Lara, member of the Somerset Youth Parliament Advisory Group, has been interviewing with one of the country’s leading broadcasters. In this article, she gives us a peak into the process.
Over the past month, I’ve been interviewing for a journalism apprenticeship with one of the country’s leading broadcasters and I wanted to talk about the experience interviewing. I know some of us aren’t taught a lot about interviews and jobs in school, and it’s a vital piece of curriculum, so I wanted to share my experience and get some opinions on the process.
I’ve been to a few job interviews before, and I’ve also interviewed Somerset Council candidates for roles around children’s services and commissioning, so I’m confident that I know how a general interview is structured. Youth Parliament has also helped me to develop my interviewing skills, both conducting interviews and taking part in them. However, as I am now more focused on starting a career as opposed to finding part-time work, I’ve started to apply for more roles within media that pique my interest, but I’ve been struggling to land interviews because of the competition of so many other candidates.
I’ve received plenty of emails that start with the familiar “unfortunately…” or “we’re sorry to tell you…” over the past few months. For many of the roles I’ve been applying for, there’s been thousands of applicants, even local work. I finally received a follow-up email from the broadcaster, a breakthrough offer to attend their ‘Experience Day’, which was treated like a first round of interviews. I began to realise why. The candidates were from all over the UK, there was even someone who had travelled from London. This felt crazy to me, as someone that assumes that London has far more opportunities than the South West. Because of the high number of candidates for every role, more people were applying which means that the problem is only multiplying and making the market even more competitive.
18 people showed up for the Experience Day, I connected with some interesting people one of which I have stayed in touch with. I feel that this is the best way to work with people, considering some are going into the same industry in the future and they may be supportive future allies, especially if you’re going through similar struggles. We participated in some general team building exercises, demonstrating how we worked in groups – but it was the afternoon that I found the most interesting. As a production journalist, we’re being trained to find film, and produce local news stories. So, we were provided with information to put together our own news piece. We had to prioritise and plan, then present our plans to the recruiters. I really enjoyed this process and was proud of my work, then feeling confident I spoke to a lovely and very interesting man who had been working with the broadcaster most of his life!
Some people feel embarrassed and uncomfortable doing practical tasks especially being observed by important industry people. However, the biggest thing I’ve learned in all of my interview practice is that the interviewers are real people too, with families and friends and lives outside of their work and performing for the 30 to 60 minutes we see them. It makes me feel much more relaxed to imagine what their life might be outside of their job and makes them feel more relatable. I was delighted to be called back for the second interview and I used the natural curiosity of mine to relax and enjoy the process.
We had to create our own news story to present, then answer questions regarding the role. I spent time writing my piece about something I was passionate about, but realised that wasn’t very relevant to the task, so buckled down and changed my idea entirely. This was challenging because I had to be selective, make things ‘snappy’ and ‘attractive’ to a viewer. Overall, I feel I did well but I’ve yet to hear back. Either way, I’m so glad I had this experience as it’s completely changed how I view the roles I’m applying for and boosted my confidence in my ability and raised my self-awareness.
I hope my story might help some of you preparing for work and facing interviews.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on our social media, let’s start a conversation!
If you’re applying for jobs right now, what’s your best advice?
Lara
Not just elected members
Did you know that Somerset Youth Parliament isn’t just it’s elected members? Any young person in Somerset aged 10-25 years can become a member of the Somerset Youth Parliament Advisory Group.
For more information about becoming a member of the Somerset Youth Parliament Advisory Group and to join, visit our Join Us page.
