My BBC Work Experience

Right, this post has been a little late since I ended my work experience last Friday, and the reason I've been contemplating about blogging this is because I feel like no one would care or even bother to read about the things I did in the three weeks that I spent working for the BBC? Honestly, I have no idea how to go about writing this without boring anyone. The original plan I had was to make a video diary every night and post that instead. I did keep it up though but unfortunately (or fortunately should I say) my video editing skills are shite and I'm sure no one wants to hear me talk for over an hour.

So let's start from the very beginning.

In my previous blogposts, I've mentioned how excited I was to have received a call from the BBC and how it felt like a silver lining because I was in a terrible state at the time. So on my first day, as expected of anyone in my position, I was so nervous that I kept waking up every hour in the night and I was practically sweating in my sleep. It felt like getting ready for the first day of school except this time it was very different because the BBC has always been a huge deal for me since I was a teenager and getting to do it in reality felt all too surreal to me. It still didn't quite sink in that I was working for them even after I entered the building. The first thought that entered my head when I walked in was that everyone looked really creative. Like every person who walked in that door had this confident, outspoken aura about them and they were each individually unique in some way. And looking at them I felt intimidated immediately because I am obviously worlds apart from them. At least in terms of first impressions, I don't think I radiate confidence as well as they do. So anyway, after I was given my entry pass, I was taken to the BBC Learning department where I would be working for the three weeks to come.

The reason why not many people has heard of BBC Learning is because it is considered a "silent brand" in the sense where they do more community work rather than creating content for TV. And why didn't I apply for the TV one? Well frankly it was because I figured it would be easier for me to get in and plus I didn't think I was qualified for the TV departments when I was applying. So BBC Learning, as the title entails, revolves around education, and helping audiences learn through different mediums. When I got the call, I was told I wasn't going to be creating content like I hoped to but instead it would involve a lot of interacting with the public and so on.

I was glad to do that too quite frankly because if I did want to create content for TV in the future, I guess I need to know what the audience wants to see. Plus, to be able to represent the BBC was such an honour for me anyway.

From past experiences the first day at a new job will always be slightly uninteresting because there will be nothing much or immediate to do, but surprisingly and very luckily, I was given the job of writing short biographies on my first day. (Yay, more writing!! As if I'm not sick of it already) ((Haha, just kidding)) But yes, I was told to provide a short write-up of a list of guests that were attending the Q&A sessions we were holding during the event. And it had DJs, singers, sports presenters and entrepreneurs, all of which I have never heard of. But that was okay, because I didn't mind looking up strangers and reading their entire life story, like I don't do that on a daily basis too haha.

Also, on a side note, having been a fan of talk shows, I always wondered how on earth do they manage to know so much about every single person that comes onto their shows. It wasn't a burning question but I've been under the impression that all these talk show hosts have genuinely seen every film ever made and followed every celebrity on Twitter but it was only when I was researching did I realise that they have a team of researchers to dig up information for them. Hah, the more I know.

Okay back to the researching, I must say that I enjoyed this task quite a bit because I am a total pro at it but it was still a little challenging because most of the guests didn't have a Wikipedia page so I had to be looking at their Facebook and Twitter to source facts about them. I even watched this one guy's reality TV series to know more about him. ( I went a little overboard with that lol). Thankfully, this task more or less occupied me for the entire first week.

As exciting as that sounds, the continuity of work kind of ended there. Everything else I did after the first week wasn't as important or "cool" to brag about but again, I really did not mind at all. I read in the orientation pack that I should be prepared to be bored because not always will I get work to do. With our project it wasn't the case of not having enough work to do but instead it was because everyone was super busy in the lead-up to the event and no one really had the time to sit down and explain a new task for me and I totally understand that. I was a little disappointed at first but then I started approaching people and asking them if they needed an extra pair of hands which definitely helped because A, I was no longer sitting in boredom and B, I got to speak to more people. See, this was the issue I had from the very beginning. I know that my social skills are crap around new people and that needed to change ASAP. It took a bit of courage at first, but I felt more comfortable around the people I was working with gradually as time passed.

The second thing I had to do was rather interesting and I'm sure most teenagers my age would enjoy doing but I was just completely thrown out of my element, and that is looking for DJs to play at our event. I don't listen to Radio 1Xtra so I have no idea what sort of music they play but I tried so hard to look like I knew what I was up to. I basically spent a day on SoundCloud and Twitter looking for undiscovered DJs from the north and believe me, my ears did not enjoy all that house music. But thankfully, one of them was called to join us at the event. You're welcome, mister.

This is completely off topic but I feel is relevant to what I did during this work experience. After I was done with my list of DJs, I literally had nothing to do. Like I just sat at my laptop and stared at the screen for about a good twenty minutes before I decided to look up something that's been bothering me for ages now. I went into a serious research to find out whether Tupac was still alive. Lol. I know it sounds dumb, but you can imagine how much I hate being bored so I had to.

Luckily, the production coordinator started to give me small tasks to do like collecting stuff from the printer, making signs, sorting out stationery etc. I must say though, doing all that is so much better than reading on Tupac's family tree and fyi, it's complicated as hell. And I also spent about two days laminating hundreds of signs that I made for the event. Prior to this, I had no clue how a laminating machine worked but I can confidently say that I'm a total expert now.

The overall experience up till then was incredibly diverse and I didn't realise it until the event itself. Initially, I presumed everyone who had a chance at the work experience would get the opportunity to participate at an event like I did. But it was only until I spoke to more people did I realise my work experience was truly very different from what other people had. From making coffee to printing and to researching, I caught a glimpse of several aspects of the department whereas some might only be typing away at their laptops for their entire work experience.

Finally I'm getting to the point of what I really took home from this experience. Most of the people closest to me know that I have a slight phobia of speaking to white people, I'm sure it's all just me exaggerating things in my head but nevertheless it's a problem. It's such an irony as well considering my own father is English. I feel like growing up in an Asian community, white supremacy has affected me in certain ways and because of that I always felt a little inferior to them. And since a young age, I was never confident with speaking to older people either. So know that if you're older than me and I'm quiet around you, it's most likely because I'm intimidated by your life experience. (Yes I have a lot issues) Especially at my last job, I was only seventeen and obviously everyone had to be at least five years older or old enough to be my parent. Even in that job, there were multiple occasions where I felt like my opinion didn't matter because of my age and how inexperienced I was. If I didn't sound intelligent enough, people would look at me weirdly like I don't know what I'm talking about even if it was a legitimate concern. When I agreed to this work experience, I knew I would land myself in similar situations, and because of that I became hyper-aware of the things I said and the interactions I had. For example, if a conversation wasn't going well, I would blame it on my inability to socialise and if no one spoke to me for the whole day, it was because I never made an attempt to speak to anyone. (It sounds lame but I have insecurities like every other human being, except it was never with the way I look, but rather with who I am inside) This simply couldn't go on. I can't walk into the BBC, spend three weeks there and not leave an impression. I actually laughed when in the orientation pack it said to "make the team miss you when you leave". I'm not capable of making people miss my existence because I've always been known as the "invisible" friend in the group. But then there was this one night when it occurred to me that I shouldn't be so hard on myself. (YES, she finally stops dwelling in sickening self-pity) The reason being is that I'm only eighteen and I haven't lived long enough to have funny stories to tell during lunch break. The people I've worked with so far are older and therefore will have more experiences to share. By the time I reach twenty-five, hopefully I, too, would have interesting episodes to share. Right now, I'm perfectly content with listening and laughing along.

On that note of feeling invisible, I also figured that there are more ways to be noticed than to just be funny. Being talkative in a crowd is something I'm not good at but on the other hand, I'm good at being honest about shit because that's just the way I am. I found it funny that some of my friends couldn't appreciate that trait about me and saw it as a flaw whereas while working at the BBC someone pointed it out and liked that about me, which was a whole new discovery for me. And another thing I realised that, in any work environment, be it an ordinary sales office or Facebook, if you're an intern or in a "low" position, you should say yes to everything and try to help out as much as you can, even with the tiniest things because people notice that. It's when you least expect it that people are watching and listening. Now that I think back, a lot of the things I got to do was because I said yes to everything that was asked of me and tried my best at them and it feels damn good to be appreciated even if it was just lifting boxes and laminating "Staff Only" signs.

The third week flew by the quickest because we spent the four days in Bradford for the event. I honestly felt rather grown-up when I entered my hotel room. The first thing I thought of was my dad and if he felt the same whenever he went on business trips. I've never travelled on my own before so this was all very new to me but what an exciting experience it turned out to be. Throughout the three days, I sat through around ten workshops and although I wasn't there as a participant, I got to benefit a lot from it. More than anything, I met great people and these were the people that could potentially help me in the future. Networking, I've realised, is so important in any industry because we all know the sad truth that rubbing shoulders with the correct people is partially the key to a successful career. And I think this is why I'm so proud of myself. I could only be making tea for three weeks and still be content because I manage to get my foot in the door of the BBC. I was there, in the moment, and what I experienced was something I couldn't get out of a university lecture. To some people this may not seem like a big deal and all that I've written could be a load of rubbish but this, this is important to me because it's going to change my future completely. Having the BBC on my CV is opening so many more doors for me and it's something people cannot ignore.

I was a girl from Malaysia that casually said that I wanted to work for them because it was the only broadcast company I knew at the age of thirteen. Five years later, here I am blogging about it. It doesn't matter if I wasn't paid nor was it a permanent job but it's good enough because it's the perfect stepping stone to many more things in the years to come.

When the event ended and I was on my way home, I felt this enormous sense of gratitude for my parents mostly. I wouldn't even be here if my parents hadn't worked so hard to give me the life I have. Many people thanked me for helping out but frankly, I should be the one thanking them for even giving me the chance to do this. My whole summer break was filled with rejection by so many places when all I wanted was a simple part-time job. Thanks for turning me down though, because it gave me this amazing opportunity. ((Screw y'all either way))

This is one long post that I've done and I shall stop now. The links to my video diaries will be posted up somewhere soon but for now here are some pictures.

I sent this to my mom when I got into my room, to which she replied "Don't eat too much". Haha, oh mom.

The i woke up like dis selfie. hashtag flawless. Lol I was actually super late that morning but still had time to take pictures. oh kimmy.... tsk tsk 

One of the workshops - Learning how to make beats for radio

This pic just looked dope 

One of the Q&As - Cast of Humans

Couldn't get a full group picture or selfies with everyone :( Oh well. 

You could probably tell by now that I loved every minute of this experience and wouldn't actually mind dropping out of uni to do this. (I lie, too much money has gone into getting a degree so maybe after uni) But it was fun, amazing, and definitely something I can tick off the bucket list.

SNL, you're next.