Today is my final shift in The Sunday Business Post.
Having started here on one month’s work experience in September, which was extended by three weeks, which was then followed by two weekly freelance shifts until Christmas, which was then followed by two weekly freelance shifts until the last Thursday/Friday in February (which is now upon us) I think it’s fair to say that things have gone far better than I ever could have imagined or hoped.
I came in here to get some experience in a real news environment and got a hell of a lot more than that – the plethora of articles published, the foundations of a good contacts book and (probably most importantly) a far better feel for the paper and what a new story needs than I had before.
As I stated before, my greatest hurdle has been my lack of contacts – something vital in any newspaper, specifically a Sunday – and while I’ve not fully overcome this nor made myself an asset in that regard, I think I’ve gone a long way towards it – far further than I would have under other circumstances.
It’s not to say that I’m happy to be finished, but it’s genuinely hard to be down about the whole situation given the amount I’ve learned from it – I didn’t start here expecting anything and got a tonne more than I figured the best of my luck would allow.
As for the environment – well maybe I was unlucky in that respect – the staff are so damn nice I may get a nasty surprise when I realise that things aren’t as plesent elsewhere… we’ll see though.
While I won’t be working in here any more, I’m hoping to continue to contribute all the same. Fingers crossed on this, but I hope my time here will serve me well as I try to put together some stories or feature (or article pitches) from home start… well, now-ish!
Generally, however, I’m now on the look-out for new opportunities. I’ll be hoping to get articles published in as many places as possible over the coming weeks/months and will naturally be keeping one eye open for any work or shifts available in other outlets.
I guess this whole “career” thing just got a little bit more interesting!