By Charlotte Latham, Marketing Executive, Onefile
I’m Charlotte, a Marketing Executive at Onefile, and I’ve been with the business for eight and a half years. My journey here has taken a few different turns, starting in customer-focused roles before moving into marketing, where I’ve spent the last four years building my skills and trying new things. More recently, I progressed into my current role as Marketing Executive, which felt like a natural next step alongside starting my apprenticeship.
These days, my role is very hands on. I work across content and communications as well as campaigns and events, which means no two days are ever quite the same. One minute I might be shaping an article draft or turning a customer story into something we can share, and the next I could be coordinating writing customer communications or planning activity around an industry event. Being involved across the full process has helped me really see how marketing supports my own personal growth and brings different teams together across the business.
Before starting my apprenticeship, I had already spent time working in marketing without a formal qualification. Everything I knew came from learning on the job, which taught me a lot, but I reached a point where I wanted to understand the why behind what I was doing, not just the how.
Working at Onefile played a big part in my decision. Being part of an organisation that actively supports apprenticeships meant I could see their value up close. I had watched how combining structured learning with real work helps people build capability and their confidence at the same time. Choosing the apprenticeship route felt like a practical next step, one that would help me strengthen my existing knowledge and contribute even more effectively to the team.
I’m currently completing the Level 4 Marketing Executive apprenticeship. What appealed to me straight away was how closely the programme reflects the reality of my role. It focuses on the knowledge, skills and behaviours that sit behind good marketing practice, rather than theory alone.
From early on, it was clear that everything feeds into End Point Assessment, which changed how I approached the learning. Instead of treating it as something separate from my day job, I started thinking more deliberately about my decisions and the impact of my work. Knowing I will need to explain my thinking later has helped me to slow down and be more intentional about how I apply what I am learning.
One of the biggest strengths of the apprenticeship is how naturally it fits around my role. Most of my learning comes directly from the work I am already doing, which makes it feel relevant to my job.
Working with campaigns and content has sharpened how I think about audiences and messaging. Looking at performance data has pushed me to question what works and why, instead of relying on assumptions. Collaborating with colleagues across different teams has also helped me develop stronger communication habits and a clearer understanding of how marketing fits into the wider business. Taking the time to capture this as off-the-job learning has been key. Writing things down encourages me to pause and reflect, rather than moving straight on to the next task.
Over time, that habit has helped my development feel more focused and much easier to evidence. I’m also more deliberate about linking that learning back to what I know will be assessed, which helps me stay clear on how my day-to-day work maps to the KSBs I’m building.
Keeping track of learning alongside a busy marketing role can be challenging, so having everything in one place has made a real difference. Using the Learning Journal in Onefile to capture reflections alongside logging off-the-job learning has helped me spot gaps early, rather than realising something is missing much later on.
What I have found most helpful is seeing my progress build over time. Instead of trying to piece together examples from memory, I can look back and clearly see how my skills and confidence have developed. As EPA gets closer, that sense of continuity has made preparation feel far more manageable and a lot less overwhelming.
Balancing marketing deadlines with study time hasn’t always been straight forward. There are points where campaigns or events need immediate attention, and it would be easy for learning to slip into the background.
What helped was changing how I approached it, rather than trying to find big blocks of time. Setting aside regular focus slots made learning feel like part of my working week, not something extra to squeeze in. Logging learning as I went along also stopped things piling up. Tying each activity back to what I was developing helped me recognise that I was learning through my role every day, rather than stepping away from it.
The apprenticeship has helped me understand how I work best, not only what I know. I’ve realised that I enjoy taking messy ideas and shaping them into something clear and useful, especially when it comes to content and messaging.
I’ve also learned how important routine is for me. Keeping up with regular reflection and using simple systems to stay organised has made a big difference to how confident I feel in my work. Moving at a steady pace suits me far more than rushing towards deadlines, and recognising that has helped me work with more focus and less pressure.
While the apprenticeship has supported my own development, the learning feeds straight back into the business. Everything I build or test is applied in real time, whether that’s improving content quality, contributing to events, or sharing insights that shape campaigns.
Having a clear structure around my development means the skills I’m building are directly relevant to the work Onefile needs. It’s helped make my progression feel purposeful, while still allowing me to contribute consistently to the team.
If you’re thinking about an apprenticeship, my biggest advice would be to choose one that really reflects the role you’re doing day to day. Engaging regularly with the learning and using it to make sense of your own work, rather than treating it as a separate task, makes the whole process far more manageable. Asking for feedback early also helps you build your confidence over time, instead of second guessing your decisions later.
From an employer perspective, apprentices benefit most when learning time is protected, and support is clear. When the role and the standard genuinely line up, you start to see the difference quite quickly, both in how capable people feel and how confidently they grow into the role over time.