41. Getting a job in journalism: How to make the most of work experience

Even the smallest of weekly newspapers can get inundated with requests for work experience. It means that in any given year 10 or 20 - perhaps even more on the bigger papers - wannabe reporters are coming through their doors.

Contrary to what you may be thinking (but not always) it is not purely an exercise in free labour. Believe me having dealt with the trail of destruction some trainees can leave behind it is often easier to do without them.

On the most part work experience is given for four reasons:

1. Almost everyone offering it will have done it themselves. It is the tried and tested method and they like to impart some of their own experience to the next generation.

2. It is part of the paper's "community remit". With budgets slashed to nothing it is a way of offering something extra to the people they serve.

3. They are looking for talent. That's right, they can even be looking for bright young journos (such as yourself).

If we are going to be cynical it can also be:

4. They need someone to churn out a dozen nibs, make tea and generally be a dog's body for a week.

Now reasons 1, 2 and 4 are all very laudable. It's No. 3 that we need to concern ourselves with. Bearing in mind a news editor can see so many trainees you will need to stand out from the crowd (let's call them people who haven't read this blog).

Newsrooms are usually much much smaller

So how do you do that? The answer is pretty simple... Make the news/editor's life easier. If you've been following this from the start you will have read tips 1 and 2 (I'm sure you can look them up yourself without need of a link).

If you've read the paper for a few weeks you should have a pretty good idea about what's going on in the local area, the topics they are interested in and gaps that aren't being filled.

The next thing to start doing is finding those stories - and that's before you go in. If you've never been in a real life newsroom before they can be daunting. The chances are you will start on a Monday and finish on a Friday. So far so normal. But unless you are working on a daily or a weekly that comes out at the end of the week you will get a rather disjointed view. 

For a start if the paper comes out on a Wednesday the reporters will be working to deadline. You won't see the process gearing up... it will be geared up. They will be busy trying to find a splash (front page) or chasing around after last minute quotes or trying to make the dang fool of an editor's "great" campaign - thought up over a tea and a biscuit 20 minutes before - become a reality. 

Sure they will try and throw you some stuff and take time out to go through it (if you are lucky) but, on the whole, they simply won't have time. You will certainly not their main priority.

This might be an altogether different story if come day one you walk in with that page 3 story that everyone was looking for two hours before.

If not, sit in a corner and expect to be largely ignored. Until Wednesday, with deadline passed the collective sigh of relief let's everyone relax for five minutes and even get around to asking you your name.

But that's only half the story. You may finish your week, if you are lucky, with experience of a newsroom, a couple of bylines, a notepad filled with squiggles purporting to be 15 words a minute shorthand and little else. 

Your week is up and you never see anyone in that newsroom ever again. That, after all, is what most people do.

Now think about it differently. This is the first stage of getting a job. Perhaps not this week, nor next month, maybe not even next year but you are feeling for an opening.

Firstly, you will know who to speak to when pitching a story. Secondly, you will have a good idea of when the news editor is busy (not a good time) and when it is quieter (a good time) to speak to them. Thirdly, you will have direct contact numbers for the people involved. Finally, they will have an idea of who you are when you are talking to them - and will give you some time.

For every story that makes the news editor will look kindly upon you, shine a little light in your direction, offer you more work experience and at some time in the future will advise you on any jobs that may be coming up ahead of the crowd. And if you are very useful may even give the editor a nod in your direction.

So instead of treating a week's worth of experience as a one off look at it instead as the start of a new and useful relationship with a newsroom.

After all the whole point of being a journalism student is to get a job in the trade. That is unless you really have more money than sense.

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Journalism Tips 36. How to get a job as a journalist.

Every year thousands of students graduate from some form of journalism or media course. It makes sense therefore that competition for the few jobs available really must be pretty fierce. Or so you would think.

Actually on the whole it's not particularly competitive because most young trainee reporters cannot be bothered - to rise above the herd really doesn't take very much. These odds are shortened by the growth in traineeships on national newspapers - which Hoover (it's a trademark - hence the cap) up most of the cream of that year's journalism graduates.

That is unfair since I have seen some brilliant - well almost - trainees fail to get one of the coveted places despite having an excellent CV and references...but you see where I am going with this.

Clearly you are the smarter than average trainee/student reporter - how do I know? You are reading this.

So what do you need to do? Well an excellent portfolio helps (more of what I mean by this on a later blog). A devotion to work experience helps also (ditto).

It's often said it is not what you know but who you know that makes a difference. When I started in this industry I didn't know any journalists - but I learned what I needed to know and got to know the people who helped me find work.

Within five years I was talking to former Observer reporter John (There are three rules in journalism. First, find a crocodile. Two, poke it in the eye with a stick. Three, stand back and report what happens next.) Sweeney whose original article on the tabloids - it was written in a fun not pious manner - got me interested in journalism.

A few years on (I was pretty slow) I was working with The Sun's brilliant chief reporter John Kay. It was reading his copy that helped shaped my own (it was never as good).

Each and every opportunity gets developed by experience and your knowledge....unless your parents are execs on a newspaper, in which case forget all I've said.

Some people are naturals most are not...if you're not preparation is the key and this is in part what this blog is all about. Going back to one of the earlier posts you will see that I claim most work experience is a pain in the butt for the majority of news editors. But if a good attitude, decent work ethic and a few stories makes the difference.

It helps also if you can bring new skills to the table but get the old ones first. If you are sent out on a story there's no point getting a first class video if you haven't got the names of the people you're interviewing. You'll note the headline is deliberately geared to SEO - we are all learning new skills, as we shall see in another post that too will prove important as your career progresses.

Given the state of much of the competition you should find a job with two/three months. If you are doing work experience and following this blog (and assuming there is a position available) it shouldn't take even that long. If you are getting lots of stories and the news editor is not rewriting all your copy ask him or her if they know of any jobs around - note not necessarily on their paper. It might even be worth asking for feedback at the end of the week (but be wary news editors put in massively long hours and come the end of the working week are more interested in getting out of the newsroom that sitting talking to the workie).

Again follow up good work experience places with more calls offering stories. Being dynamic and useful are welcome attributes. But make sure you are not the cause of more problems - write the story up so it is ready to go.

Being a pain is more likely to guarantee you won't get an opportunity even if you may have an occasional good idea.

For several months I had one caller who would ask in a vague manner if I'd be interested in certain stories when I asked him to send them over he'd tell me he hadn't written but didn't want to waste his time if I wasn't going to be interested... I took his name and didn't take any more of his calls.

Most of what you do will be a waste of your time. But do enough of it and, not only will you improve as a reporter, it will get you noticed. But, but, but it's got to be to at least to a half-decent standard - again this is something that past and future blogs will cover.

But first and foremost read the papers...you'll be surprised how much you can learn.

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26. Avoid putting banalities in your stories (ie a budget is a budget not a “pot of cash”). They make copy look amateurish.

When I started editing a local newspaper I wanted to make a few changes - actually, I wanted to change everything.


Which isn't quite as bold as it sounds. The paper once a thriving weekly in a beautiful market town was losing ten per cent of its sales year-on-year.


If you are not prepared for change you are part of the problem.


It occurred to me that one of the issues was we were not writing for readers. Which isn't quite as daft as it sounds. People who read newspapers still read. They don't flit from article to article reading the first few...hey! come back here, thank-you....pars.


So they want something that will inform and entertain them.


What they don't want is a collection of cliches and hackneyed phrases clumped together in a 350 word page lead - tied to together with some quotes from a local councillor.

I was trying to explain this to the worst offender, a junior reporter, who "agreed" with everything I said and then did her own thing again and again....and again and again and again....


And again...and again...and again and again (ok that's enough of that).


A big part of the problem is the language we use. Sometimes you get the impression local newspaper editors hate words (see left - quite why it can't have even a few paragraphs on the front is beyond me.

Especially when even the "downmarket" Daily Star manages to fit a few precious words on the front of its pages.)


But back to my point I was left with a problem. The copy was moribund at best but what could I tell her? They weren't cliches exactly. I explained the problem to a friend, a retired English professor, giving some examples: "Ah! he said" (he was dramatic that way) "you mean banalities."


And indeed they are. Council spending comes out of budgets - it is a perfectly acceptable and understandable word. They do not have "pots of money" like some old grandmother who keeps her savings in a jar. It's a bloody budget. Two examples of how stories sound amateurish:


COUNCILS in Dorset have warned there is not enough money in the pot to repair the county’s damaged roads.


And the second:


But while the district council insists the cost of the ‘jolly’ was allocated in the budget, the authority claims there is no money left in the pot to spend on toilets.


Actually the second example simply doesn't need the "left in the pot" at all - it doesn't add anything except banality.


It's not even being used as a pun.


As always it's not difficult to find examples when you start looking. Take this 


Homes in Havering boss Sheila Belgrave has been suspended from office – but the borough’s top brass are refusing to say why!


Simply dreadful on so many different levels.


The "borough's top brass"? I mean really? What's wrong with "her managers"? or "housing chiefs" or "councillors" or "senior officers" or "the local authority".


The trouble with using banalities like this is that you are removing any gravitas from the story. This is potentially a rather serious matter but the use of "top brass" and that exclamation mark bring it down to the language of the Beano (a future blog will deal with the usage of exclamation marks).


There have been plenty of other examples all pet hates of friends and former colleagues - many of whom are respected national newspaper journalists.


What about "slammed" as in "Councillors last night slammed protesters.."? It's not so much that it should never ever be used but use it and them sparingly.


Another is "floral tributes" or "flowers" or "bouquets" or wreathes" as they are more commonly known to everyone outside of local newspapers.


I'm sure you have other examples. Please feel free to get in touch because I'd like top include them. Thanks.

4. When a senior reporter or editor tells you how to write something don’t say “I agree” say “thank-you”

If someone is trying to explain what is wrong with your copy - don't respond with "I agree" as if some how this is a negotiation taking place.

I once had a reporter do this again and again - despite me asking them  not to. It was infuriating and bad manners.

The idea of saying "sorry" or "thank-you" seemed to be impossible for them to say.

Needless to say they agreed so much  they made the same mistakes again and again week in, week out.

If someone has the patience to sit you down and go through your copy don't see it as a criticism just try and learn from it.