Rating
- 1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
- 2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
- 3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
- 4. How valued do you feel by BBC?
- 5. How well organised/structured is your programme?
- 6a. How much support do you receive from your training provider?
- 6b. How much support do you receive from your employer?
- 7. How well does your salary/package meet your costs?
- 8. Are there many opportunities outside of work?
- 9. Would you recommend BBC to a friend?
- 9b. Why?
- 10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to BBC?
In my role as a Digital Journalism Apprentice I am based at BBC Scotland (Pacific Quay) and I am based in the online news team. My daily role involves creating content for the BBC Scotland website, mostly written stories for online. My tasks may vary depending on my assignment, recently I have been looking at Tayside and Central stories so I will often travel for work.
I have been trained by the BBC academy and Wolverhampton college. The bbc training has taught me a lot. I have learnt radio, TV and online through the academy and now feel comfortable in all the areas. I have also been trained on the job on how to use the systems needed. In college the modules are: broadcast, law, public affairs and essential journalism. I have learnt a lot and both training providers have solidified my knowledge.
Overall, I do enjoy my programme. Like anything it is daunting to work for such an organisation but as time has gone by I have gained more confidence. It has met my expectations and I have achieved a lot more by this stage than I thought i would have. The team I work in are helpful and I feel comfortable working with most of them.
There are occasions with the team where I do feel as if I am fully valued member and my skills are appreciated. Some members of the team allow me a great deal of trust controlling indexes and running my original stories. But often there are occasions where I do not feel totally valued and towards the bottom of who is "priority".
Overall, organisation could be a lot better in cases. In some cases it i as simple as people not speaking to each other and making late decisions on things such as travel or finishing times. The organisation of training weeks is good however and the trainers are clearly well experienced in what they do. At work, organisation is fine.
From college we do get an okay level of support. We often get tasked homework away from college and this is usually given back with marks and feedback relatively quickly. This has helped me build my knowledge of the relevant subject areas. We have to complete an e-portfolio which is marked by the provider. Some more feedback would be appreciated but i understand there is only so much they can do.
Support at work is on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes when I require support some staff members are really good with their help. But on other occasions my question does not seem important enough. Generally the help is okay but bad occasions make more impact than the good. Other workplace support is available but I have not needed to use this.
My apprenticeship required me to move quite far away from home so I am now renting a flat. This was an issue in the first few months as we only had four weeks from September-December at work but I still needed to rent a flat I was not even living in for most of the time. Now I am more often in Glasgow my rent and bills do take up a large amount of my income. Factored into that I also pay for my train season ticket which has an impact on my wage.
I have heard of opportunity out of work but I would prefer for more to be arranged. Things like 5-a-side football would be a benefit and this would be something that I think many people may want to take part in. I feel as there may be more opportunities i do not know about and I may be made aware of them as my time develops.
Yes
It is a generally good place to work and the opportunities are better than elsewhere. You get paid to train and work while getting good experiences and meeting good new people. The training is great and many people would pay a lot of money to receive it. Not only that, it gives you tickets to events and meet some stars to interview.
Get a good varied experience before applying. I think this helped me and came up in a number of questions that I answered at the interview day. I would also recommend having a basic knowledge of editing before starting - training is provided but it would give you an edge on other candidates. Before starting I would have liked to have known that i would be away so much and that trains become a second home.
Details
Level 3 Apprenticeship
Scotland
May 2018