Ellie Hughes tells Moving On about her lucky media career break and her placement on a BBC trainee scheme in Glasgow.

Ellie Hughes is an operations trainee at the BBC in Glasgow and she’s on an 18 month placement. Moving On spoke to her about the training she’s done so far, during a rare break in her busy schedule.

Ellie, who’s 20, went to Stratford-upon-Avon College in Warwickshire, where she completed a 2-year BTEC in Media Production, then stayed on to study a 2-year HND course in Media Production and Broadcasting. She could have done a top-up year at university to gain a degree, but Ellie had had enough of being in education and knew that going to university wasn’t her thing. She started looking at websites for suitable jobs in the media when she spotted an Operations Trainee scheme being advertised on the BBC Careers Hub website – operations refers to everything to do with the technical side of making television and radio programmes, like operating cameras, audio visual and radio equipment.

“When I saw it, I was desperate to try for it. The job looked amazing – a great opportunity to join a BBC Trainee Scheme. I thought I’d better talk to my dad about it all before I applied. He thought it sounded fantastic but when I told him that if I got onto the scheme, I’d have to leave home and go and live in Glasgow where the BBC trainee scheme is based, he just said, “Well you can tell your mum!”

Ellie applied and was lucky enough to get onto the BBC trainee scheme and as with a BBC apprenticeship, she earns while she learns along with other trainees. “There are eight of us doing the training and we’re all on an 18 month contract. To start with, we had to work for six weeks at a time in four different areas – camera, radio, TV audio and vision – to give us a taster of all the different roles and to help us choose which area we might want to specialise in.”

Ellie is now at the stage of her training where she will be concentrating on two particular roles. Her primary specialisation will be in camera operating and her secondary option is working with vision equipment. She will now spend 75 per cent of her time training with cameras and 25 per cent training with vision equipment until she decides which area to focus on exclusively, towards the end of her time on the scheme.

Ellie is having a fantastic time on her BBC trainee scheme, “There is such a good atmosphere at work – we are a great team and everyone really wants to be there.”

Ellie hopes to stay with the BBC when she finishes her placement. “The BBC will try to find us all jobs at the end of the trainee scheme – if there aren’t any permanent jobs on offer here, they will try to give us staff jobs or freelance work as well as trying to find work for us with the BBC in other locations. I just want to get as much experience as possible.”

And what does Ellie dream of doing once she’s finished her training? “At the moment, I think I’d like to work with cameras or perhaps be a floor manager. The one programme I’ve always wanted to work on, ever since it came back on television, when I was ten, is Doctor Who. That would be my dream job!”

Ellie is very keen for other young people to know that she got her place on the BBC trainee scheme purely through demonstrating her enthusiasm rather than because of her experience or expertise. “If you want something, you have got to try for it! If you want it enough, it IS possible!”

BBC trainee schemes are generally open to all with a few exceptions. BBC apprenticeships are aimed at those without a degree. You have to be at least 18 when the schemes start. For more info, go to our page on apprenticeships and trainee schemes.