Curious about our work experience scheme?
One of our previous recruits shares how it helped her land a job
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that last week we opened slots for our Journalism Work Experience and Mentorship Scheme. This is a remote programme we started in the pandemic and continued afterwards when we realised there was a real and ongoing need.
There are a variety of opportunities on offer from shadowing, helping a journalist with research and other aspects of their work to mentoring and getting feedback on your CV, pitching technique and more.
In this week’s newsletter we hear from Bethan Moss about how the scheme helped kickstart her career. See below for more detail on how to grab your place.
I had a great experience with the Freelancing for Journalists work experience scheme. When I applied, I had just finished my MA in Newspaper Journalism and was looking for reporting work. I was finding the job market ruthless.
Just a couple of weeks before, I had been invited for coffee with an editor after I cold emailed him some work samples and my CV with the excruciating subject line “keen grad looking for a break”. He had replied quickly with compliments on my articles and invited me to meet. Our chat went well and he showed me around the newsroom, before offering me shifts at the paper. I walked out of the building feeling like my hard work had finally paid off – I was ecstatic. But the shifts never materialised. He never even replied to my emails.
I felt like I was throwing everything I had at the wall, but nothing was quite sticking. Then I saw an ad for the remote journalism scheme and applied. I wasn’t sure about remote work experience at first, but I was happy to try anything. Before I moved to London for my MA, I had struggled to get journalism work experience because I couldn’t afford a huge commute or accommodation costs for unpaid work – so I appreciated that the scheme seemed so accessible.
I received the database and contacted several journalists, focusing on contacting journalists who did the kind of work I was interested in – I was spoilt for choice. I considered contacting people doing different types of journalism as well to get a taste for other specialisms, but I was so lucky with my first contacts that I didn’t need to. One of the journalists I emailed offered to call almost immediately after I got in touch. We had a great chat, talking about different routes into journalism and I explained my background and experience.
It was very informative and helpful advice. But the tangible benefit of the call came when the journalist offered to refer me to a friend who runs a news agency. At this point I had done some local work experience and was getting by with some freelance fact-checking shifts, but I really wanted to be getting out amongst it as a news reporter. I sent my details on to the agency. Incredibly, it sent me on a paid door-knocking job the very next day. This was truly rapid-fire success as a direct result of the Freelancing for Journalists scheme.
When the first job went well, I was offered a second shift – I went to court to cover a celebrity driving ban case. It was an amazing opportunity. I reported from court and then was able to snatch a moment with the defendant for an exclusive chat afterwards. She told me the judge had shown “no empathy” and I worked the interview quotes into my story. I filed, and the article made it as a page five splash in the next day’s Daily Mail. It was my first national byline and led to several more jobs with the agency, including more court reporting.
I loved the experience and it gave me a great opportunity to pursue an interest in court reporting that I’d kindled during my MA. I want to thank everyone behind the scheme. For me, it led directly to paid work and bylines in a national paper. But the Freelancing for Journalists scheme also boosted my confidence and provided great mentorship. I’m now working full time as a freelance journalist, mainly on the world news desk at The Sun, and I’m so thankful for the remote work experience scheme for helping me along the way.
FFJ Journalism Work Experience and Mentorship Scheme
Our remote journalism work experience and mentoring scheme has reopened for the spring. Register for a place on the link below. You’ll get to work (remotely) alongside experienced journalists covering a range of beats from health, politics, sport, travel, business and more!
There is a £10 administration scheme which covers the cost of running the scheme and holding the webinar briefing which is on Wednesday 27th May at 1pm. If you can’t attend the live briefing don’t worry as we will automatically send you a recording plus details of how to access the scheme after the briefing.
Triumph of the week
You actually take a break on a bank holiday.
That feeling when
You now need to fit five days work into four.
We love to hear your feedback on everything we do, so feel free to drop us an email anytime at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com
Bye for now!
