Help! - Freelance UK Forums

Nikita · 03-13-2008, 08:50 PM

Hi! I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice. I am a recent Media graduate with a photography qualification and have been writing and contributing (on a mostly voluntary basis) to various magazines, websites and writing press releases for the last six years. Last year I undertook a 3 month internship at a weekly women's magazine and was asked to return on a freelance paid basis to provide holiday cover, which was amazing- but only for a week! I am really keen to kickstart my (paid) career in journalism and wondering if undertaking a fast track PTC magazines course or NCTJ course will help me to achieve this a lot quicker? Also, I know it's not about freelancing but does anyone know if local newspapers still take people on for in-house training?

I would be so grateful if anyone out there could help me!

kf2 · 03-26-2008, 11:17 AM

Hi Nikita,

My opinion may go against the norm but an ability to work off-diary and to bring news in is of greater benefit than an NCTJ certificate or similar.

I got my first job as a trainee reporter on a local paid weekly by getting various stories together that their staff didn't - researching them and writing them without having a clue how to lay a story out.

So, off went a 100 word intro, no quotes until right at the bottom, etc but once I'd submitted two of these to the editor, I was asked in for an interview and got the job. I was working as an office temp at the time.

Bringing in exclusives, which were often followed up by regional tv reporters who credited our newspaper, got me my own edition of the paper within three months.

After six months, the editor enrolled me on an NCTJ course at Sheffield Hallam - 100s of miles from the 'paper but I continued to submit exclusives on an almost weekly basis even from uni - contacts and local knowledge are the two vitals here.

A few years later, as news ed on a national specialist newspaper, I quickly found, as hirer and firer for my desk, that raw, unqualified, hungry people with a passion and local/specialist knowledge out-perform (for the most-part), journalists who proudly brandish their qualifications but have little inclination to live and breathe "off diary".

One of my interview procedures was to give an applicant a phone and say: "Get me a story, any story."

It could have been as simple as a call to the local police station or coastguard for a diary entry, but the look of panic on most applicants' faces was a picture.

Hunger gets jobs, IMO.

For the record, I never sat my NCTJ finals - no paper I EVER worked for deemed them important.

03-13-2008, 08:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
Nikita New Poster Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: London Posts: 3	Help! Hi! I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice. I am a recent Media graduate with a photography qualification and have been writing and contributing (on a mostly voluntary basis) to various magazines, websites and writing press releases for the last six years. Last year I undertook a 3 month internship at a weekly women's magazine and was asked to return on a freelance paid basis to provide holiday cover, which was amazing- but only for a week! I am really keen to kickstart my (paid) career in journalism and wondering if undertaking a fast track PTC magazines course or NCTJ course will help me to achieve this a lot quicker? Also, I know it's not about freelancing but does anyone know if local newspapers still take people on for in-house training? I would be so grateful if anyone out there could help me!

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03-26-2008, 11:17 AM	#2 (permalink)
kf2 New Poster Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 2	Hi Nikita, My opinion may go against the norm but an ability to work off-diary and to bring news in is of greater benefit than an NCTJ certificate or similar. I got my first job as a trainee reporter on a local paid weekly by getting various stories together that their staff didn't - researching them and writing them without having a clue how to lay a story out. So, off went a 100 word intro, no quotes until right at the bottom, etc but once I'd submitted two of these to the editor, I was asked in for an interview and got the job. I was working as an office temp at the time. Bringing in exclusives, which were often followed up by regional tv reporters who credited our newspaper, got me my own edition of the paper within three months. After six months, the editor enrolled me on an NCTJ course at Sheffield Hallam - 100s of miles from the 'paper but I continued to submit exclusives on an almost weekly basis even from uni - contacts and local knowledge are the two vitals here. A few years later, as news ed on a national specialist newspaper, I quickly found, as hirer and firer for my desk, that raw, unqualified, hungry people with a passion and local/specialist knowledge out-perform (for the most-part), journalists who proudly brandish their qualifications but have little inclination to live and breathe "off diary". One of my interview procedures was to give an applicant a phone and say: "Get me a story, any story." It could have been as simple as a call to the local police station or coastguard for a diary entry, but the look of panic on most applicants' faces was a picture. Hunger gets jobs, IMO. For the record, I never sat my NCTJ finals - no paper I EVER worked for deemed them important.