My Phenomenal First Two Weeks at Rubery Owen

A bit about me

Hello, my name is Haris Jawed, and I am one of the latest members of staff to join Rubery Owen.

I have always had my head stuck in the creative industry. I went to college to study Graphic Design and eventually ended up at university, where I earned a degree in Graphic Communication. I have worked as a graphic designer in the print industry and have gained a wide range of marketing knowledge, so when the role of Marketing Assistant came up at Rubery Owen, it felt like the ideal opportunity for me.

Starting my first week

My first week was a-maz-ing. First and foremost, my manager Poppy Roe, Rubery Owen’s Senior Marketing Manager is the sweetest person. She has a warm soft soul that shines through her, and no I'm not just saying that because she’s my manager. On my first day, Poppy gave me a great overview of Rubery Owen at Rotronics, as well as the fundamentals of my areas of responsibility, role expectations, and the support available to me. I was introduced to staff at Rotronics and Rozone, who were all warm and welcoming. By the end of my first day, I already felt like a member of the family, which was a delightful surprise.

On day two, I travelled to Rotech where I was introduced to Lindsay Guy, the Head of Marketing. Lindsay has a wonderful shine too and her passion for marketing radiates. Throughout the day, I met more of my new colleagues at Rotech during the monthly marketing meeting, including David Skeldon and Steph Hill who were both brilliant. During the meeting, I took notes that helped me to build my understanding of the marketing requirements at Rotech. After, Dave kindly gave me a full tour of the business which was awesome. Dave gave me a lot of information, introduced me to staff, and showed me all the materials testing equipment.

Later in the day, I had an online Teams meeting with Kevin McGuigan, Rubery Owen’s Finance Director. Kevin ran me through the financial performance of each business for 2022, showing me graphs and figures to continue to build my knowledge of each company in the group and to help set the scene for where my areas of focus will likely be.

Day three was my first day working from home. I started the day with a phone call with Poppy who ran through the plans for the day. I have found that I’m enjoying the balance of going onto site and working from home because the change of scene keeps things interesting. I spent my day creating a ROwasher poster for group company Rozone. The brief on what was needed was clear and having the time to talk to Rozone’s Managing Director Cliftin Bower, helped me to learn more about the product I was creating the advert for. Cliftin was great at explaining all things Rozone, and I enjoyed talking to him on a personal level. At the end of the day, I was invited to a Rubery Owen head office meeting. This happens every week and is a great way of keeping in touch with the team, as well as keeping in the loop of business matters across the group.

On day four, during the morning I continued to work on the ROwasher poster project. After a quick bit of lunch, I jumped in the car and met Poppy and Lindsay for a monthly marketing meeting at Rotronics. It was here that I was introduced to Ken Clark, the Managing Director at Rotronics, who as well as a passion for all things battery related, loves flying his plane! I had a one-to-one session with Ken who gave me an informative overview of Rotronics and helped me to understand what they do and how it helps the customers they work with. Ken explained some of the equipment in detail, and he even had me rolling my sleeves up to test the battery on my own car. First-hand experience is essential to understand a product in detail.

On day five, I did a lot of research into all our group companies. In addition to this, and as part of my induction, Poppy had arranged a call with one of our suppliers, to better my understanding of SEO. One thing that I’ve discovered during my first week is that taking the time to have one-to-one meetings is extremely beneficial. I’ve learned so much so far by speaking directly to people and asking lots of questions.

Sailing in the Second week

After a restful weekend, I was back for week two with a bang! Monday consisted of having the whole day with Lindsay for a content writing workshop (hence this article)! Lindsay talked me through content writing techniques, styles and methods. I learned some new terminology, such as ‘advertorial’, which is essentially a paid-for version of an editorial article that gets printed in a publication, featured online, or both. She tasked me with looking into some case studies and news articles to better understand how businesses use engaging headlines, content, and imagery. It was a full-on, but highly enjoyable day, so thank you Lindsay for your time and patience with me. 

On day seven Lindsay and Poppy invited me to a Rozone marketing meeting, where I was introduced to Beth Jones who I can only describe as a fountain of Rozone knowledge with over 25 years at the company under her belt. There were some great discussions that day between our team of four, and even though my role at this early stage in my Rubery Owen journey was to be a sponge and take in, it’s exciting to hear about the project I’ll soon be getting my teeth stuck into.

Day eight consisted of carrying out some independent research on the competitors of each company. This was a great task as it meant me delving into competitor websites and social media channels picking up on what messages are being communicated, and how they compare to our own. In the afternoon, I met with Techtron’s General Manager Clare Rowe, and Business Development Manager Simon Brooks, who I understand I’ll be working closely with. Just like other meetings I’ve had in my induction, it was great to understand the business in more detail and to ask Clare and Simon all my questions.

On the ninth day, I was set the task of creating a quarter-page advert for Rotech for an aluminium industry publication. Later in the day, I had a HR Meeting with the lovely Tina While-Cooper, our HR manager. We went over some important documents and any questions that I had. Following this, I had a chance to meet Rebecca Bayliss from Merlin who is the Formulation and Material Scientist (a whole new world for me), and we scheduled a laboratory tour for a couple of weeks so I can learn more about Merlin’s testing services.

On the tenth day, my final day of the two-week introduction, I spent the day onsite at one of our businesses with Poppy. I talked her through the company and competitor research that I had been carrying out, and she taught me how to create the monthly LinkedIn reports that we circulate to each business. This involved me looking at LinkedIn post performance statistics including post clicks, shares, and new followers to each company page. What seemed like a simple task on paper, was quite time-consuming as attention to detail is key. This was a nice task to end the week, mostly because it was something I haven’t done before and I have an eagerness to learn as much as I can.

The end of the beginning

As the end of my induction closes, and I put into practice some of my developed skills from my first couple of weeks, I’ve taken time to reflect on how I’ve found the whole experience. With the exposure I’ve had, the people I’ve met, the things I’ve learned, the tasks I’ve attacked head-on, and the general feeling I’ve been left with, I can honestly say that there was not a single thing or moment that I disliked or would have changed. I’m left excited for the months and years to come.

I would like to thank everyone for their involvement in my induction period and for making me feel at home and part of the team so quickly. I’m looking forward to being part of the Rubery Owen group for a long time, I hope that the passion that Lindsay and Poppy have is passed down to me.

Stay tuned!