Placement leads to ideal job

By UK Journalism

A student has been offered her dream job on the back of her work placement at the UK’s leading female website FemaleFirst.

Ruth Harrison will work as a travel writer for the website when she finishes her BA (Hons) Journalism degree at UCLan in June, after choosing to take the magazine route in her final year.

She said: “I never ever thought that I could leave university and go straight into a travel job. My work placement has given me the chance to get my 'foot in the door' in what is a very competitive industry.”

Press Association

Ruth wasn’t the only student to be given the chance to showcase her skills whilst on work placement. Print Journalism student Michael Grady got into the thick of national news by reporting at the inquest of the death of Princess Diana at the Royal Courts of Justice whilst on placement at the Press Association in London.

“Reporting on the Diana Inquest was amazing. I found myself standing alongside Sky News, CNN and the BBC. It gave me a taste of what I hope is things to come” he said.

He also interviewed politicians such as Tessa Jowell, Ken Livingstone and George Osbourne as well as celebrities including the cast of Dancing on Ice.

Fellow student Ricki Dewsbury spent his work placement at three different local newspapers to gain as much experience as possible of working in a newsroom.

He spent two weeks at the Lancaster Guardian, a week at the Blackpool Gazette and a week at the Lancashire Evening Post (LEP).

Whilst at the LEP Ricki was involved in making a video on a student’s guide to getting a job. He also wrote the splash for the Christmas edition of the newspaper as well as having a couple of his own story suggestions published.

He said: “This was satisfying because I'd come up with them myself instead of waiting for the desk to give me something and they were my first proper news by-lines in my local paper.”

Jenny Garget also went to local papers spending two weeks on the Accrington Observer, and a week on both the Yorkshire Evening Post news desk and sports desk.

She said: “I got a lot more stories published than I thought I would, I was given my own stories to research and write instead of just always copying press releases. I also got to attend court on one day which was very interesting and enhanced my knowledge of the legal system.”

ITV’s This Morning

Laura Wood chose the television route on the last year of her journalism degree and having an interest in entertainment and real life stories, she jumped at the chance to go the ITV’s This Morning for her work placement.

“I saw this as the perfect opportunity to have a taster of what a bustling TV environment would be like. 'This Morning' is an award-winning programme and I knew that I would get a good experience if I came here.”

Laura initially went to This Morning for two weeks and was asked to stay on for an extra week. She even got the chance to help with a live segment of the show.

“I had to act as one of the crew members, make sure there were enough people around when the cameras were on and generally over-seeing the clinic when the usual crew weren't around.”

Another magazine student Laura Terry secured a four week placement at teen magazine Sugar working on the features and fashion department.

Laura wants to go into fashion writing when she graduates and said she learned a lot about the magazine industry as a whole from her time at Sugar.

She said: “It was good preparation for the working world and there was a chance for me to see other departmental offices like RED and Elle. I also made invaluable contacts.”

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BA (Hons)Journalism

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Our print and broadcast courses are accredited by the The Broadcast Journalism Training Council and the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Our MA Magazine Journalism is accredited by the Periodicals Training Council.