Finding Your Feet In Fleet Street

After work experience stints on The Times and The Observer I can report, not only tales of social awkwardness but of publishing success. As a result I have a few gems of advice to others taking their first tentative steps into a career in journalism.

"Even the High Priests of the media industry still enjoy free labour."

A former colleague recommended for work experience on The Times, slipping my CV to a colleague over dinner. As for The Observer Review, I was one of the 500 people who applied for the coveted role of editorial assistant. When I didn't even make it past the interview stage, I swallowed my pride, picked up the phone and asked for a stint of work experience instead. My success in gaining a placement is testimony to the fact that even the High Priests of the media industry still enjoy free labour. Having already spent twenty months on a consumer magazine (first as an editorial assistant and then as staff writer), I intended to treat the placements as networking opportunities to enable me to secure a freelance commission. However, I quickly learnt that the challenge was going to be to get the right tasks to enable me to demonstrate my skills and this would in part, depend upon the culture of publication.

"If the arts pages of any given broadsheet are the equivalent to leafy Oxfordshire, then its news pages are London..."

Both T2 and The Observer Review have a magazine-style set-up, with the majority of writers and freelancers submitting articles from their home computers. This resulted in small teams who (aside from the glamour of press events and film previews) were generally facilitating creative work by commissioning articles, organizing interviews or generating ideas. I was assigned simple administrative tasks. In retrospect, the position didn't support my self image as a 'professional working journalist'. Introducing oneself to an arts editor seated opposite you might seem simple but it is social death if they are too busy to be disturbed. I was under the impression that journalists emanating the 'working to a deadline' vibe were a cue to silently get on with my work. But if I'd have shrugged off this cloak of invisibility, I might have sniffed out the right occasion to pitch the idea that would have earned me paid work. As it was, I eventually managed to put forward a few suggestions through which I obtained a theatre review, a book review and a few smaller bits of writing.

"At worst it makes self-important journalists feel self-important - at best; it gets your ideas heard... "

If the arts pages of any given broadsheet are the equivalent to leafy Oxfordshire, then its news pages are London; the frenetic, fast-paced hub of any paper wherein a conscientious self-starter can get swept away with Tory leadership drugs scandals and the vital statistics of the latest James Bond. The Herculean task of proving my worth to a disinterested audience was altogether simpler on The Times' news desk. Everyone had too much work and too little time - opportunities were ripe for the taking just as long as I appeared conscientious, charming and professional. 'Believe me' a journalist said to me on arrival, 'the good work experience students are the ones that make their presence felt'.

As soon as I made myself visible and people saw that I was competent and bright, I began to feel like I was really learning on the job. I introduced myself to a few journalists and simply let them know that if they required any help, I was 'just sitting over there, at my desk, tapping my pen and waiting for something to do'.  This appeared to work and by the end of my first day, I was already ringing up aid organisations asking for their views on compassion fatigue in response to British donations for the Asian earthquake. On Tuesday morning, I recall arriving bleary-eyed into a Hammersmith newsagents and picking up a copy of The Times only to discover that a kind journalist had given me a full-page byline just the same size as his. The shop assistant wasn't overly impressed at my whooping and gesticulating so I phoned my Dad instead who was just as happy as me.

What did I learn? I guess I learnt that people like to be approached at the right moment and in the correct manner. At worst, it makes self-important journalists feel self-important - at best; it gets your ideas heard and your name in lights. Being a lowly work experience student, some journalists will always try to keep you at arms length. So, shield yourself with fresh ideas, and for heaven's sake turn on the charm.