Jac

What were you doing before you applied?

Before I applied to work for the council, I was working part time in M&S, and I had just finished my last year of Six form, and I had decided that I wanted to pursue an apprenticeship instead of going to university as I felt that it would give me a hands on experience and a good start to my career.

 

Why did you apply?

I applied for the council because I saw it as a great opportunity to begin my career in a well structured and supportive environment. Also, I saw it as an opportunity to develop my skills in using IT and in improving my Welsh language.

 

How long have you been with us?

I have been with Carmarthenshire County Council now for just over 5 months, I started on 4th of November 2024.

 

What team do you work in?

I work with the Controls Team where I provide a wide range of support to the Controls Team who provide technical and operational support for the IT systems used in Revenue Services.

 

An Outline of what your job involves.

My role mostly involves the use of Power BI, which is an tool that allows you to create interactive dashboards from excel data and other sources of data, these dashboards help share key information with other teams, giving them clear insights into what is needed or for example I have just created a dashboard for the Debtors team, this dashboard allows them to see all outstanding debt, by using the dashboard they can look deeper into the information and see where the problems are and which areas need more attention.

 

How do you find doing the Business Admin qualification?

I find doing my qualification interesting and enjoyable. I’ve received a lot of support from my mentor who guides me through my assessments, she provides me with a lot of information I need for them exams and helps me a lot with getting through them.

 

How much of the Welsh language do you use in your role?

I use the Welsh language regularly in my role, an example of this is when I am creating my dashboards, if they are for the public they need to be bilingual and being able to speak Welsh is a big help in being able to translate these dashboards, I have also had people in my team ask me to translate certain things for them which helps me improve my Welsh language.

 

What is your favourite part of the job?

My favourite part of my job is that I get to work closely with my team and be able to work as a team, whether its on team’s meetings or meetings in person it helps me improve my confidence with speaking to people I haven’t met within the Council and help me develop stronger relationships with my team.

 

Anything else you can think of?

Everything I’ve experienced so far in the Council has been very positive, everyone is kind and is willing to talk, everyone is willing to help you, and I like the fact that I can speak Welsh with some of my colleagues – it’s a great way for me to keep my Welsh language skills strong.