JOURNALISM...AN EXPERIENCE!
I’ve had plenty of ‘work’, but never a 'job’.
That’s my analysis anyway, since graduating with a NCTJ-accredited 2:1 Sports Journalism Degree (with Honours) from the University of Brighton in July 2013.
More than two years on from the proud moment of graduation, there’s never been a dull passage since.
I have applied for stacks of journalism jobs over the last two years, but have found that final finish line of gaining a full-time, contracted position somewhat elusive.
I had 95p to my name a year on after graduating and that was after spending six freelance months working for Archant’s East Anglian Daily Times/Ipswich Star daily newspapers.
My involvement with the above employer has been a rollercoaster ride in itself.
I initially went for a one-week work experience placement back in October 2013.
They asked me back for a second week, but with a potential job in sales lined up in London, it was decision time.
But I followed my dream, and returned for a second and third week of unpaid experience, before it was decision time for them. They had to cut me off or offer me some paid freelance stuff.
Fortunately for me, it was the latter, and my first ever paid piece of work was a back-page with Ipswich Town striker Daryl Murphy, following a dire 1-1 home draw with Barnsley on a wet Friday evening at Portman Road.
Initially on just a three-day week agreement, I got my teeth stuck in for the next five months and improved my writing style, my journalism thought process, and built up my contacts. This was before a cold March morning, when I received a surprise call into the office.
This was it, I thought. They were going to offer me a full-time job. I was excited.
What in fact happened was the complete opposite. They were cutting me off immediately, due to 'financial reasons’. I couldn’t believe it, I thought I was rapidly improving and providing some good stuff.
I was annoyed, of course I was. I remember cursing like mad when I got home, and a trip to the local public house, amid two wobbly bike legs, was fully exploited.
'You’ll be back’, 'be proud’, and 'you never know what will happen in the future’ were three common catchphrases said to me from a plethora of supportive people at this point, which I reluctantly acknowledged. I felt like I had failed.
After the non-league football scene finished in April, I was completely done and I scouted around for other work, other opportunities to explore.
A brief spell labouring for my old man sufficed to pay the bills, but journalism seemed a tough nut to crack.
I sent dozens of job applications online, but heard very little back, which disappointed but didn’t surprise me. I went for an internship at a national newspaper only to get rejected for 'not having enough experience’. (!).
Another internship opportunity replied to me saying 'the position is unpaid, but we have a toaster, so you can bring all the bread you like in’. It was in London, I live in deep Suffolk. I never went for that position.
As far as I was concerned, I’d done my time of this 'unpaid work experience’ malarkey. I’d had enough of them during and post-university.
There gets to a certain point where you cannot work for nothing anymore.
Don’t get me wrong, it is something youngsters and graduates have to do - especially in the competitive field of sports journalism, and I gained invaluable insight, confidence, knowledge, and contacts during my time at MATCH Magazine, Football Exclusives, and Queens Park Rangers (where I was a SoccerSight matchday commentator - providing commentary to visually-impaired fans).
But my advice would be not to get taken advantage of, and only do this 'experience’ until a certain point, and if it is providing you with something and will look good on your CV.
I had a couple of interviews for full-time positions, and came close, but in July and August, I was back at the EADT, covering the local tennis tournaments.
I didn’t mind it. I like tennis. I caught a tan, and I got to know some local links who I formed a bond with to produce future pieces - what journalism is all about.
You can have all the qualifications you like, 120 words per minute shorthand blah blah blah, but if you can’t talk to people and build connections, how do you expect to get stories?
Especially in the local environment, where there is no hiding and you have to go out there and get it - not being afraid to pick up the phone, attend events, and speak to people you have never spoken to before.
If you make an effort with people, they’ll make an effort with you. That’s how I’ve worked anyway.
With my foot creeping back in the EADT door, I was initially offered Thursday and Sunday shifts again. Not ideal, but better than nothing.
I took the offer up. One of the key things in journalism is not to say no. I could have easily said no, but that would have been naive and stupid - regardless of what happened before.
I was determined not to be 'cut’ again, and although frustrated that a full-time position was never likely to come to fruition, I kept my options open - a positive of being freelance.
With my journalism skills improving, those initial two days in August turned to five or six come May in a 2014/15 football season for me to remember.
A year on after that first day of 'experience’ at the EADT, I made my Football League print debut, covering Colchester United v Fleetwood Town (a 2-1 home win) as the paper’s main writer at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.
It was a proud moment, and I loved it. Colchester were also happy with me, as before kick-off, the U’s had not won a home game all season and sat in the relegation zone!
Suddenly I was becoming more noticed, and I’d found a style that suited me - there have been times where my work has been a bit jumbled, but, the more you do something, the better you get at it, and that’s no different in journalism.
I was pulling out non-league exclusives on a consistent basis, people were trusting and engaging with me, and I was producing clear, precise copy that everyone seemed to enjoy.
After predominantly just focusing on writing in my first spell, I broadened my skills by being trusted to sub, write headlines, put pages together, fit pictures in, and use the company’s social media networks.
I then came up with an idea to run a weekly column named 'Park Life’ - looking at the local grassroots football game.
There was a void space for it, and after all, non-league football had quickly become my speciality. I quickly realised that, during work experience at the EADT, this was the gap for me to try and fill if I had any chance of getting myself some paid work.
I could go on for hours and hours about my passion for non-league football, but let’s just say that drive was portrayed in Park Life, where I could express myself, tell people my thoughts, and give teams coverage who had never received any before, in my own unique tongue-in-cheek style.
I’d like to think that the column was a hit - and it broadened my range, in terms of producing content and my thought process behind producing stories.
The perfect example of which would probably have to be a piece regarding non-league teams, Ipswich Town, Portman Road, and the Hospital Cup.
A controversial arrangement - seeing as Ipswich had, for the second year running, just dismissed non-league clubs’ hopes of playing end-of-season county cup finals on the Portman Road turf (citing the Blues’ possible play-off involvement as the excuse in 2015), Town announced that the Hospital Cup (which used to be a pre-season match between Norwich and Ipswich) was set to return as an Under-16 game at Portman Road, in between possible dates where Ipswich would have been involved in the play-offs.
Town really had shot themselves in the foot with this announcement, and the plethora of criticism from local non-league associates, many of whom have grown up supporting Ipswich Town Football Club, was aplenty. And rightly so.
Brave enough to print Ipswich a few home truths - in the paper and online - I stand by everything I said in those two carefully-crafted columns which can be read here: (http://www.greenun24.co.uk/non-league/ipswich_town_disappointment_for_suffolk_fa_county_cup_finalists_but_norwich_city_joy_for_norfolk_fa_finalists_1_3973049 and http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/sport/the_hospital_cup_another_kick_in_the_teeth_for_non_league_1_4010509).
I actually ended up going to watch one of the Norfolk County Cup finals - Dereham Town v Wroxham - just days after Norwich City beat Ipswich Town at Carrow Road in the Championship play-off semi-finals. And it was the Canaries who ended up winning promotion into the Premier League. Karma, perhaps? This season’s arrangements for Suffolk Cup finalists are TBC.
With the column flourishing, and more trips involving Colchester under my belt, it was in fact around this time (March 2015) that my interest in a possible summer trip to America stemmed.
After all, once the football season had finished, I was only likely to be working two or three day weeks with the Anglian.
A trip to the States would be refreshing and a great experience (there’s that word again), why would I say no? But I was still reluctant to start with and kept it firmly under my hat, as all journalists can do.
The plan was to still find a full-time role somewhere, and with nearly 18 months of consistent professional work on my CV - which also included occasional work for BBC Radio Suffolk and The Non-League Paper - I was getting noticed by employers, and received replies on job applications that I was previously getting ignored by.
I was astounded that I was getting interviews for some of the positions I applied for, but I did, and came mightily close, only to fall to the classic 'experience’ or 'local knowledge’ reasons given for missing out.
A lot of jobs seem to go internally, and that’s fair enough I guess, but also a waste of time for other hopefuls who trek up and down the country specially for interviews.
So still with no full-time role, I headed out to the States (Virginia) in June, with ambitions of just enjoying my time out there for a couple of months before coming back refreshed and raring to go for the 2015/16 football season.
I’d been across the pond twice before, and although I was excited to see what would lay in store, it was all a bit of a last resort opportunity.
It turned out to be an opportunity I won’t forget. I ended up extending my stay until the last possible return date of my 90-day VISA, I absolutely loved it, and will hopefully continue to do so this time as I head out for a predominantly PR and social media role for a sports company.
Pre-summer, I didn’t see myself wanting to come back, but after the whole US experience, I was very keen to and luckily enough, that has come to fruition.
Top lifestyle, people, weather, and food, I found that, as a Brit, there is little pressure on you in America, and at the age of 24, now’s the time for me to get out there and explore a little bit.
It’s a fantastic opportunity that I may as well give a shot, and if it doesn’t work out, I can always come back.
How did I get the opportunity in the first place? Well, I initially went on a work experience placement with the same company back in March 2013, and with a broken ankle. What was I saying earlier about making contacts and never saying no? You never know what things lead to.
Will I miss working in local sport close to home? Yes, I will, I have thoroughly enjoyed talking to people who want to talk to you and receive coverage, but it is time to move on - 4,000 miles away in this case.
Working for the EADT has been great, it is a place where I have learnt and developed so much. Frustrating at times, yes, but I am extremely thankful for what they’ve taught me, culminating in an opportunity to report on my boyhood club Ipswich at Blackburn two years on from going on work experience.
Mistakes? I’ve made loads. Some major, mostly minor, but everyone makes them. You can’t let them bother you though, and you move on…
And any slight doubts I had about this big change were rectified when I saw a recent advert for a full-time journalism job offering £14k a year. I would have applied for that job a year ago. It’s time to take a bit of time out and give something else a shot…
