Q: How do you go about applying for internships?
A: Lucy – It depends what kind of internship and what type of company. You can log onto portals and register interest through there. Don’t upload a 7 page CV – it’s pointless and won’t be read. Be concise.
Dave – Go onto career pages and browse available opportunities. At sky we offer a range of platforms and offer 2 week work experience programmes. Everyone says the same thing – hard working and enthusiastic – we want to see experience at the top. 2 sides of A4 is the maximum.
Shradha – You are selling yourself. It’s got to be about you and show your personality. Save some experience to talk about at the interview.
Q: What would you say is the biggest change from Journalism/PR to Marketing?
A: Lucy – There is a lot. You won’t understand the key skills until you’re in a work place. Be open minded. You need to apply different skill sets into a completely different job – it’s difficult.
Q: What experiences are you glad that you took?
A: Dan – Writing a blog is a great experience. It helps you develop your skills in writing. It creates a good portfolio and shows people your talents in writing.
Jono – Doing hospital radio was great. Once walking round the hospital I found out that the headphones by the bed didn’t even work – so I had been presenting for over a year to no one.
Q: How important are portfolios?
A: Besma – So important. Every graduate applies for internships so you need to stand out.
Jono – I am incredibly unorganised, I don’t know where most of my work is. I am usually just lucky.
Dan – Keep newspaper cuttings, every single one from day one. It’s different and shows what you can do in an alternative to a CV.
Lucy – Keeping track of what you’ve done over the years. Having a reference outlining mini profiles of what you’ve done it great. Write about the aims and outcomes.
Shradha – To be honest I don’t have a portfolio, most of the stuff I do is on my blog. Keep in contact with people from networking events.
Dave – They’re hugely important. We need to know how you sound. Produce a package of around a minute, maybe even include an interview to demonstrate how you handle them.
Q: How much have you engaged in social media in your job?
A: Dave – Twitter can be your best mate and your worst enemy. You have access to information instantly. It’s a very useful tool. We are in a completely new age. You have to go through vigorous checks before you post anything found on social media. Editorial control is vital in the way we handle social media.
Shradha – I look after 3 social media accounts. It is very difficult to make construction interesting. You need to know your audience and how to make something like ‘A day at the waste’ interesting. It’s just about getting your information out there. Even 1 retweet is good!
Lucy – Our tweets have to go through a 9 chain approval process, so the act of tweeting isn’t really done. Working in a highly controlled area social media is difficult. Social media and everything you put out there can be found – be really mindful of what you out out there.
Dan – Social media is the perfect way to engage with your readers. However it can bring back positive and negative results. Everyone has twitter and the littles thing can reach you, you have to watch out for red herrings so check your sources.
Jono – We are the best at social media according to stats. If in an interview you said you weren’t interested in social media you would not get the job. We often use social media before the radio, it is a completely different outlook.
Besma – We’re a small company so social media is a very useful tool when making documentaries. It’s a must.
Q: Do you strict guidelines as what you can put on social media?
A: Dave- We won’t run a story unless we are 100% sure that it’s fact. You have to check and check and check again.
Jono – If we say it on the radio then we would tweet it, if we wouldn’t say it on the radio we wouldn’t tweet it.
Lucy – It can cause the most amazing storm.
Q: What are the most likely pitfalls we will face?
A: Lucy – It’s hard work. Life at university is exciting and work out of university is fast paced and hard.
Shradha – Manage your expectation, you won’t get the job you want straight out of university.
Dave – Patience is key. You can be disheartened by rejections but don’t be. Don’t run before you can walk. You have to be prepared to travel.
Jono – Don’t always chase money, do what you want to do. Go into where you want to be, don’t follow the money.
Dan – You’ve got to be prepared to take rubbish jobs, you have to work your way up from the bottom.
Lucy – No one will do it for you, you have to do it yourself. Don’t compare yourself to your friends. You have to make it happen.
#LSJAlumni15
