Direct contact with guests at the Tourist Centre counter, organising and running media trips, looking after the Instagram and Facebook social media channels, helping with events, bookkeeping and much more. The work at a tourism organisation is varied. And so the apprentices at Jungfrau Region Tourismus AG (JRT) also benefit from a varied training programme. At this point, we let Corinna Gilgen have her say. The 17-year-old from Wilderswil is training to become an HGT E-Profile clerk. She is in her second year of training and tells us about her work in the Content Management department at the head office in Interlaken, where she is jointly responsible for managing the social media channels, among other things.

"I'm responsible for community management on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, for reposting stories, replying to comments and liking pictures from our followers. If we interact with them a lot, it increases our reach. I also prepare posts in a special programme (Buffer), which then appear automatically on a desired day at a time I define. And if events are taking place in the region or our partners - such as mountain railways or hotels - are planning special promotions, I post these on our social media channels. That's my day-to-day business.

Contributing my own ideas

However, I am also allowed to make and develop my own suggestions. For example, we wanted to publish something special on our channels during the Advent season. I came up with a concept, discussed it with my colleagues - and then realised it. In "Time for Christmas", I presented Swiss Christmas traditions. I was also able to realise a colleague's idea and ask our followers on Instagram and Facebook questions about the Jungfrau Region. You can find "Questions" here in the story highlights, among other places. The procedure was similar. I was allowed to implement the idea from scratch, from concept to realisation. I often use the InDesign programme for this. As you may have noticed, we communicate with our followers in English, as they are at home all over the world. Almost 67,000 people follow us on Instagram, for example, and the majority of them (over 85 per cent) live abroad.

Taking part in the film shoot

I have to be very flexible in content management. It's quite possible that - if the weather is good - a photo shoot is suddenly on the programme. These are important so that we always have up-to-date images of the excursion destinations and activities at our five resorts. And so I am already immortalised on some of the jungfrauregion.swiss websites.

"Apply to be an explorer and, with a bit of luck, win a week's holiday in the Jungfrau Region" - unsurprisingly, many people responded to this call on our website. We accompanied the winners for a few days during their stay to capture authentic footage. I was able to be part of two film shoots - and help out. In summer, we accompanied a family on hikes and excursions in Mürren and in the Haslital - in winter, we accompanied an elderly couple on snow activities in Wengen. For the latter, I travelled with a colleague from work and an external cameraman, who then edited the best shots from different perspectives into a video. My main task was to continuously create Instagram stories from the day so that our followers could see what you can experience in our region. From time to time, I was also allowed to film with a GoPro and a 360-degree camera. When filming with the family in Grimselwelt, one of my shots made it into the final product. I recorded the Gelmer funicular ride with the GoPro. It's a great feeling to see the results of a film shoot or photo shoot that you've helped with, because you know how much work - from the organisation to the day of shooting to the editing - goes into it.

A nice change of pace

To summarise: In content management, I can be very creative and work independently. I like that. The shoots and filming have been some of the highlights of my training so far. You get to know the region even better - and in addition to the daily office work, the time outside, in nature, in the mountains is a nice change.

Jungfrau Region Tourismus AG offers two apprenticeships every year. During the three-year HGT E-profile apprenticeship, the apprentices work for one and a half years each at the head office in Interlaken (marketing/accounting) and in the tourist centres (Grindelwald and either Meiringen or Mürren).