As far as I'm concerned, my revelation was my work-study course, as it enabled me to find out what I wanted to do as a career.
When you start studying, you're often lost. You don't really know what you want to do later on. You also don't know what it's like in a company in terms of the tasks required.
I didn't know what sector I wanted to work in either: marketing, human resources... I finally took the problem in the other direction by stopping reading job titles but looking more closely at the missions.
Focusing on the assignments was a way of targeting the sector I wanted to move into.
At the time, I had no knowledge of the digital marketing field. During my studies, this sector was beginning to emerge and then specialisations started to appear.
I finally decided to go into this sector and have never left it. Today I hold the position of traffic acquisition manager in a start-up.
Taking advantage of the Covid period
I graduated during Covid, a complicated period when you're a recent graduate because companies are cautious about recruiting. As a work-study student, you're less privileged than the company's employees.
I wanted to look for a job immediately after my studies.
Despite the anxiety associated with this unprecedented situation, I didn't close any doors to myself at all. The Covid period ultimately allowed me to open up to more possibilities, in terms of location and positions.
I came back to Caen after studying at the Paris campus. I wanted to stay in the e-commerce sector.
After working in large groups, I finally joined a start-up.
First experiences in digital
My first professional experience was with Gilbert Laboratories in Caen as a digital marketing manager. I took on the main tasks related to digital marketing: running social networks, managing website content, managing a customer service department and a loyalty platform.
This experience was a great first step in the field of digital marketing.
Assignments in digital are very rich and varied. People often think that digital marketing is confined to social networks, but that's far from the case. It's a constantly evolving sector in which we're constantly moving forward blindly.
It's a very fast-moving environment in which assignments can change from one year to the next. You have to be prepared for that.
I then worked for the M6 boutique website, which was my second professional experience. It's totally different because you switch to the e-commerce environment.
The experience takes a completely different turn as you remain focused on managing the site and generating sales.
I've had these two experiences in two very different environments but the missions remain fairly similar. And we often use the same tools from one company to the next.
The thirst for knowledge
The fact that digital marketing is constantly evolving is a motivation to learn. If you're not enriched by everything you can learn right and left, you can't progress in your career.
What I put in place at M6 boutique allows me to put things in place in my current business. By constantly monitoring what's going on, I wanted to enrich my knowledge and keep abreast of all the latest developments.
Having all these strings to your bow is important to evolve in a start-up.
It was the taste for a challenge that motivated me to join a start-up. In the job advert, I saw the opportunity to build everything myself and possibly deconstruct certain things. It was this approach that made me want to bring my skills to this company.
I also wanted to move into management. Taking my first steps as a manager in a start-up seemed easier than in a large group.
In a small organisation, you can start by managing interns and work-study students and build up your experience. It's a much smoother transition to a managerial position with a bigger team.
Having a professional ethic
At first, I wasn't necessarily attracted by the ethics that characterised my company's product. But it became so over time as I became aware of the breadth of issues revolving around the RGPD.
Even companies like Google have to comply with these European standards. Exploiting Google's data is going to become more and more complicated.
Anticipating these issues has been a plus for me in my business. It's what has given me a taste for this ethical side.
It's also for me that I've been able to develop my own business.
For me, it's also a way of breaking down this social pressure that tells us that the job we do today will be the same as it will be in 10 or 15 years.
I'm prepared to carry out missions that I may no longer have tomorrow. That's why I've stayed in the digital environment.
Working in an evolving environment helps to avoid this redundancy in assignments over the years.
