At the age of sixteen, conversation seems to thrive on the topic of ‘What you want to be when you’re older’. As a general ‘avoid the question as much as possible’ answer I simply say “oh, um something …media related”. For the majority of teenagers, it’s difficult to decide which career path you want to follow with no ideas or experiences of the ‘work’ world. But with thanks to Sharon, I managed to land some with Media First.
Whilst spending five days of the typical 9 to 5 day (which thanks to Dolly Parton I had the song constantly running through my head) I shadowed different members of the team and learnt the ins and outs of how a company works. Observing how everything fits together and how everyone works was incredible due to the amount of organisation and skill the team had. As an ever-growing company, I spent a lot of my time working on their marketing via the Blog, Twitter and eShots. This helped me to understand how a company can advertise their expertise and encourage new customer enquiries.
What impressed me considerably about Media First was the atmosphere created by the team. You can walk into some office buildings and feel a cold, unfamiliar atmosphere and on my first day this is what I was expecting and dreading. But at the Media First office I was astounded by the warm, friendly environment that welcomed me – cheerful banter across the office, the sound of Laura, Lou and Danielle cackling down the phone line with potential clients and the girls talks of ‘tall, dark and handsome’ men in a lunch hour. From reading client feedback forms of their courses and LinkedIn compliments, it is clear that this warm feeling is experienced by all the clients due to the commitment, knowledge, experience and personalities of the team of journalists, admin and sales staff.
As I’m approaching sixth form, and later University, naturally my number of presentations and interviews will begin to rise drastically. From my short experience at Media First, my knowledge of how to prepare and present these has dramatically increased.
So, now when I’m next asked what I want to do as a career I will be confident enough to answer with “Something media related. Perhaps journalism, maybe marketing, perhaps PR, maybe even stage management”.
You see – its great to know that there are so many options around my career rather than worrying over a restrictive decision, which I feel I have to make, and one that affects the rest of my life. It seems there are so many branches centred around a career which you can explore or get involved with.
And as a very volatile teenager – it’s great to know that these options exist.
This revelation, and that’s what it is, has come from the generosity of the Media First team in what has been an incredibly worthwhile work experience. Thank you guys!
