Upon starting my professional experience I was a bit wary due to the fact that I was working for a friend with his new website, CrewMembersDirect.co.uk. I knew I would have to keep focused and maintain the professional etiquette that I would within a larger company. It was for this reason that I didn’t actually want to work for him at first, but after many failed attempts at applying for the BBC, Mercia and other companies in the Midlands, I eventually gave in and accepted his proposal.
We started off with a welcome meeting which went extremely well. Luckily I knew a few people who had also agreed to work for him, but the other I didn’t know seemed friendly and helpful. This was a good standard networking activity which I think will be a key attribute in my future as a journalist, and I think I did really well to interact with people I had just met. This is one of the most important things I have taken from this experience because it will directly affect me in my career.
Once we had exchanged contact details, we were put into smaller groups where we were asked to team up to complete tasks. I was paired up with Cormac Kelly on the interview team, which suited me because I already knew him quite well. Together, we were giving our first task, which was to organise, set up and execute an interview with the founder of the company, Jason Kurmoo. Unfortunately, we didn’t complete this task in time due to a number of reasons; the first being a lack of communication between Cormac and myself. When we were told to organise the interview, this meant that we had to write up a recce, treatment, filming permit forms and a script. Cormac wrote out the treatment without informing me, which did annoy me because it was a job for us both to do. However, once I had spoke to him, he agreed that he would communicate better with me and arrange times where we could do the work together. I think this was partly my own fault too because I tend to stutter a bit while trying to get into the work, so I don’t really blame him that much for just getting on with it. This has taught me in future to keep liaising with the people I work with to check the progress of the task.
Another reason why the interview failed to work was a lack of communication with the client, which I think is very unprofessional. On the day of filming, the film crew told Cormac only two hours before, so he only text me at the last minute. Due to this lack of communication between the team and the lack of planning in advance, I was unable to attend due to my commitments with work. This proved to be a waste of time anyway because they had also forgot to ask Jason in advance too, and unfortunately he too was unable to attend due to a meeting in Milton Keynes. It proved to be a complete waste of a day, where we could have been doing other work. To be honest, I am grateful that we have all learnt this hard lesson now with Jason rather than with someone might not be as understanding or as lenient.
I was also given the task of analysing data retrieved by another member of the team. Natalie was asked to hand out a questionnaire written by Jason to media students around Campus. This was meant to be finished by the end of March so I had a month to complete the final results. This was extremely important for the business if not the most, because it would determine whether the whole idea was going to work and how much Jason should charge his clients. It was potentially vital research. I was extremely disappointed with the lack of communication with Natalie and her lack of time keeping. She didn’t get the results handed to me until the May 5th, which was the date I had to hand in my own coursework. Although this effected what I could write about for my own portfolio, I was more concerned that Jason has already set a date for his company to go online, yet he hasn’t had the opportunity to see this vital information. I did have several unofficial conversations with him about this, but luckily my experience is going to continue and I will hopefully have this done within the next two weeks. Again, although it was Natalie’s fault for not getting the work done, I think that I could of done more by maybe having an official meeting with Jason, as I would in a real life office situation. I understand that in a real business I have to do what is best for my own results rather than worry about others. So in one sense, I have gained some valuable experience from this situation.
Despite the lack of communication I felt that we were close as a team. We all got on really well, but this could also be part of the downfall. ‘Don’t mix business with pleasure’ comes to mind when I think of this experience, and it has taught me to just get on with the job and keep a professional attitude, despite who I am working with.
On a positive note, I surprised myself how easy I found it to motivate myself when I am on my own. With University work, I tend to struggle to get in the mood to work, but when under pressure to work for a real company I just took the reins and got on with it. The only time I struggled was when I had to work with other people. I have noticed that my communication skills need a dramatic improvement if I am going to survive in the media industry, but I am happy that I have had the opportunity to make these mistakes now and learn from them.
