In the time I have been away from my blogging duties I have had several journalism opportunities practically land at my feet. My mother always used to say to me "Jobs don't just come knocking on your door" but the past week would beg to differ I would say!
The final two days of work experience were really good. I feel like the week really gave me some insight into my future and I definitely liked what I saw! I got to finish up early on the Friday because there was another work experience guy so there weren't enough press releases to go around! Chris, the man who gave me the opportunity in the first place, was really kind when he left, said it had been nice working with me and saying I should email him the week after to find out if any of my byline requests on lead stories were granted.
Well I emailed him a few days ago and hey presto! I have a couple of lead stories so he is sending me a copy of last week's paper and I will have some actual proper newspaper clippings! Not to say that the uni paper isn't real, it just doesn't have a big readership like the Sale and Altrincham Messenger!
So that was one opportunity knocking- the opportunity to improve my portfolio, which I also need to sort out with Steve because that is one component of my NCTJ Diploma which I have completely ignored! It will also improve my CV. Since graduation is looming "It'll look good on your CV" seems to be everyone's favourite phrase! Maybe they should have started using it at the beginning of university because then our CV's would be outstanding! Although mine doesn't look too shabby I reckon!
Another opportunity that came knocking was in the form of an email from a young woman inviting me to blog on a Manchester based student blog, much like the unitown website opportunity in the summer. Apparently my blog gets read by more than just my most loyal friends on Facebook as they read this and asked if i'd like to write for them. It's always a nice boost when someone thinks my writing is good enough for their own project. I know how protective I would be if I were setting up a multi-writer blog so i'm touched.
The third opportunity was one I had completely forgotten i'd applied for in all honesty! On one of my days of panic where I thought I wans't doing enough to realise my dream I applied for work experience at ITV, not really expecting to hear anything back because TV isn't what I want to do. However, there were chances to do writing behind the scenes so I applied with no expectations. That was probably six weeks ago and yesterday, in the same batch of emails as the blog opportunity, was one from ITV saying I had got through to the second stage of the work experience selection process.
Now it is yet more waiting, they have workshops in June in Leeds, Manchester and London and in the first week of June I will find out if I have a place. The best thing about this is, my friend Hayley from my course also applied and she also got through! So June could be a very busy but very exciting month!!
The final opportunity is obviously the best. Although something which I thought inevitable (not being big-headed but I did fulfill all application criteria), it has been confirmed- I have an interview for Editor of the uni newspaper on May 6th. The interview includes a 45 minute written test which seems to alarm people when I tell them but that's the part of the interview I know I can do! If i've learnt nothing else about myself in the past three years, i've learnt that I CAN WRITE!
I always used to think I had no talent so now I know that I do i'm hopefully never going to doubt it again! My worry is in the interview. I tend to say the wrong thing, can't describe what I mean, and get a bit flustered. Hopefully i'll be calm because this is something I do genuinely believe I can do, and can do well! But I know how nervous I get before interviews so i'm not certain!
One other thing, which is much less good news... I didn't win Student Journalist of the Year. I was disappointed because I did feel like I had a good chance this year but I did get awarded Gold colours for my dedication to the paper so I can't complain too much :D
The next few weeks will be dedicated to writing my final two assignments of my degree and revising for my final degree exam, as well as the rest of my NCTJ exams. So now I have a reason for not blogging for a few weeks!!
Over and out!
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