Hi everyone! My name is Maty and I’m currently an apprentice (or, 'alternante' as they say in French!) here at My English Sister.
Coming from America, I had never heard of an apprenticeship so I was very confused when I first looked into it. I mainly had two questions;
1) How can I balance all of this? And;
2) Will I have to take classes in French?
The answers to those questions are:
1) It’s possible (you’ve been doing it for 5 months now!) and;
2) Nope! All classes are in English (luckily).
I can honestly say that it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made since being in France. It isn’t easy, but it is definitely doable.
When I first started working as an English Sister I loved all the newness of France and learning all about the French school system and meeting my families, but in the back of my mind I always knew that I could be doing more.
I was an English Sister for about 6 months, until I started to feel stagnant in my life. This role was a great experience and allowed me to immerse myself in French culture, but I still felt like I wasn’t working up to my full potential.
In an effort to continue my studies, I applied for a Digital Marketing Program in New York that was held on Zoom Mondays to Thursdays at 6pm (New York Time). Meaning that I would log into the program from midnight until 3am working on Google Analytics, Excel, and social media strategies.
Despite the late late nights, I felt so productive and was learning new things. When the program came to an end, I found myself in a rut yet again. I wanted to further my studies and also apply everything that I had learned.
That’s when I remembered about the apprenticeship with the integrated Master's program that I was informed about during my interview process.
I thought to myself, this is the perfect opportunity!
This apprenticeship was perfect for me. It mixed my work and education experience all into one. I had a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, experience in education, and I now had experience with Data Analytics...and that’s how I ended up applying for the MES apprentice position.
Before applying, I was definitely nervous about how I would balance working with the kids, work in the office, school, and my personal life, but MES definitely makes it manageable. The team is very supportive of my studies, for example I don’t work on Fridays because that is the one day that I have class.
On Fridays I’m not contacted unless it is truly urgent and I appreciate that because I dedicate all my energy to school. I’ve also started working on my thesis for my Masters degree and everyone has offered me help with it. I feel very lucky to have a workplace that is so considerate of my educational advancement.
I applied first to the MES Apprenticeship Position and then applied to IPAG Business School. I was pleased to see that IPAG is actually one of the best Masters Programs in France, ranked in the top 5.
I’ve been a MES Apprentice for 6 months now; I have 6 months left and I still feel like I have plenty more to learn. The Maty that started in August and the Maty today aren’t the same. I’ve learned so much more about the visual aspect of marketing, and also about the technical side of it such as social media algorithms and analyzing metrics.
My job consists of managing our social media pages, creating and sending out monthly newsletters to the Brothers and Sisters, organizing monthly meetups, and simply helping out wherever I can. It can sometimes be challenging to constantly put out content for the page, but the team works together to support each other.
I try to not only be a voice for the Interns in the office, but also a voice for the Sisters and Brothers that don’t work in the office. One of my favorite things about being an apprentice has to be planning monthly events to see all the Brothers and Sisters because it allows us to all come together and speak to people who understand exactly what we’re going through. Prior to working in the office I would feel lonely because I didn’t know any other MES Employees, but having the ability to plan monthly meetups has allowed me to connect with the wider team and avoid anyone feeling alone.
Overall, I’ve had a very insightful Apprenticeship experience and I would highly recommend it. Even if you don’t want to study Digital Marketing and Data Analytics, there are many other Masters Programs to choose from.
À très vite !
Maty