Vicky Speirs, a creative and digital media apprentice at Truro and Penwith College Business, speaks about her typical day.

My day as an Apprentice normally starts with a cup of coffee and a quick check of our Twitter and Facebook pages. Then…well anything can happen! 

Some days I’ll be at my desk designing the College’s printed literature, which I’ve been really enjoying.

I’ve always had an interest in graphic design and having the team teach me the ins and outs of Adobe InDesign was a revelation! The feeling of accomplishment I had when I got my first job back from the printers was a type of satisfaction I’d never got from my education before. 

I also play a large part in maintaining the College’s Social Media accounts by designing graphics, responding to mentions and scheduling content using Hootsuite. Being paid to go on Facebook is still a bit of novelty to me!

Perhaps the best part of my role is when I get the opportunity to get my camera out and film. My passion and skills in photography have been utilised to their full potential. I often get the opportunity to film at businesses across Cornwall including Eden Project and Lusty Glaze Beach which both have stunning scenery. The training I had on my day release allows me to film and edit the footage really easily and upload it to the college website with confidence.

I think the bit of work I’m most proud of is the video I made of the 2014 Graduation ceremony at Truro Cathedral. This is because I was given complete freedom to do what I wanted. It was a scary prospect at first; not having a brief to work from, but it meant I could get creative! 

It was hard being a one-man band, being in charge of everything meant I had to be on the ball but I learnt a lot. The positive feedback I got from this job meant so much more as it was entirely my own project.

During my two years as an A Level student I tried my hand at a total of six different subjects, only one of which I completed in full – photography. This showed me that a creative path was my calling. 

Knowing it was an extremely competitive sector, I didn’t have faith that I’d land myself a decent job as a photography graduate. That’s when my dad suggested I look into apprenticeships. “But I don’t want to be a hairdresser or builder,” I thought, so almost ruled it out straight away until I actually did some research and discovered you can do almost anything as an apprentice. 

The Creative and Digital Media framework ticked all the boxes for me. I could have a creative job, learn about the industry, gain new skills in filming, photography, editing, animation and copy writing. It was perfect. Now I have a much wider skill set, a decent knowledge of the industry and how it works.