Someone once told me that work experience was something we deigned to do, rather than being the job we'd die to do.
Embarrassingly, this was my attitude when I began a week's work experience at a regional newspaper.
Before I started, I took a look at the previous week's issue. The front page story covered a local supermarket about to shut its doors.
I barely stifled a yawn as I flipped through the remaining pages - local business awards, the ubiquitous 'someone-might-have-seen-a-cat-which-in-actual-fact-may-have-been-a-panther' story, and a Law and Order section (by far the most interesting, apart from 'New Faces,' a lost of recent births...forget Sean Preston and Jayden James. Try Jadzia, Amberley, Maisyn, Shohniqua, and Jazmin'ee. I'm not kidding).
When I fronted on Monday morning, the staff were exceedingly pleasant. Looks like my vision of country bumpkins was very, very wrong.
Surprise no. 1 - cute sports journalist. Perhaps this would not be a week in vain.
Unlike my other work experience stints, I was greeted by none other than the editor-in-chief. Her CV included the SMH and Financial Review; this, apparently, was her seachange job.
As the paper was running to deadline that day, I spent my time shadowing the photographer. An energetic and endlessly vivacious lass, it was clear that she had an excellent rapport with her subjects. From local MPs cutting the ribbon on a newly completed flood evacuation route, to the small business owner offering a couch to a lucky reader. Everyone seemed genuinely pleased to see her - Miss K was no paparazzo.
When we returned (not before grabbing a coffee) I was asked to file a story for the Cute Sports Guy (hereafter known as CSG) about an open day at a horse stud. Interviewing the owner of the stud was a little like trying to inspire sight in the blind: near impossible. His answers were punctuated with brusque grunts and stiff 'yes's' and 'no's.'
Day 2 unfolded somewhat more dramatically. My nerves had subsided alittle, until I walked in on an impromptu staff meeting, hastily called to let everyone know that a journalist (whose desk, I might add, I had been sitting at) had been dismissed. Oh dear.
On the upside, I was given actual writing tasks. I covered a breaking crime story involving animal cruelty, and got to go to a press conference. I was also asked to research a profile of a local artist for the upcoming lifestyle magazine.
There are some downsides: CSG has a girlfriend, who allegedly resembles Katie Holmes. And by lunchtime on my second day, everyone knew the intracacies of my life. There's a lot to be said for working in an anonymous uber-office.
I still don't know if I could work in such a small office, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. Doing work experience anywhere is a valuable learningcurve. And as my mother never tires of saying, 'It's not what you know, it's who you know.' Work experience is the perfect opportunity to start building a network of contacts. Especially CSGs.