Rhi has been an integral part of the Think Forensic Team since 2018, when she initially came to us as part of her work experience through Shelley College.

So, before we get down to business Rhi, tell us a little about you –

How do you spend your time, when you’re not doing very important TF work?

Nothing too crazy really! I love spending time with my family, baking, walking, exploring etc! As a child, I had a bizarre interest in things like volcanos, earthquakes, extreme weather and still do! I’m a sucker for a good natural disaster documentary and I’m super interested in how food and diet impact us, so anything nutrition based!

Favourite TV show/film?

Road to Perdition, it’s an excellent film I first discovered back in secondary school!

Favourite biscuit?

Chocolate Hobnobs hands down! Although I do enjoy whatever biscuits are in the office (especially when Pete brings in an M&S selection)

Okay so down to business now Rhi. You first joined us as part of ‘Work experience’ in school, how did you come across us all that time ago?

When in school/college, developed an interest in forensics, ended up finding out about Think Forensic and chatted with Sue who offered me a work experience placement. During the week we travelled to Liverpool to run some workshops there and I loved it. We also did a few workshops in Birmingham at a large school for one of their career days.

How long was the period of work experience and remind us how long it was before you joined us again for your apprenticeship.

2 weeks back in 2012 via college, came and did some part time work again in 2014/2015 alongside another job, then started an apprenticeship in 2018 and never looked back.

Tell us more about your apprenticeship. Give us the lowdown, how long was it, what course did you do?

It was a Business Studies apprenticeship and the course itself lasted around 18 months, which included several different units throughout, from basic Health & Safety in the workplace to Communications within a business environment. It was very varied and there were lots to get stuck in to.

The variety of projects you’ll have worked on with us will be huge, tell us which has been your favourite?

Art of Faking it believe it or not! As we’ve never run a workshop quite like it, there was a lot of pressure to make sure we got it right and we knew there’d be lots we’d want to tweak and improve going forwards. There were so many resources to create and such a lot of research to be done, it really reminded me just how much variety there is in our role and just how fun it is to be a part of. It’s been great to work with Sean on the content too, he knows all sorts about art and it’s so interesting!

You play a huge part in organising/keeping all our customers happy – how do you manage to cater to so many audiences?

Oh jeez. It is a tough one, because we work with schools, community groups, corporates and the general public, so there’s a lot to juggle!

I’m always on the phone with customers who are booking experience days and quite often coming up with ideas for schools to fit their budgets/allotted time available.

We always hope everyone that comes to us is a happy customer, and we try and tailor everything we do to communicate with each audience, whether that be through our newsletter, the website, emails or our social media!

Is it nice to have a balance between working in the office & on experience days/community work?

Yes, it’s great to have that mix between admin and organising logistics, to actually being able to get hands on and involved with the workshops.

Did you ever imagine the distances people would travel to attend Experience Days?

It depends, some yes, many of our customers come from all over the country, however, we were taken aback when a customer contacted us a few years ago asking for a certain date to attend so he could fly from Dublin and back again all in one day! More recently, we met a lovely couple who came all the way from Singapore!

Why do you think Think Forensic is so valuable to so many? (staff and customers)

Education is invaluable, and for many, the hands-on element and the links to real life make our workshops all the more memorable, whether its young children in primary school exploring identity, or right up to university students exploring career options & branches of the industry, we are able to share an insight into many of those.  

Forensics has become a widely popular subject, and not just for those in education, we hosted a series of workshops recently alongside the WEA (Workers Education Association) targeting certain groups and to encourage them to meet new people with similar interests, we had one group who 3 years down the line still meet up now and attend events together after meeting as strangers at Think Forensic!

Thanks so much Rhi, we’d really be lost without you. Thanks for letting us pin you down for an interview!