We’re kicking off a series of posts highlighting the core values that not only give (un)Common Logic a great company culture but also allow us to deliver excellent client service as high-achieving strategic partners. Today, we’re starting the series off with a focus on our staff development value of “Always Learn and Try New Things.” Here at (un)Common Logic, the focus on learning and staff development in our company culture includes:
- Extensive onboarding training
- Ongoing on-the-job training
- Internal and external opportunities for staff development at conferences and more
Read on for more details about how we apply our company core value of “Always Learn and Try New Things” to on-the-job training and so much more.
The Best Entry Level Digital Marketing Job Out There…
… even if you’re not entry level.
After a 12-year career leading communications and marketing for Austin nonprofit CASA of Travis County, I was ready for a career transition. No clear path lay ahead of me, but when I got to know the team at (un)Common Logic I knew I had found my next adventure.
While I was certainly not entry level when I accepted the Account Manager role, I was far from being an expert in their world of paid advertising, Search Engine Optimization, or Conversion Rate Optimization. My digital experience had been focused in the realms of organic social media and content strategy with just a hint of paid social advertising.
One of the best things about this company is how they hire for achievement behavior and culture fit, and then enroll you in one of the most in-depth new employee orientation processes you will ever find.
A “New Employee Orientation” Like No Other
Most jobs might put you through a week or two of standard training and orientation meetings, but at (un)Common Logic, the “Always Learn” core value means you’re in for an entirely different sort of on-the-job training.
All team members, Digital Marketing Analysts to Account Managers, complete a rigorous, almost two-months-long training program before official assignment to client projects. During this training you will learn about:
- The basics of digital marketing
- The KPIs of the digital world and how to calculate them
- Best of the best practices for Google, Microsoft & Facebook Ads management
- Search Engine Optimization and the numerous strategies with which we advise our clients to increase their organic traffic and search engine rankings
- Conversion Rate Optimization and the ways in which we use web best practices to develop hypotheses and testing pipelines to improve website sales or lead generation
- Using intensive data analysis to problem solve or seek growth opportunities
- Excel and its myriad capabilities
- Google Analytics and website tracking tools
- How to be a professional and respected coworker (I particularly loved some of the soft skills trainings offered!)
- And so much more
You won’t only learn about these things, you will also work on practice questions (and do lots of math!) to make sure you understand and are ready to apply them. Throughout training you will shadow client work and complete hands-on tasks for those clients, so that you get practical application on everything you’re learning.
You will train with people all across the agency and get to know your incredible team members. When you stumble on a practice question or don’t fully capture everything you needed from a lesson, these generous team members will rush to your side (virtually for now) to ensure you’ve grasped the concept and cheer you on when you do.
And this training culminates with a Capstone Project in which you complete a rigorous digital marketing audit on behalf of an existing client and develop a comprehensive presentation to share your findings with company leadership. This tests all of the analysis skills you’ve learned throughout training, helps lock in the key lessons of digital marketing, and gives you an opportunity to practice presentation skills.
Training is challenging, and the Capstone Project is even tougher, but it will expand your capacity and push you to new levels of skill and knowledge. This was college all over for me, and I loved every second of it.
Staff Development Continues Long After Training
Training and staff development definitely don’t end after the initial onboarding training. A second round of training begins soon after to hone in on more advanced skills and topics.
Individual staff members regularly develop specific trainings in their areas of expertise to share with the rest of the team, ranging from technical lessons on using Google Data Studio to how to build personal resilience.
Informally, shared learnings are a part of all weekly team meetings. We are constantly discussing the latest industry learnings so that we can strategically guide our clients through the ever-changing digital landscape. Even though I’m just a few months in, I have been personally encouraged by team members to share my own learnings and expertise developed in my previous career.
(un)Common Logic invests substantially in this “Always Learn” value. After your first year, you have the opportunity to submit proposals to attend conferences and continuing education opportunities that appeal to you. In the coming months, we’re embarking on a series of weekly leadership and management trainings with an outside consultant hired to help all of us continue to grow in our skills and knowledge.
The Best Company Culture Lives Its Values
(un)Common Logic is a great example of living company values. In my nearly six months here, I have already witnessed how embedded the values are throughout our everyday work and how much they impact what we offer to our clients.
“Always Learn and Try New Things” has been especially evident in my early months of intensive training, and in the approach every team member takes to ensuring we’re at industry-leader levels in the digital marketing world. This is an organizational culture and leadership based around striving to push ourselves to be our best, for our clients and for our own ability to achieve and be better than the people or company we were yesterday.
I promise, these values will be evident to you whether you choose to hire (un)Common Logic, or come work within our team!