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regulus said:
Nix, what happened to that holiday work abroad you wanted to do? I still remember that thread. What happened? What have you done so far?
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Had an interview in November, got down to the last five from over 30 candidates and lasted the whole day. Got an email the following Monday though and they'd ****ed me off. Gutted would be an apt word.

I called back for some feedback and got fed lines which I found insulted my intelligence and I struggled not to call them up on it. I fought my corner - politely - but to no avail.

I had probably one hour of sleep the night before the day in a local hotel and as you would expect, come the end of the day I was utterly burnt out. On the bright side though, the other final candidates who I've managed to stay in loose contact with all assumed I was a given for it. The company themselves said I should go the 'other role' as it was 'exactly the same anyway' and I turned them down. In reality this other role has less of the perks with all the same negatives as the one I did want, so it doesn't really weigh-up in my mind to make a go of it; just wasn't worth it, my time is better invested elsewhere. Likewise, I couldn't help but note the hypocrisy in that if I was ideal for other role, why not the one I actually wanted in the first place? Nevermind.

On the bright side, I've now got less than £500 on a CC to pay and aside from the student loan thing, I'm debt free. Shall try for a proper job again this year I guess, just taking baby-steps at the moment. For example, I've finally started my 'blog' to use as an online portfolio should anything to do with writing ever opens its doors to me and I'm constantly working on psychologically getting out of this rut, which really is easier said than done!

It's horrible to say this, but that one year I was on JSA and rejected by every single employer really did knock me for six. Obviously, I had other things going on that made it so bad, such as post-uni issues, upsetting the status-quo at home, and debt collectors harassing my every waking moment; it was a very difficult time in its own right; the lack of employ was just kicking me when I was down. It has I suppose, now taken nearly two years now to muster that energy to take on the world again. Bittersweet.

Thanks for asking.
 
Pestilence said:
Film journalist on the side here.

Depends what you want to cover, really. Initially, the best way to break in is to offer your services for free to various publications. Once you have a few solid credits under your belt you can then start expecting payment.

It's not easy, though. Building a name and reputation when you're still doing the 9-5 can be depressingly tough at times - especially when deadlines begin to loom, but it's more than made up for by the feedback, peer respect and brilliant people you end up getting in touch with. Oh, and press passes.

It also involves a lot of time following leads, scrambling for interviews etc. Not a lot is handed to you, so it's up to you to keep those connections alive and always push for more and more. Again, not an easy thing to juggle when you're also working full time elsewhere. It's easy to see why so many fledgling journalists and writers give up inside of a year.

Don't expect to get rich quickly, either. You can catch my writing on a few DVD/Blu-ray covers and promotional materials worldwide, but I won't be rolling in dosh any time soon! Damn you, fair use! :D
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Cheers for the advice. Would you recommend starting with local publications? Also i did have a couple of blows for a while but kept losing interest as there was nothing to motivate me and now the net is so saturated with blogs. I'll do some research tomorrow and send out a few e-mails. Also link to any of your work, if you're okay with that?
 
Abraham said:
Surely it's much too broad to be contained in a single thread, but maybe a more structured way of doing it, so that people can do it within the letter of the rules and as such not be afraid of doing it.
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What about the social groups feature? That might work for this sort of thing and seems to be sorely underused at the moment.

I'd offer my help but I've got slightly less influence on the hiring at my place than the tea lady, maybe slightly more influence than the potted plant but it's a close run thing. For what it's worth I don't mind having a look over CVs or giving out some advice but equally I'm not sure how valuable my contributions would be to that.
 
OriginalJonty said:
Cheers for the advice. Would you recommend starting with local publications? Also i did have a couple of blows for a while but kept losing interest as there was nothing to motivate me and now the net is so saturated with blogs. I'll do some research tomorrow and send out a few e-mails. Also link to any of your work, if you're okay with that?
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Local publications are always a good idea as they're generally wide open to free submissions to keep them going. Once you have a foot in the door, you can start asking for assignments.

It's also good if you can think up and write your own article ideas, and pitch them to various suitable publications via letter, telephone or email. In that case, you essentially have a product (the article) that you're trying to sell (even if it's for free!), which is a helpful way to approach it and will get you in the freelancing vibe.

Blogs very rarely get much actual exposure these days (depending on content and theme, obviously!), but they're an excellent way to hone your writing skills in your own time.

In terms of my own work, I'm the UK correspondent for the major horror website Dread Central. I don't want to link directly as there's generally swearies and all sorts over there, but if you head to the homepage you'll catch my most recent DVD reviews over on the right-hand side.

I also cover festivals for them, do interviews (if you check the interview history I interviewed Lawrence Gough and Zach Galligan last year), write up stories for the UK market and spearhead UK competitions etc., all the while looking for the next way to grow the brand in the UK. Takes up a lot of time and effort, but it's brill. Wouldn't give it up for any less than £40,000 a year. :D:p
 
Wanting to go into IT consultancy, in the latter stages for most big companies, in a hotel waiting on my BP interview tomorrow infact. I feel I'm looked at as a bit of a novelty as I studied in Belfast but im very keen to move over to the south of england. Any rejections i've had have always been at the very first stage (i.e. my application was in too late, despite deadlines being open they often effectively close them.)

How would anyone recommend I get into it?

A side point would be im not entirely sure what I want to do but im a capable, hard-working individual. Im busy as anything but really want to find out if I could be suited to teaching, is there anything I can do to essentially test the water in terms of teaching? something which provides a similar atmosphere? I feel some experience days in my old school wouldn't have 30 eyes on me teaching and therefore I cant know if its my calling unless I go through with a PGCE
 
Pestilence said:
Local publications are always a good idea as they're generally wide open to free submissions to keep them going. Once you have a foot in the door, you can start asking for assignments.

It's also good if you can think up and write your own article ideas, and pitch them to various suitable publications via letter, telephone or email. In that case, you essentially have a product (the article) that you're trying to sell (even if it's for free!), which is a helpful way to approach it and will get you in the freelancing vibe.

Blogs very rarely get much actual exposure these days (depending on content and theme, obviously!), but they're an excellent way to hone your writing skills in your own time.

In terms of my own work, I'm the UK correspondent for the major horror website Dread Central. I don't want to link directly as there's generally swearies and all sorts over there, but if you head to the homepage you'll catch my most recent DVD reviews over on the right-hand side.

I also cover festivals for them, do interviews (if you check the interview history I interviewed Lawrence Gough and Zach Galligan last year), write up stories for the UK market and spearhead UK competitions etc., all the while looking for the next way to grow the brand in the UK. Takes up a lot of time and effort, but it's brill. Wouldn't give it up for any less than £40,000 a year. :D:p
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That's great! I just spent some time perusing your site: do you guys accept any kinds of articles? More importantly, do you pay?
 
the first rule of OCUK masons is, you do not talk about OCUK masons
the second rule of....
the last rule, no shirts, no shoes!

I have background in peri teaching (music), police officer (just resigned - becasue i hated it, not because i was told to) and teaching assistant.... any one want help, let me know....

on the flip side, I would absolutely love to get into web design / development without having to go to uni for next 4 years (I have a house)....
 
Forde said:
That's great! I just spent some time perusing your site: do you guys accept any kinds of articles? More importantly, do you pay?
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I'm afraid the finances are outside of my control -- the owner/editor-in-chief manages all of that, but he's always on the lookout for good article submissions and queries. Whether other contributors get paid anything or not, I couldn't tell you.

I think there's especially an eye for UK-based people as expansion over here is becoming a big deal and of course little ol' me can't cover the whole country all the time!

Essentially, if don't ask, you don't get. I got involved with the site through a simple query offering to cover a festival a couple of years ago, and been there ever since.

It's always worth firing out the feelers to any websites you like and would enjoy writing for. What's the worst that can happen? "Sorry, we're full at the moment". Oh well, next one! It was a dream come true for me, personally, having followed the DC crew for YEARS, and through multiple iterations of the website.
 
So the concept for this thread is basically "networking for those denied entry to an upper-class university"?

It's a nice idea in theory. The problem is that most (genuinley) career-driven people don't spend much time in GD. Or on internet forums in general.
 
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PianoBasher said:
The problem is that people are extremely cautious about recommending or putting someone forward when they don't know them very well.

If you put a fellow OcUK'er forward for a job, for example, and they let the company down with attendance and general attitude then it'll reflect badly on the person that got them their foot in the door in the first place. :) There are many reasons for "who you know", and having a known quantity is one of the more prominent ones IMO.
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I didn't mean actually putting people forward, but just telling people if there are jobs going/who to contact etc. A bit like advertising the vacancy but on a slightly more personal level.

Obviously it's not the same as putting forward people (if you're in a position to do that), but like you say not many people on here do know much about each other. Depending on the nature of the work though you may be able to prove yourself to someone on here who could put you forward for something.
 
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dbov22 said:
on the flip side, I would absolutely love to get into web design / development without having to go to uni for next 4 years (I have a house)....
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Uni isn't much use for either really, design is a talent, if you've got it, hone it and showcase your skills at every opportunity, offer to do some redesigns for companies you know, or maybe even bands etc, just make sure that they give you a bit of publicity for it (and hopefully some £).
As for development, there's not much that can't be self taught, again do as much stuff to build up a portfolio as you can, without experience/qualification it's your foot in the door. Where possible make this reuseable stuff so that when you start getting work you might be able to reuse some of your own stuff.

For ref: I'm a software/web developer at the uni of Manchester, I do bits and bobs of freelance web dev and am looking at getting into android dev as well.
I'm also SIA Door licenced and work on the door of a city centre pub and do event security around Manchester and at festivals.

Not sure what advice I can give people, but very happy to try and help.
 
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I think this is a great idea. Been working in the telecoms industry (data side, broadband, IPVPN etc) for 3 years now, so happy to help where I can.
 
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