GetMyFirstJob Ambassador
Hello, I Am Ashanti
An apprenticeship is an amazing experience to have, I have definitely grown immensely as an individual because of it. I loved that I was treated as a valuable member of the team and give key responsibilities from day one.
Tell us more about your experience
In my role as an in house
recruiter within the Talent Team at Channel 4, I help to manage the
recruitment of a variety of creative roles within our Creative Division. This consists of posting jobs,
shortlisting candidates, stakeholder management etc. As well as this, I got involved in exciting personal projects like participating in wider HR initiatives, redefining agency additional worker processes and supporting apprentices on our team. My proudest moment since completing my apprenticeship with no prior recruitment experience has been confidently managing a high volume of roles and receiving an early promotion.
As well as the day to day recruitment of our creative divisions, such as 4Studio, Film4, Commissioning and Operations (Commercial Affairs), I am involved in a lot of apprenticeship ambassador work for our 4Skills team, like speaking on panels for out 4Skills YouTube page, and getting involved in 4Skills social media campaigns and speaking on Create Access panels!
Initially, I went to
University for 2 months to study journalism but discovered that I did not enjoy the course, despite my love for writing and I wanted to work and study within another
area. I applied for numerous apprenticeships and some of them I did not proceed to the next stage. However, there was a degree Business Management apprenticeship which I received an offer for, but COVID resurged and funding was cut for the scheme. This did not deter me and I kept applying until I received a Channel 4 apprenticeship, which I was other the moon about as I love our content and remit. I am grateful that I did not give up.
My advice to
someone thinking about doing an apprenticeship would be, to go for it!! It is an
exciting journey and one that is beneficial. Apply to as many as you want and
allow your passion to shine through.
Whilst on the
apprenticeship I received a vast variety of support from my immediate
team, external colleagues, as well as having an early careers co-ordinator which checked in on all the apprentices. I also had a lovely warm tutor from Paragon
Skills which gave resources to help with my assignments.
Since being promoted to a Talent Acquisition Advisor, after a year in the position I had the opportunity to explore my other creative interests by completing a secondment in the commissioning department. The role was Team Assistant, Youth & Digital. Within this role, I supported the Head of Youth and Digital, Commissioning Editor for E4 and Digital Commissioning Editor for Branded Entertainment with admin assistance e.g. diary management, booking travel, expenses etc.
The experience was amazing and I learnt about the commissioning cycle for both linear and digital. I organised big cross departmental meetings and a programme screening with talent/production companies for a new E4 show release called ‘Josh Must Win’ . I also attended all genre routines (E4 Factual Entertainment, Channel 4.0 routines etc), branded briefs and contributed ideas within creative brainstorms e.g for the digital brand Channel 4.0. I also had the opportunity to sit in casting meetings for ‘Married at first sight’ to understand the casting process and contribute my thoughts.
I have a passion for succession planning and took it upon myself to research new digital creators, create a deck and pitched the next generation of talent to the wider team within a workshop and this led to setting up a talent meeting with one of the talent I pitched and sitting in the meeting with the Digital Commissioner.
I shadowed the Digital Commissioners closely within the team on their projects by attending production shoots for shows such as ‘King Konan’s Trapped Door’ and reading pre production material e.g. running orders, beat sheets, set designs, budgets etc. I also watched rough cuts of edits and gave Commissioners my viewing notes to support their editorial feedback. It was a highly immersive experience which I loved and it increased my knowledge of commissioning overall.