In Your Shoes - Maisie Shields

Monday

I started the week by checking that the In Your Shoes blog post had been uploaded correctly and tagged on the chamber’s social media pages, which is something I do every Monday when the blog goes live at 9am. I then caught up on emails that came in on Friday afternoon and over the weekend.

After that, I moved on to uploading news stories from our news inbox, where members share their exciting updates and key milestones within their businesses.

We also have our weekly team meeting on a Monday, where we come together to talk through what our weeks look like and see if there’s anything we can support each other with.

Tuesday

At the Chamber, we’ve recently repainted some of our meeting rooms which look amazing. I was asked to use my photography skills to take some photos of Room 4 now that it’s been renovated into a lovely meeting space.

Today, I’m also on reception, welcoming our members into the Members’ Lounge. We’ve recently moved over to the new Nexudus system, and as it’s a change for both our members and the team, it’s been a bit of a learning curve adapting when any issues come up. While on reception, I continue with my usual tasks such as working on the news and answering incoming phone calls.

When I first started at the chamber, I had basic IT skills and little to no experience in admin, but I’m learning so much every day, not just on the admin side, but also how valuable it is to work well within a team. The team here at the chamber are amazing, and I can’t thank them enough for taking me on as a modern apprentice.

Wednesday

My main task on Wednesdays is to upload the In Your Shoes blog and make sure everything is ready to go live on Monday morning at 9am. We’ve had some amazing blogs from our members, and it’s great to see what businesses in Dundee & Angus are up to and the fantastic work they’re doing.

I really enjoy working on the In Your Shoes blog, every week is different, and as a new member of the team, it helps me get to know our members and understand more about what they do within their businesses.

Today, I was also doing some AI training via the BCC AI Academy, which isn’t something I had used before starting my placement at the chamber. Since beginning the training, I can see how it can be a really useful tool to support many areas of my role here.

Thursday

On Thursdays, I work on the international news, where we source updates that will be beneficial for our international members. International trade wasn’t something I was familiar with before joining the chamber, so I find this a great way to learn more about it while also supporting our busy international team.

We’ve also had some really interesting new members join the chamber, which is fantastic. I’ve been reaching out to some of them to see if they’d like to take part in the IYS blog. The blog is very popular with our members, and we’re already booked through to the summer months with members sharing their engaging “week in the life” content.

Friday

Friday is one of the busiest days of my week. I start my morning at the chamber by creating our Friday News Flash for social media, which highlights some of the amazing stories our members share on the news page. I also update and schedule the weekly newsletter that goes out to our members, as well as create and schedule the LinkedIn newsletter.

While working on these tasks, I’ve been using software that I hadn’t used before, but the team has been incredibly supportive and patient as I’ve learned these new skills.

As part of my Modern Apprenticeship with Dundee & Angus College, I spend my Friday afternoons at the Gardyne campus. This time is really valuable, as it allows me to focus on my college work with the support of my assessor. I’ve also made some great friends who are on the same journey as me.