Onwardsupwards

I spoke to the head of a top Digital Publisher in London and I asked him questions about entering his industry, the what, where, and why for getting into Journalism. Here’s a breakdown of the conversation we had with some tips for aspiring Journalist out.

The Blueprint

How did you get into the industry?

I began at a start-up. I had no decent experience, nothing to build on. A guy I didn’t know too well offered me a freelance role indefinitely, the pay was not very much (£12 grand a year) but it was a start. I did everything writing, sub-editing, designing, and commissioning. I got so much experience because there was no money in the start-up and no resource to get help in. When the it eventually folded, I knew so much I could choose any of the areas above to move into as a freelancer. I actually chose sub-editing at first as it paid best and was strangely satisfying! I did a week freelancing as a sub-editor at a big company, and at the end of the week the very decent female editor offered me the job. By running your own start-up, or chipping into someone else’s for very little pay to begin with, you get thrown in at the deep end and learn lessons years earlier than you’d have exposure to at a large organisation. What you learn can then be used in interviews to demonstrate your knowledge.

Work Experience/ Internships

How long would you say an internship should be to get any real benefit out of it?

I believe that three months is about the right amount of time for somebody to prove themselves within a team – and an industry – as an intern. The country is at a stage, economically, where free resource or travel-expenses-only resource is a desperately needed asset. I could just about manage with an intern who did a month, but three months is better. Any shorter than that and by the time they are trained and up to speed with what I need them to do, and they have finished!

How would you justify working for free or expenses only and what’s the point if there’s no job guaranteed after three months?

In my profession, there are little bits of paid freelance work that come up that I can offer an intern, to ease their way a little. But without the immersed experience in a field in this way, earning my trust, or getting an established company on their CV along with my reference so they can earn someone else’s trust, I’m not sure how far they’d get.

Alternative routes into the industry/ Creative thinking

Tell me about your experience of people entering the industry through unconventional routes?

I once worked for a company where most of the guys in the post room ended up on one of the editorial teams. One guy went to the picture desk he’s now quite senior at a top women’s celebrity weekly. Another guy became a sub-editor and another a writer. Being in a less qualified job in the right company is a possibility, because you get access to the decision-makers and can win their trust with your personality.

So would you say that those types of opportunities can still be possible routes?

If the senior management or HR at a company or organisation are committed to training their staff from anything into anything else, then it is possible. They may even send them on training courses, or allow them periods of time getting used to their desired role without forcing them to take time off work to do that. There’s a chance you could get typecast as the post room boy or whatever, and not be taken seriously, but a phone call to the HR department of an organisation will tell you that, just ask them if this has ever happened in their organisation.

You say diversity is a strength can you elaborate please?

What media organisations (or organisations for any other industry for that matter) want, is to reach people from your background, or at least a good proportion from your background? I tend to find that most people in these organisations lose touch with their target market quite quickly. They end up guessing what their audience is into, especially at the moment because no one can afford to do proper market research. So when you come in from street level, you bring authentic experience of your demographic to the organisation. With your help, they are able to market effectively to them, speaking their language, to offer that audience products and services they’d be interested in, at a price they can manage, reaching them through the right channels. So play on that strength when applying for internships or jobs.