get a dream job
It wasn’t until Louise embarked on our Face to Face Social Media course, that she realised there was a real opportunity to combine her new love of digital with her existing passion of history and heritage. You could say finding a niche was the jumping off point for Louise to visualise her future.
“Social media and web editing are so closely linked. Having experience in both is another feather in my cap!”
TechPixies have your back
“I would never have gone for the job if it wasn’t for my Cohort!”
As Louise describes it, her fellow TechPixies were her cheerleaders! Knowing her passion for heritage, it was her fellow TechPixies who suggested she approach Waddesdon Manor about a volunteering opportunity. Looking to gain more experience, Louise got in touch with Waddesdon Manor to offer up her new skills in exchange for experience, something she would never have considered before. Recognising Louise’s determination to upskill, Waddesdon were only too happy to accept the offer. The work experience helped Louise to gain more confidence in social media and sharpen her expertise, not to mention a great way to get out and work in a new office environment.
Louise’s volunteering paid off! A Web Editor role in the department came up which Louise successfully applied for and got. Louise says that if it hadn’t have been for her Cohort encouraging her, she would never be where she is today.
Transferable skills
By completing the course with TechPixies, Louise says this helped her to stand out when interviewing for her role. She also says that discussing the role with her Cohort really helped her better articulate how her skills matched the job description.
“I found having social media experience was very important when interviewing for my current role. I was able to link all digital platforms together which is what my employer was essentially looking for.”
A love for content creation
No two days are the same for Louise in her role as Web Editor for Waddesdon Manor and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Having a good grounding in social media has helped Louise to work closely with her team on content creation. Louise has successfully developed a Twitter content series such as ‘Waddesdon Workers’ that goes behind the scenes highlighting the work carried out by the staff. By understanding the role of web content and how it can be curated for social media, Louise has been instrumental in creating new content for the website that seamlessly works on social media.
“I’ve been asked to write blogs for the website. Having the experience of writing copy for social media and understanding how best to create web pages has been invaluable in this process.”
Life coaching helped to visualise the future
From the first session of the Face to Face course, Louise says she felt a connection with the rest of her Cohort. The life coaching module featured at the beginning of the course which Louise describes this as the perfect ice-breaker!
“I can honestly say we are friends for life. We bonded in our first session which was life coaching module. Each of us had different reasons for taking the TechPixies courses, but we all had a very similar feeling – that our confidence had gone and we weren’t really sure what the next move was. That really bonds you.”
A real community
For Louise, she has met a real community that provided ongoing support. “We meet up regularly. We are all still cheerleaders for each other.”
There is a very active Facebook Group for new and existing TechPixies to share news, jobs and industry updates amongst other things. Louise has found this a very important community to keep up to date on the latest social media news, as well as being a great place to encourage and empower each other.
“When I got my job I was able to share the news on the Facebook Group and lots of TechPixies congratulated me on LinkedIn which was really lovely.”
There are regular meetups with TechPixies alumni as well as Info Sessions for new TechPixies, which alumni often attend to pass on their experience. Louise has been an active member of these events and believes this has helped her to continue to grow her own network.
“My experience of TechPixies is ongoing. I love meeting the new TechPixies at Taster Sessions and within the Facebook Group. It’s a real privilege to see them on their new journey to learning new skills.”
It just shows you that with a little encouragement from others, you really can achieve a lot. For Louise, looking back, she really can’t believe that from completing a course with TechPixies, she would have overcome so many barriers to move her career onto the path she always wanted.
Thinking about upskilling with social media?
