Good bye and thank you…

We’ve recently waved good-bye to our six students from Manchester Metropolitan University Business School who came to us via the University’s ‘Agency Life’ initiative. It was a strong learning curve for everyone involved and, ultimately, a valuable experience.

Although we recognise the positives in the University’s vision to promote links with Manchester agencies and to help students to build the right skills to make them work-ready when they graduate, our own motives were never purely philanthropic!

Most agencies will tell you – off the record, of course – that, far from being a form of cheap or free labour, school and university placements can be hard work. The amount of time that you invest in soothing, guiding and reassuring your nervous students is nowhere near equal and composite to the amount of work you get out of them and there is obviously a limit to what you can teach them that you can then reap the benefit from, work-wise, in a short space of time.

The reason why we bother (surely the question on most lips or is that just the cynic in me??) is because the digital world is constantly changing. Renewing itself, upgrading, call it what you like but the hard fact is that, more than most industries, it doesn’t remain still for long. Because of that, we need to be collaborative to survive and we need to embrace education.

Digital media and marketing is a young industry and it is driven by the most creative and the most hungry, regardless of age. Business students are prime for this environment because, if they can marry an understanding of all things digital together with business acumen and understanding, they are the founders and managing directors of the agencies of the next decade.

We, like everybody else, are on the hunt for talent and we’re prepared to invest our time and our energy to cultivate the next generation of Livelink team players. Incidentally, we did get our pound of flesh and there were a couple of ‘ones to watch’ in the mix who we’ll be staying in touch with. We can’t wait to see which students we get through the doors for next year!

In the meantime, we’ll leave the final word to current Manchester Metropolitan University Business School student and ‘one to watch’ Meera…

“Before joining the team, I was nervous and anxious as I was unsure whether I had enough experience or skill to understand what I would need to learn. However, over a six-month period and with the great teaching of the Livelink team, I progressed and developed a range of skills in digital marketing and I discovered that I had a particular aptitude for content writing. This was an area that I particularly enjoyed and wanted to develop and I was encouraged and allowed to focus my efforts on this in the final months. As a result, I feel like I have genuinely developed my skills in this area and I can take this training and use it to continue with content writing when future opportunities allow.

“And, once I’d got the better of my nerves, I really enjoyed myself! I’m really thankful to those – especially Louise Davies – who took time out to help me. This experience has given me a very definite grounding and should stand me in good stead for future employment so I am really grateful.”