This week I spent time completing a placement with the Press Association. I was really excited to do this placement as I had been in contact with the Fashion & Beauty Editor for some time trying to fill a slot with little success because our availabilities never quite matched up! Thankfully persistence paid off and I landed myself a week interning with the company at a time when I really needed it most, in the wake of my hiccup at Dazed!
The Press Association provides news outlets nationwide with multimedia content (such as images or features) for broadcasts and articles. When news breaks, the team cover the event immediately to stay ahead of the game, getting factually accurate information, first-hand accounts and professional images where possible. The first images released in the wake of a terrorist attack are often produced by the Press Association, because their photography team are always on-hand and on high-alert. This fast-paced and instantly gratifying approach to producing news really intrigues me, so it has definitely been valuable to experience just how fast the turnover is for all members of the PA team to complete their briefs!
On day one, I transcribed several interviews which one member of the features team conducted with the celebrity cast of an upcoming ITV drama. I had some previous experience of transcribing interviews at Fabulous Magazine, but in this role I was introduced to the website 'oTranscribe' which was a really useful tool to help carry out the task. The oTranscribe website is designed for transcribing interviews; it has keyboard functions to pause, play, fast forward and rewind so its users don't need to waste time using a mouse to select these options. I have referenced the website and its purpose here as something to consider using in final year when potentially gathering research!
The rest of my week comprised of writing feature articles, which is a responsibility that I have been longing and hoping for the duration of my placement year. It was interesting to see the way the features team's approach to the intern's role; I had a lot of flexibility to carryout the tasks, and while I did have deadlines to meet, the relaxed environment meant that I could carefully prioritise tasks alone without having anything spoon-fed to me - something that I expected would be the case in a one-week work experience position.
Because of my experience as a fashion student, I spent time being mentored by the Fashion & Beauty Editor in order to put together a main fashion piece which goes out every Monday. I liked the way that my work experience was tailored to get the most out of my time there and I was happy to get the chance to write about what I know best! I pitched a few ideas to Katie and she chose the one that she thought would be best for me to develop into an article. We went with the idea of a trend piece on natural and organic fabrics, something that I've seen a lot of on the high street and social media recently.
My other feature topics, which were provided for me in commission briefs sent over via email from the features team. It has been a really cool feeling to see my writing pieces published in online print, although somewhat frustrating to have those pieces edited post-submission in parts by other members of staff - especially when they are edited with typos, which was the case with one feature! Over the course of the week I wrote the following articles:
- London's 7 most Instagrammed boroughs revealed
- 7 ways cheating can affect your mental health
- 8 top tips to tackle workplace stress all year round
- How to throw a Portuguese-themed Eurovision party
- Here's everything you need to ace the 'au naturel' trend this summer
Putting together the articles was so much fun, which is a big indicator to me that my go-to role post-graduation will need to involve a level of writing. It was a valuable experience to manage the pressure of submitting my writing to members of the features team, because I'm aware that I possess a real lack of self-belief and confidence when it comes to my writing abilities - despite it having been an area that I've sought a career in since childhood. I experienced using WordPress to construct the articles for the first time, which I know from previously seeing job advertisements is a valuable skill to have. Overall, I really enjoyed the opportunity to try something new and a bit outside of my comfort zone, having spent the past three months in a fairly repetitive and comfortable role at Coach.
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