Guardian part 7: A tale of two interviews

Just days after my last update I got a call from the Brighton Argus, inviting me to come down for a chat. Brighton is a long way away but I didn't have to think twice and booked my train tickets — all ten hours journey time of them — immediately.

But first was Congleton. I was taken with the place straight away. To get there you have to drive through the footballer's paradise that is Alderley Edge, and I was worried Congleton would be a clone, all boulangaries and pretentious little cafes. But it's a charming little town, formerly industrial, and now very much a place where it feels people go to bring up families, or to spend their last few years in peace and quiet.

I was kept waiting before the interview, which gave me the chance to flick through the three newspapers produced at the offices, the Chronicles of Congleton and nearby towns Sandbach and Biddulph. In essence the newspapers are identical apart from four news pages (the front and back pages, and the centre spread) specific to each paper. They have quite a distinctive design, with stories from the front page continuing onto the back rather than inside, and no set design for the pages. They basically pour the text onto the page and see how it fits, they told me. It's hard to explain, but it doesn't really look like a newspaper on some of the pages.

The interview went well, although I felt I could have sold myself a bit better on some of the questions. I spoke of my passions for music and football, and that I sometimes felt that writing about them spoiled my enjoyment — the editor, a music writer himself, seemed to agree.

After our chat, I had to do a press release re-write to test my news sense and writing skills. I felt very comfortable with this as it was the kind of thing I did regularly during my degree. It detailed some fictional tourism plans, focussing on the town's bearbaiting history, and I had some fun with it, coming up with the so-bad-it's-good word play headline of 'Bearly believable tourism plans'. I hope it raised a chuckle.

It's a small operation there, with only one edition produced per week. The staff seemed friendly enough, as well as busy, with some of the sub-editing and page designing done by the reporters. I'd be given my own patch if I got the job. I left confident that I had given a decent account of myself, but knowing that I could have done better. I was rusty after the long gap between interviews.

Brighton went much better. My day was already six hours long before I got there, and I was greeted by teeming rain and a swirling wind — not exactly what I had in mind from my adventure to the seaside. The Argus has a big, open-plan, office, and a youthful vitality about its staff. I was interviewed by two men, both under 30 I think, which was disconcerting at first but then comforting as the chat progressed.

This time I felt I put across my strengths more positively and more effectively, They seemed impressed by the editions of the Students' Union mag I edited last year. It was a hell of a trek for just twenty minutes or so of interview time, but I think this showed my dedication and hunger for the role.

The interview actually began with them mentioning this column, which threw me a little as for some reason I'd forgotten that potential employers would have read it having given the link on my CV and covering letter. But I recovered enough to explain how I got involved, although it slipped my mind to mention the Guardian careers fair I'm speaking at in a fortnight.

I wandered around the city centre after finding the right bus (the Argus offices are on an industrial estate three miles out of town) and wondered how I would fit in. It seemed a bit bohemian for me, but then perhaps there is that side of me just waiting for the chance to show itself.

Having had time to reflect on my performance at both interviews I think I may not be highlighting my achievements enough. I have realised I've been a bit reluctant to make a big deal out of writing these articles for the Guardian, apart from in pub-based bravado with my uni friends back at the start of the summer. I think I've been scared of coming across as arrogant to employers, who might think I am showing off about my achievements. But actually by downplaying it, I think I could have been depriving myself of the chance to get more interviews.

I mean, writing this column is hidden away at the bottom of the media experience section on my CV, when really, it's easily the most impressive thing I've done so far, and should be right at the top where it can catch the eye better.

I am going to re-do my CV.

I was told at both interviews that they would make their decisions quickly and that I would hear back this week, so I'm just playing the waiting game once more but to round off a productive week where I've learned a lot about myself, I also passed my driving theory test at the first attempt between the two interviews.

This article was written for the Guardian.

Jambothejourno seeks work: Part 6

It's only taken four months since finishing uni — but I've got an interview. It's for a trainee reporter job at the wonderfully named Congleton Chronicle. After the despondence of my last entry, I really feel like I've made positive progress in the past couple of weeks and this is my reward for my hard work.

The interview is next Wednesday morning and I'm already swotting up on Congleton and its surrounding area, researching the newspaper, its staff and its owners and generally trying to absorb as much information about the place as I possibly can.

I'm not counting my chickens before they're hatched though. I'm working on an application for the BBC's Journalism Trainee Scheme, which seems to be the sort of thing people like me should be going for. It's open to anyone without a degree in broadcast journalism, and best of all, it's a paid position, spanning a whole year while you are trained to BBC standard.

I have experience of broadcasting through student radio, albeit mostly in a guest/expert role rather than as a presenter or a producer but I never had any formal training in using the equipment or writing specifically for a broadcast audience.

The application requires me to answer various scenario questions about how I would handle various situations. Most of them focus on how I would react to being given a task on my own I couldn't complete without assistance. But rather than it being a simple multiple-choice style test, it asks you to rate various actions from 1 (very ineffective) to 4 (very effective).

There are also three questions that give me the opportunity to sell myself and my skills, and the final part of the application asks me to critique either a television or a radio news bulletin. The deadline is two weeks away so I plan to spend lots of time on it before sending it away.

Rejection duly came from the Isle of Man job I wrote about in my last update, but I'm still firing off new applications, trying to tailor my CV and covering letter for each one as I go. The latest lucky publications to be pestered by me are The Press in York, the Times & Star in Cumbria, Kent on Sunday, the Brighton Argus and intriguingly, the Grimsby Telegraph, who are advertising the same trainee sports reporter/sub-editor role as they were at the start of the summer.

Also, I booked my driving theory test for next week as I get closer to being ready for my practical test. Hopefully by the end of October I'll have a full driving license and I'll be a more attractive proposition for employers.

And, having semi-successfully managed The Music Magazine (I didn't break it), a friend's online webzine, while he was away on holiday for a week, he made me his news editor. So that's keeping me busy as I source stories, drum up new contributors for the site, commission pieces and continue to write and upload articles.

Finally, I've been asked to speak about my time looking for work at the Guardian's London Graduate Fair next month, after one of the organisers saw my pieces for this site. I'll be appearing at the Media Moves: broadcast, digital and print journalism session alongside ex-Heat editor Julian Linley (as if I'm not enough of a draw for attendees). Although it's exciting, and I'm truly honoured to have been asked, I'm a bit nervous about speaking to an audience, and I need to buy a new shirt! This is going to be a really big thing for me and hopefully I'll be able to do some networking while I'm there and get some writing commissions off the back of it.

This article was written for the Guardian.

Jambothejourno seeks work: Part 5

After the blind hope that was the deluge of applications I submitted throughout August, the arrival of September has been a depressing realisation of the summer's passing. It's now three months since I finished my degree, and I'm no nearer to finding full-time work as a journalist. I've applied for around 25 jobs, had only one interview, and received only two or three rejection letters.

I'm starting to think I might be kidding myself that I'm in the right industry. Clearly, something is stopping employers from wanting to give me a job, although I'm lost as to what it could be. I have a decent amount of experience through work placements, I relished taking on projects during my degree, and I have four NCTJ industry standard qualifications, including shorthand, already under my belt, as well as my degree. However, I did hear that the Yorkshire Post job I applied for a couple of months ago had over 250 other people going for it.

As if to compound my misery, in the last fortnight or so there has been a distinct drying up of entry-level journalism posts coming up. One particular website sourcethatjob.com has just five listings – with none of them paid. It's pretty grim reading.

The local press is no happier a hunting ground either. The regional daily paper didn't have a single job listing in it this morning, and the twice-weekly town paper is down to around a third of a page on jobs each issue. And almost all of those are for carers or cleaners or factory packers.

A friend of mine who had been unlucky with redundancies over the last eighteen months or so, and has been in and out of work, recommended I sign on, but with the part-time bar work I'm doing I would only be eligible for around £10 a week support, depending on my shifts. And, for some reason, applying for Jobseekers' Allowance feels like admitting that I'm incapable of getting myself a job. Which of course I am, but I don't think I'm ready to admit it by taking that step yet.

There is one job I'm applying for – at the Isle of Man newspaper group. Leaving the country might seem a bit of an extreme reaction but I loved the place when I visited on holiday as a teenager. Rather than just e-mailing my CV and a covering letter in like most other jobs, I had to fill in an application form, although this is mostly just transferring sections from my CV onto the page.

Consequently, I've spent hours and hours researching the island and the company, as well as tweaking my supporting documentation note, to see if there's anything I can tell them to make me stand out. I've wanted every job I've gone for, give or take a couple of hit-and-hope type applications, but I really, really want this one. And if nothing comes of it, I genuinely don't know what I'm going to do next. Without wanting to sound too melodramatic, it feels like this is last chance saloon territory.

This piece was written for the Guardian.

Why working class journo grads have no hope

Gloomy post alert.

Journalism has been in the news of late after Alan Milburn's controversial report into the growing class divide in University education. Today Roy Greenslade offered his thoughts on his Guardian blog, and it makes fascinating reading.

Basically, unless you know someone, or know someone who knows someone, or have a virtually bottomless pit of money available, you have very little chance of making it onto a national newspaper.

The facts are thus:

-Working class graduates are priced out of Masters courses because of lack of funding available and high fees.

-Working class graduates can't afford to move to London without guaranteed work.

-Working class graduates can't afford to work for free, therefore denying them a crucial 'in' to the industry.


It's not a pretty picture I'm painting, because the landscape for the likes of me and my classmates of '09 is bleak and the future ahead is depressing.

Degree Annoyance

OK, so when I created this blog a few weeks ago, I made a promise to myself that I would keep it solely as a collection of articles to use as an online portfolio. But something has really ground my gears and I feel the need to vent about it, and here seems to be as good a place as any.

I got my degree results through last week. I got a 2:2, which was what I expected really (I know I could have put a lot more effort in but by the end I was so bored of Uni - their fault for not stimulating me - it was a struggle to even get finished) but I was still disappointed. Over the three years I definitely think I've deserved a 2:1 for the work I've put in.

(Of course most of this is a moot point as in the current job market even a First from a decent Uni isn't going to guarantee you a good graduate job.)

Anyway, after the initial upset at seeing the final grade in black and white I took a closer look, going through my results carefully. I added them up, did various sums and equations on them, and calculated that overall my total percentage for final year work was a respectable 60.9%. The threshold for a 2:1 is 60%. Naturally this is even more frustrating.

So I e-mailed some University tutors to see if there was any sort of appeals process I could go through. I got this response:

"I'm sorry you are unhappy with your results -- it must be incredibly frustrating to be in your position and I can well understand how you feel (my own daughter narrowly missed a 2:1 in psychology a year or two ago and was very upset).



As you say, there are only a few marks involved but as markers we are very aware of how important a few marks can be. We take great care to ensure consistency through a rigorous second-marking system of every assessment and by sending a selection of work to an external examiner. For the final project (MAC393) with its important 40 credits, we also have a "markers' meeting" where all students' projects are laid out on a table, with all the tutors involved in supervising MAC393 students looking at other projects in what amounts to a triple or quadruple marking exercise.



Even so, some students will inevitably end up just below a grade threshold on individual modules -- and eventually their overall degree mark -- just as others will end up just above. But remember that by the time the degree marks are calculated we have looked carefully at the marks on every module, so the overall mark really does give a fairly thorough appraisal of the marks that student has genuinely earned.



So, I'm afraid that we would not look again at your marks as the system we have makes me confident you have been awarded the appropriate grade.



You do, of course, have a right to appeal -- but only into the process of marking (eg if we did not follow the rules properly) rather than the actual marks awarded. Below is a link to the appropriate regulations. If you wish to appeal you will not, of course, be able to graduate until that appeal has been heard.



https://docushare.sunderland.ac.uk/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-3077/AQH-H1+Academic+Appeals+Procedure.pdf



I'm genuinely sorry I can't be of more help -- but I hope you recognise that what we realise are important decisions are not taken lightly."



Basically - he could have just typed 'tough shit' for all the use that is to me. Brilliantly, the 'system' means I am powerless to do anything about it. It is the entire system of degree marking I have a beef with (only because it has affected me, obviously, but I thought it was a dumb way of doing it before it fucked me, honest), not the way they do it at Sunderland.

Surely it is more fair to take a complete aggregation of the student's work rather than the ridiculous method currently used. One poor module can screw your degree just because it is considered more important than others. For me, the most important modules were ones that were specific to what I wanted to do in my career: a Placement, Sports Journalism and Arts and Entertainment Reviewing. These three modules overall would have given me a very solid 2:1, close to a First in fact.

But because of the way the degree is structured, with a Media Ethics module stuck in the third year to pad it out instead of earlier in the course where it would actually be useful, and a huge module for a final project that apparently showcases all your talents and skills (rather than the placement where you actually DO showcase your skills, dur), I've come out with a 2:2. They may as well have sent me some human excrement in the post rather than that bit of paper, for all the good it does me.

I already regretted my decision to study Journalism at Sunderland, now I just wish I'd done something else completely with the last five years of my life full stop.

And yes, of course it is at least partly sour grapes. But it's still bloody annoying.

Second Guardian article goes live

Linky linky.

Can't stress this enough - please leave a comment on the article.

Ta,

Jamie.

How the Guardian link-up happened

If you know me at all, I'll have already bored you silly with the tale of how micro-blogging site Twitter helped me to get an article, hopefully the first of a series, published on the Guardian's website.

But for those of you that are new to the story, come in, sit down, brew up.



Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin.



It all began around a month ago when I heard about an internship scheme offered by the University of Sunderland (where I've just finished a Journalism degree). I was given the relevant forms and bumf from a lecturer, and if truth be told, it went into my bag and I forgot about it.

A follow-up message from a different lecturer reminded me and I scooted along to the website to fill in the forms. I also tweeted about it, out of habit, rather than expectancy that anything would come from it.



But something did come from it. The word 'internship' caught the eye of the Guardian's Laura-Jane Filotrani who contacted me asking if I'd like to write something about the scheme for the careers section of the paper's website. (Is this a good time to remind you that the Guardian's site is the most used newspaper website in the entire world? It is? Good.)



Obviously I jumped at the chance and after trading a couple of e-mails with LJ I sent her a draft of an opening to a diary style piece. It went something like this:

"Time drags when you’ve just finished University. The sudden change from looming deadlines and pulling all-nighters to hit them to being able to sit around all day in the glorious sunshine is somewhat disconcerting.

And while the weather is this unusually beautiful, it’s hard to motivate yourself to do anything tangible about your boredom, or indeed, the rest of your life.

Last week I handed in my final assignment for my Journalism degree at the University of Sunderland. I was expecting a great rush of relief to overpower me, but in reality all I was thinking was ‘What am I going to do now?’ Various ideas and projects mill around in my head, but none of them seem worthy of pursuing further. And it’s hard to know where to start without the structure of lectures to build your time around.

This diary will look at my experiences in the scary place that patronising people refer to as ‘the real world’. Hopefully you’ll find it useful, or at least entertaining."

LJ, luckily for me, approved and commissioned me (paid. I was amazed) to write a full piece. And two drafts later, the final piece, with a few minor adjustments, appeared on the Guardian website. I'd forgotten the rush you get from seeing your name attached to an article, especially one that you were pleased with.

A day that was petering out turned into a rush of whoring my piece around everywhere I could think of to get people to read it. Hopefully it will lead to developing the idea into a series.

And you can help. Leave a comment on the article. Tell us of your experiences post-University, your hopes and fears of finding work in a dead job market. The more conversation I can get on the piece the more chance I have of getting more chances. I'd really appreciate it.

Jamie.

Guardian article: part 1

Linky linky.

Can't stress this enough - please leave a comment on the article.

Ta,

Jamie.

NME Editor quits: what next for the publication?

This morning NME's long-term Editor Conor McNicholas announced his resignation, via everyone's current favourite social networking site, the ubiquitous Twitter.

So what is next for the ailing music weekly?

Public spats with Morrissey (the Smiths legend threatened legal action after yet another NME article labelled him as a racist) and sharply dropping circulation figures mean the paper is rife for a rescue package.

A complete overhaul is needed. This year especially the magazine has suffered from a 'see what sticks approach', throwing various genres, bands and artists into the magazine in the vain hope that one of them proves to be a popular choice.

Another reason the magazine has struggled of late is the lack of a bright new British hope to bang the drum about. The NME quickly hung its hat on the Strokes' revival of rock and roll at the beginning of the decade and got it spectacularly right, as waves of New York bands followed before the most iconic British band since Oasis arrived: The Libertines.


Peter Doherty and Carl Barat's love/hate relationship coupled with regular updates on Pete's health kept the magazine bobbing along until the band's natural successors Arctic Monkeys turned up, but the publicity-shy Northerners haven't been nearly as photogenic or copy-rich as NME would like.

Glasvegas were the latest band for NME to strike lucky with, although their mainstream success has been limited to say the least.

And with pop looking like going through a comeback this summer the NME has been slow to catch up, with its writers more keen on hyping long-forgotten grunge bands.

A lack of competition has also stifled the magazine. The other remaining music weeklies attract totally different audiences so the NME is left with nobody to fight in the circulation wars.

Their closest rivals, Q, have reacted to the economic downturn by attempting to become a one-stop entertainment shop for blokes of a certain age, incorporating films and television into its pages in the hope of attracting a wider audience base, but NME appears to be stuck in a rut of trying to tell their audience what to like, although 21st century kids are more than capable of deciding for themselves before names like Florence and the Machine and the Big Pink have even made it into the magazine.

Whoever takes over has a huge job on their hands and it will be fascinating to compare McNicholas' NMEs to the new Editor's in a year or so.

State of Play’s call to arms to journalists must be heeded

On the face of it, Kevin Macdonald’s film State of Play is nothing more than an excellent crime thriller, with the interesting foible of being told from the viewpoint of the press rather than the police.

But for journalists, the film represents much more.

Russell Crowe’s lead turn as Cal McAffrey exposes all the problems the industry is currently facing. His newspaper, the Washington Globe, has recently been taken over by a multinational media conglomerate (MediaCorp) and is facing cutbacks.

As the paper’s editor, played gloriously by Helen Mirren, puts it early on in the film: “Our new owners have this crazy idea that we should make a profit.”

And that, in short, is the major issue facing journalists today. Gone all the glory days when Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s incredible painstakingly slow investigative journalism brought about the Watergate scandal that ended the Presidential career of Richard Nixon.

Writers such as Paul Foot, one of Britain’s finest ever journalists, would not be taken on by a newspaper now as they do not produce articles quickly enough.

Newspapers are now seen as more of a business than a service. Rupert Murdoch is probably at fault for this as much as anyone, his huge Wapping production base where the Sun and the News of the World are made taking the first steps to destroying the heart of journalist’s past in Fleet Street.

Now reporters are consigned to telephones and e-mail for interviews and aren’t given the chance to fully develop all the leads on a story. Most important to newspaper bosses now is speed, rather than quality of writing and accuracy of facts.

State of Play also addresses the difficulty journalists face with protecting their sources while still attempting give both sides of the story. Cal is friends with congressman Steven Collins and while he tries to do the best by his college pal, he has to also hassle him for information for his story.

Publishing unedited press releases as news stories is common, and online opinion pieces, seen by many as soft journalism that is only a level up from the humble blogger sat in his bedroom eating Wotsits, are becoming commonplace.

Quantity rather than quality is now the mantra issued by newspaper bosses. If a reporter is not producing the goods on a daily basis it is only going to be a matter of time before they are shown the door.

Kevin Macdonald, the film’s director, has stated in interviews that he intends the film to act as a call to arms to the industry. But journalists cannot themselves do anything without changes filtering down from boardroom level. Journalism in this country is dying a slow and painful death, especially at local level.

Macdonald has opened Pandora’s Box with State of Play. The industry must act.

[Again, this was an original article for Buzz]