ALICE WASS
Exploring Media
Placement Applications and
Cover Letters
Sky News:
(Unsuccessful)
Cover Letter:
Why you want to do a/an Work experience in Sky Media at Sky?
Sky Media is one of the leading media companies and I want to gain experience from the best available. I believe that the opportunities available at Sky Media would open my eyes to the ever evolving media landscape that I wish to work in once I have graduated from university. Sky Media is known for adapting and evolving to keep up to date with the newest technological innovations and I believe that it is through this Sky has been able to stay at the top of the media industry, and I would love the opportunity to not only see and learn from that but also be able to become hands on and contribute to the media that they are creating. I want to be in the centre of cutting edge operation as it is there that I will be able to learn and develop to an industry standard.
Why do you want to do work experience in Sky News?
It is only recently that I have had to opportunities to start exploring journalism as a career option, for me my specific interest is broadcast journalism. Through working on Coventry Universities student magazine, Source News, and running my own radio show and receiving training for a local community radio station in Coventry I have started to build up a skill set which I believe will help me to achieve becoming a broadcast journalist. However, I have not had any formal experience working with News, and I believe this is vital to helping me learn and develop my skills to become a better journalist in the future. Through this work experience you get hands on opportunities to spend time in multiple areas of Sky News, which is what I believe I need to be the next step into a journalism career. Through my media degree I have the chance to learn about journalism, however I cannot get the true experience of a busy and fast paced news room environment, something that I would be able to get if I was successful at gaining a place on this programme.
Short Questions/Answers:
4Talent:
(Unsuccessful)
Short Questions/Answers:
How would this work experience placement at C4 benefit your future career?
I am a second year university Media and Communications student, and I am currently exploring my future career path, which I believe is helped enormously through work experience, as this provides real insight for an industry. I am specifically interested in broadcasting, with the long term aim of becoming a media producer. The 4Talent scheme greatly appeals to me as Channel 4 is one of the most popular broadcasting companies, therefore the experience offered on work experience would be very valuable.
What is one thing you would want to have achieved by the end of the work experience week?
By the end of the work experience week I hope to have gained an understanding of the industry, and to have developed more insight into the specific department in which I had worked. I hope this will help me to learn new skills, which I can use and enhance during my last year at university. I believe this experience will help me make decisions when specialising in my degree and selecting my future career, as I will understand the industry I want to work in much better.
1st and 2nd choice of departments:
First choice – Film4
Second Choice – Advertising Research and Development
What skills and interests do you have that would make you the right fit for your chosen teams?
I would be suited to work in the Film4 department as I enjoyed engaging in film studies during Media A-Level and I will be completing a Film and Screen Cultures module next semester. This provides me with background knowledge and some understanding of film and the film industry. I have knowledge of the film editing programme Adobe Premiere Pro, which I have used for five years. I produce and co-present a university radio show called ‘Media Highlights’ which includes a focus on films, meaning I keep up to date with the developments in the film industry.
I have been able to explore advertising during my degree through various tasks, for example subverting and re-creating print adverts and producing radio adverts. These skills were developed during Adobe Photoshop classes where I designed a promotional poster for my University media course. For this task I had to balance creating a professional piece of promotional work while keeping it fun, to attract artistic media students. This required careful consideration and research of the audience and client. I help the university Christian Union with their marketing through creating promotional video adverts for their events and other advertising materials such as society hoodies.
What is your favourite Channel 4 show and why?
One of my favourite Channel 4 shows is ‘Food Unwrapped’. I discovered the show while studying A-Level food and nutrition and found it extremely interesting, well researched and full of information. Now, I am a writer for the university magazine, where I have developed a whole section focussing on food in a way that is topical for students. I have used ideas from ‘Food Unwrapped’ as inspiration for some of my articles.
Fashion United:
(Unsuccessful)
Cover Letter:
After I had submitted my application and CV I received an email inviting me to interview for the position. The internship advert had stated working 3 - 4 days a week flexibly, however, after further discussion with the company they said they would rather have someone who could work 5 days a week. Which was impossible to do with my degree so I could not take up the position.