A look back at our past apprentices and a chance to see what they are up to now!
Eugenia is currently working as an Assistant Producer for ITV Cymru Wales.
Where was your first placement with Sgil Cymru?
It was at ITV Cymru Wales and I did a Creative and Digital media apprenticeship.
When was the moment that things began to fall into place? That you knew you were in the right place?
I realised I was in the right place when going to work every day was fun but also a challenge. Everyone, including my manager, Nadine and Sue from Sgil Cymru, was so supportive and eager to help me every step of the way. I soon realised that I had a love for the programmes department as well as journalism and when my manager saw this passion, she allowed me to stay in the department for a large part of my apprenticeship. All the producers let me shadow them, go out on location with them and encouraged me to learn as much as possible.
What’s the biggest obstacle you think you’ve overcome either during or following on from your apprenticeship?
After my apprenticeship, I was lucky enough to get a job as a researcher/programme assistant working on regional and network programmes at ITV Wales. But my biggest obstacle was probably doing my journalism traineeship at ITV, a few years later. I did it during the pandemic and so a lot of my learning was online and at home. I’m quite a hands-on learner so not being able to go into the office was really difficult and the year of training itself was a big step up for me. I had to do an NCTJ exam as well as learn numerous different production journalist skills in order to finish the traineeship. But I think my apprenticeship prepared me for the challenge because we were always learning something new so it gave me the confidence to know I was capable. And of course, the support of everyone at ITV Wales was incredible so it spurred me on to make the best of the situation.
What’s the best piece of advice you were given as an apprentice?
The best piece of advice I was given was from Nadine and Sue which was to make the most out of the year. I really took that advice and ran with it, so every opportunity I had to learn something new I gave it my all. I also made an effort to make connections. If someone took the time to show me something, I would make sure I was respectful and kind and so if I ever needed help or wanted to ask a question in the future, I felt like I could go to that person again for their expertise. I think without the guidance of everyone at Sgil Cymru I would have been lost during my apprenticeship. But they also reminded us how important it was to keep up with your apprenticeship written work and tasks. So, I always made an effort to complete it as soon as possible to the best of my ability. That left me more time to do the job at ITV and I was able to focus on learning new skills because I wasn’t worried about my other work.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an apprentice?
I would say don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and do things out of your comfort zone. If you have an extra hour in the day, could that hour be used to pitch a new idea, or help someone with a bigger workload? The year can fly by, but everyone wants to help you learn, so don’t be afraid to ask questions and show how passionate you are about the job.