CHOSEN for their drive, hunger and good vibes, the candidates for a Dunfermline digital marketing training programme are gearing up to start their paid internships.
Run by Scunnered Digital, Dive In Tae Digital was made possible thanks to funding from the City of Dunfermline area committee, on behalf of Fife Council and Opportunities Partnership Fife.
Local sisters, Colleen and Alana Reid, are incredibly proud of what their trainees have achieved.
Over the course of the programme, the group has built up their knowledge and skills, learning all about how to analyse businesses, study competitors, social media strategy and content, search engine optimisation, website auditing and more.
Now, armed with their new skills, they're getting ready for their four-week internships.
Colleen told the Press: "In the last couple of weeks we’re looking at employability, so CV’s, confidence building and interview skills.
"Everybody has come on so much, it’s great to see because it’s always been such a wide mix of people but everyone is just doing amazingly.
"Me and Alana are training together and we’re just so proud of everyone, they’re doing brilliantly and I think they’re surprising themselves actually."
The aim of the programme was to give people a way into the digital marketing sector, create long-standing digital marketing roles in the city and give small local businesses the chance to access digital marketing experts.
She continued: "We asked them who, before coming into the programme, wanted to do digital marketing as a career or thought that was a possibility.
"Three out of 23 said they were already thinking about this. We asked again, we said, ‘Look you’ve done six weeks of training now in loads of different parts of digital marketing, how many of you now are seriously looking for a marketing career?’ and all of them put their hands up, which was amazing to see.
"It’s opened up a new door that they didn’t think was possible for them, which is great to see because that’s exactly why we’re doing it, to try and shake up how people get into digital marketing.
"Everyone needs it, but lots of small businesses can't afford it or don't have the time to upskill themselves so programmes like this are the only way that they’re ever going to get boots on the ground that are actually going to help them.
"For the next part of the programme, we’re actually putting these people into paid internships with local businesses. I think that’s when they’ll really start to take notice and think ‘Oh actually, I do need marketing and I can afford it because here’s a new way to do it’
"It’s just shaking it up a bit and it’s exactly what’s needed."
Everyone in the programme is aged between 16 and 30 and are either students or currently unemployed.
And in the true spirit of shaking up the system, the sisters took a different approach to choosing the successful candidates.
"We didn’t ask for CVs," Colleen said, "We weren’t interested in where they’ve been because we just want to know where they’re going.
"We want to know that they’ve got the hunger and drive to do something about their situation. Everybody in the room has fire in their belly, they’re there for a reason. They want to get on in life and they want to upskill and find a new route into work.
"We very much picked them on their hunger, their appetite to do something and also if we gelled with them, if they had a good attitude and a good vibe."
The sisters will now hand-pick internships for each of their students from the involved businesses and chosen charities.
All of the interns will be paid a real living wage for their time, going in to work for 14 hours each week and working with their employers on competitor research, business strategy, social media strategy, social media content and website audits.
She continued: "They get really strong value out of it too, they’re not just doing something nice for someone who is unemployed, they’re actively getting a lot of value out of it themselves."
When this scheme was first announced, Alana and Colleen received 106 applications, and after a successful first run, they hope to run it again in the future and continue to provide pathways into digital marketing.
She added: "Our next hope is that we can get funding to run this again. It’s clearly something that young people want to do and we’re trying to plug the digital skills gap."
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