GO Wales Case Studies

GO Wales organised a Work Taster opportunity for Christina Deias at ITV Wales to gain experience in television media. Christina got involved with a number of diverse tasks during the two weeks that she spent at the studios. She explains;

"I wanted to have the opportunity to go to ITV Wales as a work experience student in order to gain a real insight into television media. I felt incredibly pleased to be offered a Work Taster; as such an amazing opportunity isn't easy to come across; there is strong competition and limited places at such a large media organisation."

"I spent two weeks in the ITV Wales newsroom where I was involved in a number of activities and completed many tasks. I spent a large part of my work experience with the ITV Wales web-team, where I wrote for the ITV Wales blog pages. I wrote web copy during the release of this year’s A Level and GCSE results, and conducted a vast amount of research, finding good luck and congratulations messages from ITV viewers across Wales. I also wrote a piece on what to do in Wales during the August bank holiday weekend, as well as other pieces. I put together ITV Wales' 'photo-fortnight', selecting photographs which had been sent in from people in Wales to put on their blog pages. I thoroughly enjoyed these tasks, as it taught me how to utilise internet packages for writing on the web and how to carefully research specific items as part of a web-news team. I was very proud to have my work published online. As well as working with the web team, I spent time with the ITV Wales assistant producer, in the ITV Wales gallery, in the news recording studio and helping the planning team to plan and research news stories in Wales."

"My experience at ITV Wales has helped me to decide and plan for my future career path, as it has helped me to see how important meeting people within the media is. I intend to go into the field of public relations, and contacts within the media industry are integral to this. I have met so many wonderful people from working in ITV Wales, and their sound advice with regards to networking and communicating effectively with people has helped me to realise how important it is to be a good communicator. This was very helpful to be because of how it relates to public relations as an industry that relies on communications with the media."

"I would certainly recommend Work Tasters to students and graduates. There is nothing like knowing what a workplace is like until you have actually had the chance to be within it, and then you can really see whether it is the path you would like to go down in the future. Speaking with people who work within an industry on a daily basis and listening to what they say about their work and career enables you to better understand that industry. I don't think there is a better opportunity to gain such an insight than a Work Taster in the area you wish to pursue. I feel very lucky to have worked at ITV Wales, and feel even luckier that I have been asked to go back to do further work with the team in the future."