Workplace Culture | 5 min

LEAP Spotlight - Emma Andrews | LEAP Legal Software

December 12, 2021

Blog

About Emma

Emma started at LEAP in early 2020 as an intern in the Marketing team. Prior to joining LEAP, Emma worked casually in childcare while she completed her Bachelor of Business degree at the University of Technology Sydney. Shortly after starting her internship, Emma was offered a casual role at LEAP as a Marketing Assistant which she worked as throughout most of 2020 despite the pandemic.

Emma was brought on full-time at the end of 2020 and was promoted to her now role as Marketing Coordinator in May 2021. Starting off her career at LEAP has given Emma the opportunity to evolve and develop as a Junior Marketer and contribute to LEAP's marketing initiatives in a meaningful way.

Interview

What did you do prior to LEAP?

I worked in childcare for 4 years as a part time job while I was studying at university. I studied at UTS completing a Bachelor of Business, with my major being Marketing. I always knew I wanted to go down the marketing path and I had no marketing experience before starting at LEAP.

What made you apply to LEAP?

I had never heard of LEAP before until I spoke to a mutual connection who had been working at LEAP for many years. After I finished my degree at the end of 2019, I wanted to do an internship in marketing to gain real world experience and become more employable.

This mutual connection of mine knew that I was interested in partaking in internships and was able to get me in touch with my now manager, James Connelly. After James contacted me, I had an interview with James and Pete from the Marketing Team. They were both so welcoming and seemed really happy to teach me. I remember thinking that this was the right place for me.

How did you get started in Marketing for LEAP?

A few days into my internship, my manager James asked if I would be interested in staying at LEAP in a casual Marketing Assistant role which was such incredible news as I was not expecting to be offered a job after the internship given the nature of internships that I had completed in the past and the competitiveness among marketing graduates.

What was your experience being a marketing intern at LEAP and what were you taught?

As a marketing intern at LEAP, I had the experience of shadowing all members of the team to see exactly how everyone's roles contributed to the overall marketing function at LEAP, as well as proof reading content such as blog articles and collateral. The team were very helpful and it was clear to me that everyone just wanted me to learn as much as possible.

How did you move from an intern to a full time Marketing Coordinator?

I didn't go into this internship expecting a full time role - it was more to learn and have something on my resume. When COVID hit, I was still a Marketing Assistant on a casual basis working 5 days a week which shortly after turned into 3 days a week.

I continued working 3 days a week until November 2020 when James offered me a full time position at LEAP. I remember being absolutely thrilled by this as I knew it was still such a volatile time in the job market post the first lockdown.

In May this year, James and I had a catch up where I was offered a promotion and became the Marketing Coordinator - a job title that was more closely aligned with the work I was starting to do at LEAP. I started to get a lot more ownership of projects which was very exciting. I have friends who have been in the same role for numerous years without any kind of career development or opportunity to step into new and exciting roles. This really highlighted to me how focused LEAP is on career development and progression.

What are your key skills that have helped you excel in this role?

The key skills that have helped me excel in this role include being adaptable to changing circumstances, communication, collaborating well with others, and being able to write proficiently.

This role has also taught me a lot of technical skills such as creating graphics in Adobe Photoshop, which I was able to attend a course for thanks to LEAP, as well as building and sending emails using Salesforce Marketing Cloud. I love working with these programs everyday! Since programs like Marketing Cloud weren't taught in my University degree, I'm thrilled to have gained this invaluable experience on the job.

What would you like your next role to be and what responsibilities and tasks would you like to have?

I have loved being a Marketing Assistant & Marketing Coordinator as both roles have provided me with diverse responsibilities instead of a more niche focus. This has allowed me to learn a lot more in a short amount of time.

I would love my next role to be something along the lines of a Marketing Specialist or Marketing Executive, as I have my sights set on stepping into a Marketing Manager role one day. I would also love the role of an Email Marketing & CRM Specialist as I particularly love working with Marketing Cloud and creating emails.

Do you have any career milestones or accomplishments that you are proud of?

In August of this year, I had a top 5 to launch a marketing campaign that would encourage law students at Australia's universities to acquaint themselves with LEAP Legal Software by completing the short course in the revamped LEAP Academy.

The response to LEAP Academy was fantastic and we were able to encourage some of Australia's leading university law societies to spread the word about LEAP Academy to their members. There were people commenting on the LEAP Academy posts on University Law Society social media pages saying this was a fantastic idea and that they would consider hiring someone with this experience.

As a recent graduate, I know the struggles of conveying your employability to potential employers when entering the workforce. Promoting a professional development tool like LEAP Academy was highly rewarding as I know it would have benefitted many aspiring lawyers in increasing their employability.

How does LEAP encourage career growth?

Career development at LEAP is all around us - everywhere you look, there are people being recognized and rewarded for their contributions. This culture makes me feel like my trajectory is valued and that I am nurtured as an employee. In particular, the Career UP program really made me realise how normalised career growth & development is at LEAP.

What has been your favourite part of working in your role and with LEAP?

The nature of my role allows me to learn new skills all the time. This makes me feel like I'm constantly growing and developing as a marketer. The marketing team is fantastic! It's such a collaborative and creative environment that I love being part of.

At LEAP the perks are unrivalled. We are really well looked after and get to enjoy so many amazing benefits such as a gym membership, themed lunches, boat days, team events, flexible working arrangements, and more. It seems that LEAP really understand that you will deliver your best work when you have a good work life balance. Everyone is also so genuine, kind and inclusive - it's a great company to be a part of.

If you are motivated, passionate and dedicated to growing your career, we'd love to hear from you! Check out our careers page to see all available roles.

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