How GO's Youth Exposure Programme set us up for success!

Today marks the International Youth Day, an awareness day designated by the United Nations since 2000 to draw attention to cultural and legal issues surrounding youth.  

At GO, we have created a Youth Exposure Programme (YEP) that invites students to work with us while they study. We believe that Youth Exposure is beneficial because it helps our YEP team to get on the job training, develop a professional aptitude and learn how professional workplaces operate. Our YEP team is involved in hands-on projects and has a wide variety of responsibilities.  

Cherise spent a year with our Online Team as a Digital Analytics Associate and then she joined us as a full-time employee. Alexandra is our Online Content Assistant and has been part of our team since February 2021. 

The Youth Exposure from the eyes of Cherise: ‘I had just finished my Bachelor’s degree in English and I wasn’t sure what career path to follow. During the summer I did some courses on Digital Marketing since it was a subject that always interested me, and I started looking for internship opportunities, and that is when I found out that GO was looking for a Digital Associate. I felt ecstatic when I was accepted for the role. 

I enjoyed the fact that during my Youth Exposure I was given the opportunity to learn as much as I could about the digital world and had time to decide whether this was the career path I wanted to pursue. After a lot of knowledge sharing, help and patience by my mentor and manager Helena, my knowledge broadened, and I realized that I had found my dream job.  

My main role as a Digital Associate was to analyze digital adverts in a very detailed manner, to be able to predict what interests our audience the most in our products and what type of content is most beneficial for our company.  

GO supported me in many different ways. Besides providing training or tools required to develop my skill set, I always felt that my ideas were welcomed and considered during important decision-making discussions. The YEP was also very flexible, which gave me the opportunity to enrol for a Master’s in Digital Marketing at the University. 

After a year at Youth Exposure, I felt ready to jump to a full-time job. Once again, GO was there for me and offered me a full-time position as an Online Advertising & Analytics Specialist. I was given the opportunity to continue working on what I am most passionate about, digital advertising and online analytics. I have learnt about the importance of having a well thought out digital marketing strategy and also the importance of online analytics. Analytics are essential as they are able to tell us what is working and what’s not and where we should invest our money to achieve the highest ROI. 

Finally and most importantly the main message I want to share is that no matter what your age is or the stage in life you are, you should never stop pursuing the career path or job that truly satisfies and makes you happy.’  

Alexandra shares her story as well: ‘GO is quite a recognizable company in Malta, and I wanted to be a part of it and make a difference with them, that’s why I contacted them via LinkedIn. At the time there wasn’t an open role; however when they reviewed my CV, they scheduled an interview with me and we talked about what interests me and how I could support their team. I was then offered the role of Online Content Assistant within the Online Team.  

I was interested to learn more about Web Accessibility, and I followed a certified course which enabled me to make our website more accessible to all. I have also developed skills and knowledge on how to use WordPress, create content from scratch with the tools I have, and come up with solutions on the spot when needed. 

My greatest accomplishment is that I have learnt so many skills and was entrusted to lead and participate in a lot of projects. I’m proud to say that I owned four big projects, throughout their entire lifecycle from the idea development to the actual implementation and I was given the chance and motivation to implement them and see the positive outcome. 

What I enjoy the most about my Youth Exposure at GO is the work environment. All of my colleagues are great, intelligent and kind, and I have learnt a lot from them. I must also praise GO’s employees’ perks & benefits! 

In terms of my growth, when I joined GO, our Learning & Development team had just introduced the GO Academy to our work culture, motivating us to learn more and fine-tune the skills we already have or use the platform to learn new skills that can help our work. My colleagues have also introduced me to online software, tools and websites that I didn’t know, and all made a big difference in how I approached certain tasks. 

Currently I am working on GO’s website alongside my colleague; we work very hard to upload and update content, and make sure everything is running smoothly. 

My future goals? Before GO I used to work in Finance, and now that I am finally into Marketing, I would like to read for a Master’s in Digital Marketing and expand my horizons in Digital Marketing.’  

Both Cherise and Alexandra have been a great asset to our team, participating in projects and playing an active role within the team. We are very proud to see them grow with us, and we would like to thank them for trusting and choosing GO to be part of their career growth.  

Would you like to participate in our Youth Exposure Programme? Get in touch with our HR Team via our Facebook page Life at GO or via email at careers@go.com.mt.  

About the Author 

Nikoleta is one of GO’s HR Managers and her main focus apart from supporting her team’s HR needs is to find ways to promote the People of GO and all the amazing work they do. 

Have a look at our careers page and get in touch with us if you want to take your career to the next step!  

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