Trainee Aquarist Review

I very much enjoyed the insight, it was great to be able to see how an aquarium is run from the inside, The highlights mainly focused around working primarily with the animals, especially getting to know their individual personalities from spending an extended amount of time around them. Feeding times were also very enjoyable with the turtle, sharks and moray eel and 'enrichment' for the octopus. Some aspects of the job were less enjoyable such as cleaning tanks.

I can't say I felt particularly welcome or like a valued member of the team during my time their. I did all the jobs I was asked to do as quickly as I could and to the best of my ability, yet my efforts were very rarely thanked or acknowledged, which made it difficult, as without feedback, I could never have known how to improve. I also made the effort to try and make conversation with all the members of staff, including those I was not directly involved with, yet it never seemed as though they wanted to talk. I was often the invisible person in the room and spoken to through other members of staff. The greatest sign I was not a valued member of the team during my time there was the fact that none of them seemed to know my name.

From the first day I started at the insight I received next to no guidance or support at all. On my first day I was given no instructions on what jobs I would need to do or how to complete them from the senior members of staff, instead all of my 'training' was given to me through another volunteer how showed me the very basics of my job. From then on, I was expected to know the job inside out without any additional help from other members of staff, any time I asked for help I was spoken to rudely. I was also expected to know exactly where every piece of equipment was kept and stored, despite never having been shown, and the few times I could not work it out for myself and needed to ask where something was, I would be told a general area of where it would be, but not the extract location, or what it may look like (for technical pieces of equipment). The difficulty of the job was then further exacerbated by the lack of keys made available to the volunteer staff, every member of staff had their own key and the volunteers were made to use scissors in order to gain access to all of the animals tanks, despite looking very unprofessional to the public, some of the tanks could only be opened with a proper key and on a regular basis I would need to ask to use the key to gain access to these tanks, yet more often than not, a member of staff would not be around to borrow the key from, so if there were any problems with feeding or tank maintenance of some of the tanks, it would be very difficult to resolve these problems. In addition as none of the jobs were explained by an official member of staff, I often found myself being told I had not performed a task to the level of proficiency they were looking for. This was very frustrating as I was expected to perform to a particular level yet no member of staff was willing to show me what they wanted or give any valuable feedback for me to then act upon to improve my performance.

Unfortunately I cannot say I feel I have gained any worthwhile or helpful skills that I can take with me in life to further my career or studies, except to say to potential employers that I have worked in an aquarium (if it is relevant to the job). I do believe this experience may have helped me gain my place on my university course, as it shows I have a genuine interest in marine animals and I am proactive in going the extra mile to achieve what I want. This is the extent to which is has helped me decide what path my future will take, I know for sure now after this experience I do not want to work within the aquarium trade. The whole experience has been so negative I never want to be in that same situation again, I would maybe enter into a similar situation if it was related to my university degree and I felt it would defiantly be a worthwhile experience to then advance my career further in the future, but I have no desire to work in a similar industry.

There was no structure to my insight at all, except being given a few jobs to complete throughout the day, the rest of it was up to me. How I would perform the tasks, where I would get the equipment from, when I decided to do it was all decided by me. Which would have been an acceptable way of allowing me to organise my time, but that is only if I had been shown how to perform some of the tasks previously. Many of the extra tasks I was given would require sensitive specialist equipment that I was never shown how to use. The only slight structure that was involved was feeding times, different animals needed to be fed at certain times and food would need to have been prepared by then, as well as preparing some of the food for the next days feeding which would need to have been done before the end of the day. Even then, the times of feeding were flexible, it would just be a period at some point in the day as opposed to an exact time, for example feeding the turtle after lunch, this could have been any time between 13.00- 16.00.

The general atmosphere was cold, uninviting, somewhat hostile and all together a very unpleasant one. [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] This made the overall atmosphere very cold and unfriendly, especially on the days I was on my own. On the days there was another volunteer present to help me, they were slightly more enjoyable as I would have someone to talk to throughout the day and at lunch times, and it would make new and difficult tasks more easy to complete as we could combine our knowledge to work out how best to complete a task, rather than ask an ever-absent member of staff.

The company did not invest anything in me in the time I was there, I did not receive any specialist training or equipment. The t-shirt I was given to wear was a very old stained blue top that did not even have the logo of the company on. Equipment in terms of feeding the animals consisted of a pole with a grove cut into it at one end to allow bits of food to be placed into it to then give to the animals, and this would often be moved around from where it is stored or taken by other members of staff despite them knowing it would be needed for public display feeding times. In terms of development I never received any form of feedback from members of staff on how I could improve what I was doing or what else I could do to improve my performance. And in terms of personal training, I was shown the very basics on my very first day and then expected to know the job inside out from then on and had to perform my second day on the job completely on my own, despite not even fully knowing my way around or where particular animals are kept.

It did not allow to see what it would be like to have a full time role, I was given the same tasks on a daily basis, which were the basic tasks the other members of staff could not be bothered to do themselves. Anything else I learned was due questions asked by myself. Any additional tasks the senior members of staff undertook were never explained nor was I ever extended the opportunity to learn more about the other tasks they do, including physical and admin tasks.

The insight opened by eyes to the companies culture in a large way, but not in a positive light. On many occasions I was surprised how little care or consideration was taken by members of staff regarding their job and the impact it may have on the wider environment. As an aquarium their live stock are mainly fish and marine animals, yet when an animal would die, they would order new stock from any seller on the internet, rather than buy from a reputable breeder that has not taken the fish from the wild. For 'enrichment' for the few animals that are considered more intelligent, such as the octopus, consisted of a few toys that would be thrown into her tank rather than giving the animal something more stimulating. On the one occasion I was present when a member of a large marine conservation charity came to see one of the senior members of staff, their attitude towards this person was disgusting and incredibly rude, despite the companies promotion of how these two organisations are suppose to be working in partnership to protect the environment. In addition, despite their begin signs all around the aquarium informing customers of how to minimise their impact on the marine environment and making more sustainable and informed choices, the staff at the aquarium seemed oblivious to this. They would eat unsuitably caught fish at lunch times, get a new single use plastic bag everyday and throw it it the bin, and there was a clear lack of recycling facilities.

The content I received was enough for me to realise I do not want to pursue a career in the aquarium trade at any point in my life. I do not like the ethics of the aquarium trade, the staff showed me what the attitude of people who work in the aquarium trade can be and how the expectations of a job can often be very different from the reality. I expected people who work around animals to be happy, friendly caring people who want to inform the public of animals in the marine environment and how best to protect them, and to work as a team to achieve that goal. However it seemed the reality was almost the polar opposite of that. There were very few ethics being put into practise, team cohesion was almost zero and they did not seem to care to deeply for the environment or wanting to protect it. It seemed that for most of the staff this was little more than a job and that is not what I want out of my future career.

I was not paid or reimbursed for any expenses relating to my volunteering work. This is despite me having to get the train everyday and the company being aware of that. Nor was I reimbursed for the cost of any food or drink.

At lunch times there was the opportunity to meet other members of staff from the different areas of the aquarium, many of which were much more friendly than the husbandry staff members. I did not get the opportunity to network either, despite wanting to. I was aware the SeaLife Centre had links with the marine conservation society and seahorse trust, however I was never informed how close these ties were or how often they have contact with one and other. Only on one occasion would there have been the chance for me to network and meet a member of the marine conservation society. However on the one occasion a member of the charity came in, I was not aware that this meeting was going to be happening, and only found out about it after the meeting took place. The member of staff who went to meet the MCS member seemed annoyed at having to go and talk to this person and gave the impression they wanted them to leave as soon as possible, excluding me from any opportunity to talk with them.

There were no networking or social event opportunities presented to me to partake in. I am aware of a social event that was taking place on one of the weekends I was working there, however I was not invited.

I did find out about activities employees can get involved in outside of work, however as a 'volunteer' who is not being paid, according to the companies standards, we are not official employees, and therefore not entitled to any of the benefits the official employees are afforded.

It would depend on the individual and what they wanted to achieve from the insight. If they are someone who has an interest in studying marine biology or a related subject at university level, and may potentially one day consider working in an aquarium, then I would definitely recommend it. It is a good experience to have, for both seeing what it is really like to work in an aquarium and to gain experience that will make you stand out a little more than everyone else on a UCAS application. It is very good for anyone who is considering being an aquarist as a potential future career as it allows you to see exactly what it is like to work in this profession and see to some degree how the expectation does not meet the reality.