National Apprenticeship Week – Meet the apprentices

Here at Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, each year we have several exciting opportunities across our water, wastewater, and support services teams. As an apprentice, you’ll have the chance to grow your career from day one through on-the-job experience and a competitive wage.

To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, we’re giving you a sneak peek into the lives of some of our apprentices that are helping to keep three million people healthy each day with clean, safe, drinking water.

Meet Chelsea

My name is Chelsea Scriven, I’m 22 years of age and I’m a Distribution Network Inspector working in the Eastern area.

What attracted you to apply for the apprentice programme?

When I saw that Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water were looking for apprentices, I was immediately interested. One of the main values is “Earning the trust of our customers everyday”. This was the biggest attraction for me as giving great customer service has always been important to me.

I chose an apprenticeship because I was able to get stuck in from day one with ‘hands-on’ learning and mentoring from experienced professionals – all while earning money at the same time!

Part of my apprenticeship means that I do some study in the classroom and use what I’ve learnt out in the real world. The mixture of these learning styles means I’m always learning something new and one of the main reasons why I love my job - I can’t wait to go to work to see what each day brings.

What does an average day in your role look like?

Although my role is very much customer-facing, no two days are the same. I am responsible for making sure that our customers have access to clean, safe drinking water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some of my day-to-day jobs include attending to reported leaks or burst water mains, helping customers with queries on their water bills and checking water pressure. My team also assists our contractors in repairing water mains and maintaining water supplies, sometimes through tankering. Every single day presents a different scenario with new challenges, and I love finding new solutions for our customers.

Are there any parts of the role that you find challenging?

One of the big challenges I often face is investigating why a customer has no water. There are so many different reasons why this could be and so I must use my problem-solving skills to find the resolution. It can be quite difficult, but I learn something new from each investigation and I’m always so happy when we’re able to restore the customers water supply as soon as possible.

What would you say to anyone thinking of applying for the programme?

To anyone applying for the programme: You are making a great decision in taking the first steps to start your career! I absolutely love my job and would advise people to look at all the different roles available and to step outside of their comfort zone and try something new.

When I was in school, I always assumed that education meant school, college and then university. In hindsight, I wish I had known more about apprenticeships. There are so many apprenticeship programmes available across lots of different industries – you just need to pick the one that’s right for you!

To start your career with us, head on over to our website to see the available roles.