 In this edition of our Sector Spotlight on Administrative roles, we speak to Victoria Dixon of NorthLink ferries, who works as a Social Media Officer. NorthLink ferries, operated by Serco and funded by the Scottish Government, run two of the essential ferry links between Orkney, Shetland and the Scottish Mainland, and boast a healthy online presence. --Can you describe a typical day in your role as Social Media Officer? I work from home so I begin the day by logging in to the online work portal and checking my emails. I then check all of our social media platforms for messages and comments and if anything needs responded to I do that. We have a social media calendar in place for the year, so social media posts are planned in advance. There are a lot of events and festivals that take place in Orkney and Shetland as well as campaigns from stakeholders and various other relevant dates that we have to be aware of. So I check daily to make sure we aren’t missing anything. NorthLink Ferries sponsor community groups and events, so I need to be aware of dates for upcoming events, particularly local festivals or sponsored travel so we can give them a mention on our social media platforms. Often I have projects to complete, such as creating posters, activity sheets, writing blogs, doing interviews, and designing publications so will spend my day on whatever project is current. I also have other tasks such as monthly reports, internal work for the Health and Wellbeing and Green team groups, creating job adverts to put online. --How did you end up in this role? My career journey has been interesting! I left school at 16 and went straight into a jewellery apprenticeship at a local jewellers, sadly after a year in work, there were some redundancies around that time and I lost my job. I decided to go back to school to create a portfolio with the intention of doing a Degree in Art & Design. The following year I was accepted to Gray’s College of Art in Aberdeen where, over the next three years I completed a Degree in Art and Design. I then returned to Orkney and worked with Tait & Style for a while as a homeworker whilst doing bar work. I then decided to do an HNC in Business Admin at Orkney College. I got a job with RJ McLeod (Contractors) Ltd who were building the Hatston Pier in Kirkwall and worked on that contract until it was completed. I then was offered employment at the new Bowling Alley, I created all the graphics for Powerball including the Logo, menus, posters, advertising and interior graphics. I worked there for a year and a half until I fell pregnant and went on maternity leave – this is where things completely changed direction for me as sadly my baby boy was stillborn 8 months into my pregnancy. Fast forward another year and we had a healthy baby girl and I realised I didn’t want to miss a moment with her so I decided to set up my own business! A friend asked me if I would use my graphic design skills to edit a photo of her daughter, adding wings and turning into a fairy. I had taught myself how to use Photoshop and gave it a go, she was delighted, she shared it with her friends and more people asked me if I would do the same for them. ‘Enhance-Me’ was born – I ran my business editing and enhancing photos for 9 and a half years, this allowed me to work from home whilst my children were young. I learnt many things from being my ‘own boss’ – patience, organisation skills, time management and social media marketing being just a few. I achieved a lot across the nine years I ran my own business including being shortlisted for a number of awards and winning a social media award. I was offered a job at NorthLink Ferries in 2013 and I decided it was time to return to full time work now my children were old enough. I continued to run my own business alongside this for another two years but eventually felt due to lack of time and having a good work/life balance I needed to take a step back from my business. I started at NorthLink Ferries as a Social Media Assistant and have since been promoted to Social Media Officer. --What is the best thing about your job? I really enjoy my job, it is a position that allows me to be creative in many aspects, implementing design and writing into projects. I also really enjoy marketing Orkney and Shetland as destinations worth visiting. --What is the worst thing about your job? The more mundane tasks, like monthly reports, but it is always interesting seeing social media engagement, so I wouldn’t say it’s a negative thing to compile. --What skills do you need to undertake your role?
--What qualifications do you have?
--Would you recommend this job to young people, if so why? Some of the skills needed are things I have learned whilst in the position initially. NorthLink are fantastic at providing training opportunities and I attended a lot of social media workshops and completed a Certified Digital Marketing Associate course online. A lot of people use social media and many of those who have grown up using it will already have good knowledge of how to use the platforms and create content. Social Media and marketing is a great job and every day is different! Visit NorthLink on:
Website: https://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthLinkFerries Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/nlferries Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northlink_ferries/ Comments are closed.
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