My apprenticeship story: Cree-Summer Haughton, ITV News

National Apprenticeship Week is taking place between 8-14 February, and the NCTJ is proud to support the campaign. Throughtout the week, we will be sharing first-hand accounts from current and former apprentices and employers to demonstrate the benefits of journalism apprenticeships.

Cree-Summer Haughton completed her apprenticeship with ITV Central and Bauer Media Group and now works as a trainee for ITV News. She shares her story below:

I had the best time on my apprenticeship, and I can honestly say that if I didn’t do the apprenticeship, I don’t think I would be where I am now in my career.

I’ve always wanted to be a journalist but I didn’t think that I had the qualifications to apply for a job, and I knew that I kind of didn’t want to go to university.

I know that I learn better practically and that is exactly what an apprenticeship had to offer.

The best thing about my apprenticeship was definitely the work environment at IVT and the opportunities it gave me.

I definitely had so many more opportunities to go out and film on locations, work with reporters, work on the website. So, every single day my skills were improving and then I had my separate training, which was to pass my NCTJ exams.

None of that was easy, I had to study whilst working full-time but it was the best experience and it really taught me how to manage my time and work in a professional environment.

So I overall would say, if you’re thinking of being a journalist, and you want to tell people’s stories and you want to give people a voice, definitely think about doing an apprenticeship because there’s no better way to learn.