Too old to be a journalist?: Work experience - the good, the bad and the ugly

The Good:
I managed to get work experience on the features desk of a woman’s supplement within a national newspaper last week, during half-term.

Most of my other Lambeth College colleagues also managed to bag placements at various publications – mainly local newspapers - in and around London.

The Bad (well for me anyway)
During my stint at the national paper I didn’t write a word of copy, so no chance of getting an all-important cutting for my portfolio.

The people from my NCTJ course who were doing work experience on the news desk at local publications, on the other hand, were encouraged to find, research, interview and write up their own stories. They all came back with five or six pieces to put in their books.

It just goes to show that while getting on a national may cause ooh’s and ahh’s within your friends and family the reality of such a placement can be disappointing despite looking good on the CV.

The Ugly:
A post about work experience is always going to generate some mixed views so here’s the disclaimer:

a) I’ve been in charge of workies before and having to find someone, who isn’t familiar with your company, something to do when you’re really busy is always a nightmare.

b) I’ve been a workie and equally, having nothing to do, but not wanting to annoy anyone who looks really busy by asking, yet again, for a task, is also a nightmare.

I can see both sides, but why the hell should point a) always win? Workies are people too – there’s a badge in there somewhere.

On my placement they put you on various desks for one day at a time so by the end of the week you have experienced all aspects of how the magazine works. I spent a day on art and pictures and then headed to the features desk.

I’ve written for the magazine before so in theory one of the team, at least, knows my abilities, but if I hadn’t asked and then asked again and asked some more for something to do I don’t think they would have spoken to me for the entire duration of the placement.

The only person who made an effort to ask me anything and check I had something to do was a senior editor.

I could have done all the things they didn’t really want to do and written all the things they didn’t want to write; gone to interviews with them to see how it’s done; or come up with ideas for their regular slots and written them for free – key word there that I thought, in a financial climate such as ours, would have been highly attractive.

I found the fact that I wasn’t being used and abused to my maximum capacity really rather ridiculous.

Don’t get me wrong: I asked what I could do to help, emailed to offer my writing skills on things, thought of ideas and pitched to them. I could have been more outspoken and bullish, but if someone was like that in my office it would annoy me intensely.

Now I don’t know whether I’m getting old here, but I have to also mention that on my first day the girl in charge of the interns didn’t show me where the toilets were or where I could get water from.

To me showing new people where things are is a basic social skill and a sign of good manners.

Maybe hunting down toilets yourself is all part of a new Ray Mears esq work placement style. Sorts the men from the boys type of thing… I must have missed that memo, but I’m sticking with my first theory I’m afraid.

It wasn’t just me either: another member of my course had a rotten time on work experience. He said the entire news desk discussed lunch plans between themselves within his earshot, but never once asked him what he was doing or whether he wanted to come along.

Worse than that they took his better story ideas instead of letting him write them up and get them out.

To those who are saying ’school of hard knocks never did anyone any harm’ and ‘get used to it’ or ‘diddums, not asking you to lunch’ and all the other phrases that have perpetuated shoddy work experience etiquette, I say, that’s rubbish.

Why should we have to put up with what would be considered bullying in the classroom just because we are a trainee?

A solution?

It’s a sad fact that unpaid work placements are normally the only way of getting a job in the media, but as we workies are here to stay I’d like to propose that you abuse us properly.

I’ll sort post till the cows come home if it gets me a job, but I, and everyone on my course, can write and write well. We know style and we know enough law not to get into trouble.

I know we may seem like a chore you have to endure every week, but don’t let us fester in the corner and say ‘um, not right now’, when we ask if there’s anything to do.

Use and abuse us: ask us to think of ideas for regular slots; ask us to pull together some ideas for the year ahead; ask us where the copy is by lunchtime and shout at us when we say we haven’t done it yet; send us out in the rain to get a story; advise us on where we’re going wrong; overload us with work so we have to stay late - we love it.

Forget toilet orienteering and all the mind game stuff - anyone who can survive this kind of proper ‘abuse’ is surely worth keeping in touch with.

To read previous posts in this series, visit the ‘Too old to become a journalist’ feed.

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Too old to become a journalist? - The NCTJ fast-track course: say so long to your social life.

I am now on week seven of my NCTJ course at Lambeth College, London.

As previous posts to the Journalism.co.uk forum will prove, I spent a large amount of time wondering whether or not to do an NCTJ course – was it worth the money and the time? Did I want to concentrate on news when I was a features writer?

I spoke to a few working journalists in the hope they could make the decision for me, but surprisingly opinion was mixed, especially in the dreaded shorthand debate (a national newspaper journalist I know doesn’t have a word of shorthand).

With the benefit of hindsight here’s my two-pence on the NCTJ:

It’s worth every penny.

Even if you want to be a features writer the NCTJ is a well-recognised qualification within the industry. There is a magazine equivalent but I’m not sure if it’s so well-known or respected.

I can only speak for the course at Lambeth but I am staggered by how much I already know about journalism, the government and the law and I can’t imagine walking into any publication – features or news – without it.

The Lambeth Course
The fast-track course at Lambeth is only 18 weeks. It’s Monday to Thursday and they expect you to spend your Fridays on work experience. The homework and revision has me working literally all the time.

The fees are £800 (international £3,390) at the moment and, according to the college website, are set to remain at that level for next February and September’s courses as well.

After that there is talk of the fees going up to a couple of grand. I found other NCTJ courses in London cost around £3K and some were wildly more expensive so at the moment Lambeth is great value for money.

While Lambeth College and the surrounding area may not be the most attractive place in London or the world (if you want leafy go to NoSweat), the course has an excellent reputation and pass rate.

The entry exam will see you writing a news story from a press release and quotes given to you. My story was about 500 plastic ducks that had been found on the local village pond. Yes, I did put: ‘Villagers thought they were going quackers…’ With phrases like that you better hire me before I get snapped up.

There is also a current affairs test with the usual questions like: ‘Who is the Chancellor?’ etc.

Once you’re on the course it is broken down into four sections:

Journalism
Mainly geared to hard news writing but I’ve found it really sharpens up feature writing as well.

You are taught what makes news and how to sub your copy to within an inch of its life to make your writing clear and concise.

It’s pretty formulaic but a quick read of any news story in a newspaper, national or local, applies the same principles.

Favourite quote from the teacher so far: “This is probably the hardest exam you will ever do.”

Law
Using the trusty tome ‘McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists’ you deal with all aspects of media law. Defamation made me want to lie down in a dark room. You also get out in the field: we went to the Jean Charles De Menezes inquest this week.

Public Affairs
Or ‘how central and local government works’. It’s an absolute minefield and I have no idea how councils function with the amount of regulations they must adhere to. Very interesting stuff however and satisfying when you read the paper and see what makes the political news – Russian Yacht trip anyone?

Favourite quote from the teacher so far: “If the council like you, then you’re not doing your job properly.”

Shorthand (Teeline)
Ah, the beast you must tame. To pass the exam you must be able to write 100 words per minute (this is only a C grade however, in other words, just a pass).

That’s a tall order in only 18 weeks but it can be done. The teacher says you must do two hours a night practice and she ain’t joking…

It’s two hours a night or re-take the exam. I am at around 50wpm now and it’s only week 7 – cue the ticker tape. If I can do it anyone can.

Favourite quote from the teacher so far, said after a discussion on the importance of keeping letters neat.: “If your colleague walks under a bus, then you need to be able to translate their shorthand.”

You also have to complete a portfolio of work, i.e. cuttings, but these don’t necessarily need to be published.

If you’re currently doing a journalism course, at a college or at a distance, then let us know how it’s going in the comment box below. What’s good, what’s bad?

It would also be interesting and helpful to hear from industry people with their thoughts on the NCTJ:

• Do you think it’s worth it?
• What are your criticisms of it – the video and online aspects perhaps?
• Would you hire someone with an NCTJ over someone without?
• What do you think of the magazine equivalent course?

Calling all feature writers and magazine editors – NCTJ, do you need it?

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Too old to become a journalist: How I started freelancing

A couple of comments from last week’s post asked how I managed to get work published in the nationals as a freelancer sans training.

Short answer: I had the right story that only I could write at the right time. That’s a lot of rights.

Before my NCTJ I did a couple of brilliant evening courses:

Introduction to freelance journalism and stage two freelance journalism at adult learning college City Lit in Holborn, London.

At the time (2005) it was run by Liz Hodgkinson, who I remember always claimed that you didn’t have to be a particularly good writer to be successful. She also encouraged people to pitch, pitch and pitch - editors could only say no.

My First Pitch

The film, The Devil Wears Prada, about one girl’s gruelling experience assisting the editor of a top fashion magazine in America, was about to come out in the cinema.

The book, on which the film was based, caused a lot of controversy as its author, Lauren Weisberger, had worked for American Vogue editor, Anna Wintour, previously. Weisberger always claimed her book was entirely fictional.

Coincidentally I had just come back from a tough 3-month work experience placement at American Vogue.

I failed to put two-and-two-together, but a girl on the evening course pointed out that I could write about my experiences to coincide with the film’s release.

I thought I’d aim high (you never ask, you never get) so with the help of Liz Hodgkinson’s subbing skills I pitched the following to the Guardian:

Dear K,

The Devil Wears Prada told the unbelievable story of one girl’s baptism of fire
on a glossy fashion magazine but what’s the reality like?

Much worse if my three gruelling months of work experience at American Vogue are
anything to go by!

I wondered if you would be interested in my story to coincide with the film
version of The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep as the fiery editor and
Anne Hathaway as her long-suffering assistant.

The film is due out in the U.S on 30th June and in the U.K on 27th October. I
have a picture of me and the other interns standing in front of the Vogue logo
at Conde Nast.

My name is Amy Oliver and I’m a freelance journalist.

Best Wishes

Amy Oliver

——-

They politely declined.

Undeterred I pitched it to The Times.

They didn’t know me from Adam and asked me to write a couple of paragraphs on my experiences at Vogue, and also to submit some of my written work.

What do you send in to The Times if you’ve never had anything published? Unbelievably or perhaps naively I sent in a piece on window box gardening and a snippet on why there should be more nasty, abusive greetings cards on the market!

Both pieces I had done as homework for my course. Both pieces now make me cringe to my very core.

They bought it and the story. My first ever piece was a joint front cover for the Times’ T2 supplement (shared with now WSJ style magazine Editor Tina Gaudoin no less) complete with dreadful picture of me fingering a pile of old Vogues.

I was so overwhelmed I think I hid in the corner and didn’t write another word for six months. Not very ballsy hack with rhino skin… more Miss Marple.

No one else could have written that story and a personal experience timed with a current issue is usually the best way to start.

To give another example a woman on the evening course was caught up in the Asian tsunami in 2004 and was planning to write a personal experience for the anniversary.

If you don’t know who to pitch your idea to phone up the newspaper and ask. Be prepared for much sighing and monosyllabic answers from the other end - imagine how many people phone them every day to tell them about typos etc.

Also be prepared to pitch the crux of your idea over the phone. If they can cut you off without clogging up their inbox they will.

Now perhaps someone can advise me: I was always told to pitch ideas to one publication at a time. I have since met a very successful journalist who blanket pitches and usually sells the same story three or four times over. (I’ll try and get hold of blanket pitcher extraordinaire for an interview)

Do people who freelance already blanket pitch? Have you ever come up against anger from a publication and exclusivity?

This is the second post in Amy’s blog series: Am I too old to become a journalist? Read her introductory post.

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New blog series: Am I too old to become a journalist?

“So you want to be a journalist,” declares the college leaflet or job advice site.

Yes, of course you do but what if you think you might be too old, have no proper training, did not go to Cambridge or Oxford, have no relatives in the industry and all the other clichés people like to trot out? What if you have all of the above but still don’t seem to be able to get a job?

I have just started a fast-track NCTJ course at Lambeth College in London at the grand old age of 28 and before that I was freelancing without any proper training.

When I finally decided to become a journalist I had loads of questions. Everything from whether to do a course, what ‘off the record’ really means and whether my hoovering to working ratio was slightly unbalanced as a freelancer.

Everyday the Journalism.co.uk forum is peppered with similar questions – well, maybe not the hoovering one – from would-be journalists.

This blog series isn’t designed to tell you what to do to become a journalist. Instead it will chart my progress through the 18-weeks of what is turning out to be utter boot camp - 2 hours per night shorthand practice anyone?

Any work experience I do will also be covered as will networking events with views and opinions from seasoned hacks and the gruelling task of actually getting a job at the end of it.

Hopefully it will dispel some of the myths surrounding the NCTJ and whether you truly need it to succeed - the industry from a rookie’s point of view - and be an agony aunt of sorts to questions like ‘help, I want to be a journalist, but don’t know where to start’.

Amy Oliver has been meaning to become a journalist from about the age of 5, but got slightly sidetracked by the possibility of earning money. She has been freelancing since 2007 and in that time has written for The Times, The Guardian, You magazine, Vogue, Vague Paper as well as local newspaper Bridport News in her hometown of Bridport, Dorset.

She has just started a fast-track NCTJ course at Lambeth College and blogs about her experiences as a slightly mature trainee and not going down the conventional route into journalism. She lives and works in London.

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