2021 Apprenticeship series: Chloe, Syngenta Apprentice

By Chloe Fitzgerald, Syngenta Apprentice

In celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science, as well as National Apprenticeship Week, we catch up with Chloe Fitzgerald on how she’s been doing on her impressive science-based apprenticeship with Syngenta.

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While deciding whether university was for me, I chanced upon apprenticeships.
Back in 2019, I was a school-leaver interested in a career in science after completing A-level Chemistry and Biology. I did a lot of research online as I wanted to see what my options were.

My school tutors were very keen on me applying to universities but I came across a government web page describing Level 6 apprenticeships – this made me eager to find one in the field of science. It was a dream come true when I saw a five-year degree apprenticeship at Syngenta on an online job board.

I am extremely fortunate that my work hasn’t been greatly affected by the pandemic.
Because Syngenta is a global company that provides essential research and business for modern agriculture, I have regularly been going on site to carry out experiments and project work.

I’m also currently doing distance learning for a Chemistry degree as part of my apprenticeship, so I am quite used to studying and spending time at home anyway – I have a laptop and various stationery provided for by Syngenta that I get great use out of!

That being said, our way of working on site has changed a lot.
When on site, we now need to use masks, sanitisers and practice social distancing, hot-desking, eating lunches alone and occupying the labs as little as possible! The latter requires a lot of planning because we need to prepare in advance which labs we’re using on which days and letting our team leader know a week in advance.

The first thing I do every morning now is to check in with my supervisor, team leader and line manager to give them my work location so that they can fill in a COVID tracker.

I started in October 2019, so I have under 4 years to go.
I have completed my first 9-month rotation in Product Characterisation Group and I am now towards the end of my second rotation in Formulation Technology Group. My last rotation will be starting at the end of Feb in Formulation Development.

Working from home has allowed for some extra training and research.
I’ve been attending lots of seminars and watching videos about interesting science topics! I do feel really busy which is good because there are always tasks to do when I am working from home. For example, when I’m at home, I spend a lot of time processing and organising the data I obtain during lab days and put it into a user-friendly format to present to my team on zoom meetings.

Lab days are more intense because we are encouraged to do any office work at home if possible. I have developed my organisational skills much more in order to carefully prepare my work plans for when I come on site. My supervisor is always an instant message away, so I never feel alone, even when working from home.

The pandemic hasn’t affected what I want to specialise in.
I have enjoyed both rotations equally. After a few more rotations, I will probably have a better idea of what area I’d like to specialise in withinProduct Technology and Engineering.

I do miss face to face chats and training with my supervisor and colleagues, but with Zoom, anything is possible! We have had quite a few new starters in our department since last March too so my advice would be to not let the current climate put you off from achieving your career goals!

We caught up with Chloe last year too – read about what she had to say last year. Looking for a career in science? Take a look at our vacancies here >