09th October 2019
Digital Pulse Trials New Concept with BHASVIC students
Introducing: Digital Hour
Graphite is a digital agency based on the seafront in Brighton. Working with large brands including BP, Pfizer, Costa and Peugeot, their expertise is focused on creating and improving digital customer experiences through innovation. In this post, Lauren Robinson shares a little about the ‘Digital Hour’ initiative which has been trialled successfully at BHASVIC.
Digital Career Opportunities
By 2022, it’s predicted that the digital and creative sector will need 1.2 million new workers in order to keep up with its growth - that’s 50% more than there are today (Gov.co.uk). In addition, 85% of the digital jobs that will exist in 2030 haven't been invented yet! (Tech City UK)
There is a huge and widening digital skills shortage in the UK and yet these statistics show that it’s one of the fastest-growing industries. So whilst some other industry sectors are struggling, digital looks like a good career path - and yet we believe that students are not choosing to develop their skills and capability in this area as the commercial and work opportunities are often not well understood by schools or parents.
Graphite is extremely passionate about helping young people see the value of embarking on the path of a digital career. Having run a number of initiatives, including coordination of Digital Day in the South East during the last 3 years, and trialling a new concept ‘Digital Pulse’ with BHASVIC in the last year too.
What is Digital Hour?
BIMA (British Interactive Media Association UK) have now officially signed off our Digital Pulse sessions as an initiative and are rebranding them as ‘Digital Hour’. Digital Hour is a condensed version of Digital Day - into just one lesson. During the lesson, you will be given an introduction to the industry, an introduction to Graphite, an insight into job roles and salaries and how you can get started. You will also have the opportunity to ask us anything about our careers stories, experience, or anything you wish to know about the digital industry in general. At the end of the session, we will also give you some of our top tips and advice for beginning your career. This advice can apply to any student, even those who are not sure that a digital career is for them.
How do I get involved?
If you’re interested in getting involved in Digital Hour and would like a group of digital experts to come to your class, you can ask your teachers to get in contact with our Managing Director, Rob Verheul via our contact form at graphitedigital.com/contact
Want more digital insight?
Agency/office visit
If you enjoy our Digital Hour session at your college and want to experience a real-life working environment within the industry, there is an opportunity to visit Graphite HQ and gain some more valuable insight into a digital career. Discuss with your teacher after the session to get involved. There may also be opportunities for work experience following this.
“My experience at Graphite has definitely helped me decide that this is a career path I would like to go down. I learnt so much and you have inspired me to follow my dreams in the creative industry”
Student at Longhill High School 2019
Other ways of getting involved...
Codeclub
A global network of free coding clubs.
InnovateHer
Inspiring content & opportunities.
Wired Sussex
Events, jobs and meetups in Sussex.
Bima Beat
Keep an eye on BIMA’s showcase of digital talent, updated quarterly - all on Instagram.
Find out more about us on our website: www.graphitedigital.com
Our experience working with BHAVIC students so far...
Digital Hour
Digital Hour was inspired by BHASVIC; wanting to run ‘Digital Day’ but not finding the time in the diary for the full day. Therefore Graphite was invited to meet with students and talk about how it is to work in the largest growing sector within just one lesson.
In fact, this felt truly full-circle, with our Managing Director - Rob Verheul having visited BHASVIC when he was a young student and being inspired by a digital pioneer. This opened the door to his career in Digital and as a result many more through Rob.
Having run our session once with students, we refined it and now visit several times a year to speak with the students doing creative subjects, helping them learn more and explore a few more opportunities in the burgeoning digital sector.
Now clocking up nearly a dozen meetings, we’re delighted by the engagement and interesting questions that come from the students every time.
Work experience
The first student joined us fresh out of his final year at BHASVIC for 30 hours of work experience spread over the course of a month before he began his foundation year in September. At the age of 19 and the eldest of all our work experience students, we personalised his experience so that he could take on more responsibilities and get hands-on with some of the real work the team were involved in throughout that month. For example, on his marketing day, he worked on researching and creating marketing content for our blog and setting up pages on our content management system (CMS). On his new business day, he even attended the B2B Marketing Expo at London’s ExCel alongside the team to man our stall and talk to potential business leads about how Graphite could help them overcome their business’ challenges.
We also had 2 students in their first year at BHASVIC join us for work experience at different times in the year. They both had a huge interest in digital design and art and wanted to explore the creative side of the agency. They particularly enjoyed our Costa Coffee app design challenge inspired by our real work for Costa, which they then had to present to the team. The girls also took a real shine to the idea of apprenticeships after her meeting with Graphite’s own digital apprentice, Lauren. Both girls had the opportunity to join in on some meetings too, for example, they were involved in our Marketing team’s social media planning meeting to get an insight into how a business meeting is run.
The whole team at Graphite were extremely impressed with the 3 students’ creativity, inquisitiveness, and their positive attitude to learning. They engaged and communicated well with the team and completed some excellent work during their time with us.