Work Placement 1- Merimbula News
Introduction
During early January of this year, I decided to do so some work Placement with "Merimbula News".
Getting Work Placement
I knew a manager at Merimbula News who I thought would help me get some work experience. In order to obtain this opportunity I had to use my skills that I had developed in a number of my classes to sell myself and convince the manager there that I was worth while having on board.
I constantly had to call him as he was not a very useful person. This taught me how to deal with people that are untrustworthy and unreliable though and I have learned a valuable life lesson from my dealings with him. That lesson was, "if it smells like shit, it probably is shit".
What I did during my Work Placement
During my placement it was very scattered. I was asked to come into the office and have a meeting with the manager where he would assign me a story. I did not feel that this was a valuable interface in any way as it felt like I was simply being brushed off. In terms of learning and developing though, nothing occured. The reason I was unable to learn from this experience was because I was assigned a story to write without any guidance, insight or help. The saying "throw 'em in the deep end and teach 'em to swim" was clearly absent from my experience.
However, when I was writing my story I had to make the decisions by myself as to what I was going to do. As I chose juvanile health I had to become familiar with the clinics and various other health services. It doesnt feel like I have learned anything from doing this as my researching skills were not developed or refined in any particular way.
Positive
A moment of self awakening occured when I realised how important it would be for me to get my drivers licence. The reason for this was when I realised how much I was relying on other people to get me to all the different places to research my story. I also realised that it helped to have a license if I was to go into this area of industry, as a journalism job requires alot of independence.
A positive that came out of this experience to an extent was that I learned to trust my instincts. When I walked into the News office it felt like something was wrong. As it turns out the boss didn't want me there and the manager I was dealing with deliberately neglected to inform me that I required insurance papers. From that I now understand that before undertaking any sort of work experience the onus is on myself to ensure that everything is ready to go because in business people are not reliable or interested in providing any sort of quality work experience unless they are going to achieve a material benefit out of it.
Work Placement 2 - Publicity Team for play "Skylight"
Recently, over these past few months while I have been completing my diploma of communications and media certificate, I have been commencing work placement with the production and publicity team of the play "Skylight" by David Hare.
It has been a privilage working on a play that was written by such a brilliant and respected play writer and I must admit that I've enjoyed every minute of it.
I was fortunate enough to be offered the position by my writing teacher Peter, who suggested that his wife Ann who was the leader in charge of the publicity group was providing the opportunity for some students to help her out on the promotion and advertising of the play.
So that is how I heard about it and got this opportunity.
What I did whilst working on the Team
- I worked as part of a team to achieve goals
- Edited Media Releases
- Researched and created marketing ideas
- Wrote cover letter to be sent out with "Skylight" flyer's
- Researched information on public places where we could advertise
- Visited cast and crew of play "Skylight"
- Observed play rehearsals
- Interviewed actors
- Distributed flyer's
- Facilitated the sales of tickets
- Attended team Meetings
Reflective Learning
Positives: It was rewarding to be able to apply my knowledge and skills that I had obtained through my certificates in a real world situation. It made it more interesting and exciting, in addition to experience and learn real life situations that were not just theory's confined to the four corners of a peice of paper.
Negatives: At times the communication within the group was not as effective as it should have been. An example of this was when it was agreed that I would do something such as a task only to find that the group had decided to go in a different direction. This was a little fustrating as it wasted my time on pointless tasks, and the group was failing to harness all their resources. Hence, poor communication was an issue at times.
Dates
19 May 2010 - Started Work Placement23 May 2010 - Met and interviewed actors and went to observe play rehearsals
24- 31 May 2010 - Market ideas and create media releases as a team
7-10 June 2010 - Research advertisement public area's in Canberra
11 June 2010 - Wrote cover letter to be attached to distributed flyer's
14 June 2010 - Edit and finialise media releases as a team
21 June 2010 - Arrange extra distribution of flyer's by hand
28 June 2010 - Email press releases
5- 13 June 2010 - Preparing the final arrangements for the play "Skylight"
14 July 2010 - Attending the play "Skylight" by David Hare at the Courtyard Studio Canberra Theatre
14 - 24 July 2010 - Play "Skylight" will be performing at the Courtyard Studio Canberra Theatre
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