Charlie McAleese is a Digital Marketing Apprentice at H&J Martin. He explains why an apprenticeship was the ideal path for him.

When I was at school, I had always toyed with the idea of choosing an alternative to full time university. While some aspects of full-time university appealed to me, I also enjoyed working and liked the idea of being financially independent. However, I was keen to continue my education.  

I’m a former pupil of St Conor’s College, Clady, and Workplus delivered a workshop to the sixth years. It was there that apprenticeships were fully explained to me – that I could continue with my education and work. Following the workshop, I went on the Workplus website and started to explore opportunities. I also talked about it with my friends who also found the idea of apprenticeships very interesting.

Technology & Design and ICT were my favourite subjects at school. As I considered my next step after school, I thought Marketing would be a good fit as it would allow me to develop my ICT skills, and I liked the creativity and design aspect of marketing.

Through Workplus, I applied to three HLA marketing roles, including one with H&J Martin. I was really pleased to be invited for interview. At the interview, H&J Martin made me feel very welcome and at ease. I knew it was where I wanted to work. I didn’t have any marketing experience, but I had done a lot of research about the company, so I was able to show I was interested – both in H&J Martin and the marketing role.

Since starting at H&J Martin, I haven’t looked back. I love the job – it’s incredibly varied and I’ve met so many people. Some weeks I’m in Dublin, later this month I’m heading over to England, some days I’m office-based working on exciting projects, and others I’m visiting various sites across Ireland and the UK.

I’m also in college a day a week and, on top of that, H&J Martin plan my training and are giving me additional training in specific areas of marketing. Colleagues are so willing to share their knowledge with me in everything from social media to analytics. From starting with zero knowledge, I feel like I’ve come on leaps and bounds. 

I think apprenticeships are going to become more popular. When I got my apprenticeship, people asked me “Which trade?” There’s still a perception that apprenticeships are for traditional trades but there’s such a variety now. My parents didn’t know a marketing apprenticeship existed until I showed them the Workplus website!

Being able to apply through Workplus was brilliant – so quick, clear and simple. It also relieved stress in the middle of A Levels and the notifications and updates were helpful.

Apprenticeships are so appealing – they have all the benefits – experience, qualifications, salary and making connections. This path has kickstarted my career.

For anyone still at school, I’d advise them to research apprenticeships. You’ll be surprised at the number of pathways! They give you a great balance and so many opportunities.

The Workplus campaign is now live, you can view current H&J Martin apprenticeship opportunities, along with many others below. Applications close 12 noon, Friday 21 February.