Time to catch up...

Hey guys :) it's been a while since my last post, boy do we have some catching up to do.

I had been planning for Skills London (largest UK skills and Careers event), and it's stressful keeping everything organised. My budget was £2K to cover all costs, it seems a lot but you'd be surprised. I chose and ordered DiVAs promotional merchandise for the event. It's surprising all the ways to promote your company, from mugs to fuzzy logo bugs, you name it, they can brand it. In preparation for the event I was also coordinating our stand at a careers event at Anglo European School. As you can imagine, I've been a busy busy bee.

After all my preparation it was just my luck to contract the plague the week of the events. Okay, I didn't have the plague but I felt pretty awful. I missed our school event :( but had no time to feel sad, Skills London was 2 days away and I needed to get better QUICK.

After digesting every Caribbean medicinal concoction you can imagine, I dragged myself to work and got down to business. I like to forward plan so with not much to do I focused on the finishing touches.

I redesigned our student flyers; they arrived and looked awesome, as did our new branded carrier bags and
oyster card wallets. Someone at Skills London said the oyster cards were 'SWAG', I was well chuffed.

Skills London is a brilliant event, both to exhibit at and attend. There was a huge footfall and our flyers flew like hotcakes. It was a great networking opportunity; so many companies were interested in us.

We've also been invited to a careers event at a school in Croydon and I have meetings in my diary with potential new clients and partners. Check me out; I need to get a Filofax. I'm attending these meetings on my own so you can imagine, I'm feeling very grown up these days. Overall, Skills London was a major success. I was relieved to be rid of the pressure of organising my first event that didn't end up in flames.

Previously, A New Direction asked us to speak to some young unemployed people in search of job opportunities. There were around 6 people in the room. I can't stand public speaking, so was a tad anxious. Strangely once I started, I couldn't stop rambling on. I found it easy as I was talking about my experiences, to people in a position I was in, not too long ago. I wanted to inspire and advise them. In the end I really enjoyed it and would like to do something similar in the future.

I finally had my first week at college . My first workshop was Video Production. I've been looking forward to it. Throughout the week we covered all the process's involved in a production including, pre-production, filming and post-production.

We filmed vox pops in Edgware Road Market, which I loved. It was exciting talking to different types of people and anticipating their answers and reactions to our questions: "Can you define love?" "Do you have a pet?". I filmed the majority of the vox pops which gave me a chance to work on my camera skills.

My favourite part was the post-production; I've been dying to get my hand on some Final Cut Pro (FCP) software. I've never used it so had a little explore whilst editing my footage. I felt quiet intimidated using FCP in the past but it wasn't as tough as I thought it would be.

I will definitely purchase the software to continue practising. Come the end of the week I was really proud with my final product. Now I'm even more enthusiastic about filming and editing creative footage.

In more current news, I recently conducted a live Q&A about apprenticeships on Twitter. I thought it would be a creative way to get people interacting with DiVA's Twitter while answering FAQ's. It went pretty well and we got a load of followers out of it.

More events on the horizon in January; I'm organising a talk for entrepreneurs and start-up companies supported by School for Start-ups, founded by Doug Richards. FYI Doug Richards is an ex-Dragons Den judge in case you didn't realise how major this is. Plus, another event bubbling away for employers in Hackney....

I've got a meeting with my assessor Mark Gurney who's helping me secure some interviews with some pretty amazing people for our new DiVA Inspire segment launching soon. I could tell you the names of who we'll be interviewing but that will spoil the surprise. I guess you'll have to stay tuned.

In the meantime, check out the interview I did with our apprentice Mulenga Kasoma who has been offered a job by her employer.

Well it's the end of 2012 and DiVA are closing up for the Christmas Holidays. So I'll see you all on the other side. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Toodles :)

Follow me on twitter - @SeleneShaw_Diva

FaceBook - Selene Shaw (Selene Diva)

For the latest apprenticeships visit our website

DiVA's New Marketing Apprentice- Selene Shaw

First things first, let me introduce myself to you all. I'm Selene Shaw DiVAs new Marketing Apprentice. (I still can't get use to saying that).  It's the 1st week of my new job and I must say I'm enjoying it. Before I begin talking about how much I love my new job let me start with how I got here.

I've always been a creative person but have never really known what I wanted to do career wise. Even though I studied creative subjects at GCSE, due to an unhealthy liking to CSI, I conjured up the idea that being a Forensic Scientist was the job for me. Don't get me wrong I love science but this was definitely not one of my greatest decisions. Anyhow, after 3 excruciating years studying A-Levels, I managed to achieve grades that would secure me a place at University.

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to get my firm offer and was accepted into Brunel University to study Media and Communications. I cannot explain to you how happy I was; after all those years studying subjects that I didn't want to do I was finally able to learn something I was interested in.

I didn't like my course.

Let me clarify, I absolutely loved University; it was an amazing experience but I just couldn't justify spending an obscene amount of money studying something I didn't enjoy. I had already gone through that with my A-Levels; so I made one of the scariest decisions of my life, and decided to leave University after my first year.

Instantly, I went into panic mode; no one will hire me without a degree! What am I going to do now? I'm going to spend the rest of my life flipping burgers! (Yes, I can be a bit of a drama queen).

After some INTENSE research, I discovered Apprenticeships. The idea of learning on the job seemed perfect for me, so I started applying. It took 5 months for me to hear back from anyone.  To be honest, when I got the phone call, I couldn't even remember which company it was I applied for, so after some strategic waffling, I found out it was DiVA inviting me to an interview with 20th Century Fox; who distribute films such as Prometheus.

I was overwhelmed; I said to myself:-

 "Yes, this is it? This is my big break!"

So I went shopping, bought a new blazer and did some major research about them. I was so ready for that interview.

I didn't get the job.

DiVA continued giving me advice, setting up interviews. I continued not getting the job.

When I saw that DiVA were offering a vacancy to work as a Marketing Apprentice within their offices, I jumped at the opportunity, and luckily for me, I was offered the job.

Here I am, 9 months later, finally doing something that suits me. We're a really small team  and a warm, friendly environment to work in. I this on Monday and spent the day updating Twitter and FaceBook via Hoot Suite; a social media programming tool I had never even heard of let alone used before. After a process of clicking buttons and hoping for the best I’ve managed to get the hang of it. I’ve also been uploading new jobs to the website, re-designing the new apprenticeship blog and attended a networking event at Channel 4 where I got to meet a fellow apprentices.

I'm looking forward to starting my Video Production modules because video is something I'm really interested in. Plus my office is based in Oxford Circus, which is somewhere I've always wanted to work (not because of the shops or anything, lol).

I will be regularly updating this blog letting you all know the adventures I get up to and what an apprenticeship is really like. You never know, if you like what you hear, it may be you filling out those applications soon.

Until next time...

Follow me on twitter - @SeleneShaw_Diva

FaceBook - Selene Shaw (Selene Diva)

For the latest apprenticeships visit our website 

GOOD NEWS !!

THIS BLOG IS NOW LIVE !!!
Re-introducing itself as the new APPRENTICESHIP BLOG where you can catch up with our current apprenticeships and learn more about what it's like to be an apprentice in the creative industry. So stay tuned and follow our apprenticeships on their journeys.