A vivacious virtual welcome

You never quite know what to expect when starting a new role but starting virtually is even more bizarre.

After such a weird eighteen months, I was ready for a new challenge and jumped at the chance to interview for Viva’s new Senior Account Executive role. I’d had four years within in-house PR and was really interested in moving to an agency. One of my previous companies had worked with Viva for years and had always sung the team’s praises so I was absolutely thrilled when Tony offered me the job!

Starting virtually has meant that I have only met two of the team in person, but everyone has been so welcoming and friendly. Viva’s Virtual Office sounded a bit scary at the start – keeping the webcam on all day – but it definitely keeps office banter and peer support alive, and it has been a fantastic way of making me feel part of the team very quickly.

The team has a really varied client list and are really supportive of each other, holding creative online huddles and brain storming sessions, and volunteering if someone needs proof reading/extra support. I’ve always been the only comms lead in a marketing team so it is so fab to be part of a PR team and hear PR talk throughout the day.

Lisa, my line manager, has been brilliant in keeping in touch via the office and separate video calls, sending me lots of varied work and useful feedback. So far, I have been writing press releases, blogs, planning and scheduling in social contacts, designing graphics, proof reading award submissions and getting to grips with my team’s client briefs.

I’ve also been super impressed with my haul of new IT gear! Tony has set me up with a brand new MacBook Air, an enormous monitor for my home office and a very snazzy iPhone, which puts my personal phone to shame.

In fact, Tony has set the bar extremely high! On my second day, he announced an employee benefit scheme of £40 a month for every employee to spend on whatever helps their wellbeing i.e. a flower subscription/nail appointments/gym membership etc.

He is also trialling a scheme that offers free counselling sessions to all employees and pays for a weekly Zoom yoga session and two bootcamp classes, all aimed at promoting positive mental health and wellbeing within the team. In addition to lunch, we also have a paid-for 20-minute walk out, which we can take whenever we feel we need to stretch our legs and clear our thoughts.

I’m only eight days in but I have had a fantastic introduction to life at Viva. I’ve been really impressed with the team’s positive, warm atmosphere and am already enjoying being part of the team. If you’re reading this because you are interested in applying for the current vacancy, I’d definitely recommend getting that application in.