Proposal

I was asked to propose a single action that I could carry out that may help me in gaining experience, knowledge, or contacts, within my industry in the near future.

This is my proposal:

At present I am a second year student in digital media journalism. I hope that once qualified, I would have already attained some useful contacts, and possible experience within the fields that I am interested in.  I have limited experience within this industry so far, but prior experiences in other fields have equipped me with transferrable skills of which could be utilised within this industry too. My strengths are the experience of other areas I have worked and studied within. I know where I fail and where I succeed and what works best for me. I also have a more professional and dedicated approach to everything I do, from past experiences that maybe didn’t go so well. My weaknesses are having little confidence in myself being able to succeed in becoming successful in the path I have planned. Also, being able to manage my working life and keeping this separate from everything else can be difficult. My decisions that I make are based upon logical thought that has been implanted in me through my previous studies and fall backs in life. My approaches are more considerate and thought out, rather than just going with the flow so to speak. I am highly motivated to achieve the aspirations I have, and I respect how much effort and commitment needs to be given to something to be able to achieve it.

My personal way in trying to aid all of this, in one small way, is to gain experience within the BBC sports team. I have already made prior contact and met with the sports editor David Burns at the BBC Humberside sports team, and we had conversations about possible days with his team in showing me how they set up and deliver on match days, and also days in the office to see how they prepare and gather their information and such prior to a game.

My first aim would be to gain a day in the workplace to find my feet and get to know some of the staff there. I would also like to try building other contacts whilst being there for future reference. Being able to go with the team to a Hull City match, and watch them set up and deliver a live radio show with commentary and public phone ins would be something that I could prosper from immensely as it would give me true insight into how much work and organisation goes into delivering a four hour programme live on air.

Other aspects that I am interested in, such as travel writing, can be more difficult to gain experience. Although I have sent some work to be assessed and edited to article editors, I am planning to gain more contacts that could be helpful and are available to send work through email. I have entered travel writing competitions, and I have also started a blog that would be a place this information could be stored and added to when suitable. 

My aims from this would be to gain enough input and help as I plan to travel once I have completed my degree, and write about the places I visit and post them onto my blog as I travel around the world.