By David Tingley, editor (and former graphic designer!)
It was while I was at college, studying A-levels, that I realised that there was a job role out there, which would be not only something I liked the look of, but also, I reckoned I might be quite good at!
At the time, I was studying Physics, Media Studies and Design (it’s another story about why this seemingly random collection of subjects was chosen!) and needed to secure a week’s worth of work experience placement. Long story short, my mate had a relative who ran a printing business, who kindly agreed to show me what that business did for a week in 1992.
The time spent at that local printers gave me an insight into a world which I figured must have existed, but had no idea about. It was while I was there, that I visited a tiny design bureau (it was the 90s, things were different back then!) who worked on Macs and did layout and typesetting. My mind was blown. And my future career path changed!
What happened next isn’t part of this story, but the fact that this work experience week happened at all is the reason why I am so passionate about helping school and college students to see what we do in our magazine business today.
Every year, we welcome one student from a local school/college to spend some time with us, and we try and mix up where we select from.
Last week, we welcomed Lizzie. She spent the week in the office with Sara and I. And she also spent time with one of our editors – Jacqueline – so she could understand how she got to do what she does now.
Here’s a list of the types of projects/tasks which Lizzie was able to take on or help us with:
- Preparation for a feature interview
- Writing a news story for publication
- Performing the copy check process, before layout
- She was able to go and spend time taking photos in Lindfield – one of our magazine areas – which we filed as potential, future cover photos for that title
- ‘Meet the Editor’ lunchtime session
- Researched local events for our Whats On listings
- CRM (database) list cleansing
- Write and compile a sales email
- Filming and editing of social media posts for our channels
- Updated high street shops listings in Haywards Heath, for our website
- Packing and posting copies of magazines to customers
- Assisting in the creation of an issue’s advertising schedule
- Working out how a pagination guide works
- Video editing
- Attended a local networking event in Haywards Heath
- Go on a visit to a printer, while one of our community magazines is being printed
I always like to sit down with a student before they start with us, as I will tailor what we focus on to their desires and/or skills where possible. This means that where someone is more interesting in layout or design, we can major on that side. But someone who is mainly interested in writing – we will try and find one or two writing projects for them to get involved in.
We are only a small business. And the cost (in time) of welcoming work experience students is relatively high for us. But I love to do it. Even if, during their time with us, they discover what they don’t want to do – that’s still a positive experience, because – either way – they have learnt something about the world and about themselves which they didn’t know before.
If you run a business, I would encourage you to reach out to schools and colleges locally, and offer a place to students. It really can make a difference to someone’s life.
