Maddison Thompson

1. Maddy
Thompson
MY TEN YEAR PLAN

2.  My name is Maddy and I was born in England but moved to
Spain when I was a baby and I was brought up over there. I
went to a Spanish school and grew up speaking Spanish,
however I learnt English at home and had English lessons at
school. When I moved back to England, I quickly knew that
English was one of my favourite subjects and I loved writing
and reading. I am currently studying Multi Media Journalism
at South Downs College.
 I like the idea of working for a company – being a freelancer
doesn't really sound like the best way to start off as you need
to get noticed. Starting off locally however is probably a
better idea, so you can get experience and work your way up,
which is what I’m currently trying to do.
ABOUT ME

3. South Downs College studying Creative Media Journalism Extended Diploma.
My target grade at the end of college: D*D*D
What my course includes: Photography, Journalism, Media Studies, Pre
Productions, Factual Writing, Copy Writing, Graphics and Digital
Communications.
These qualifications will help me in the future because they cover a wide
range of media skills that you need and give me a good opportunity to learn
about other media sectors. For example, I was never interested in Graphics
until I started college and had it once a week. This opens a lot of new doors
for me too.
COLLEGE

4. I haven’t yet found a job in the travel industry that describes me
perfectly, however I love the idea of being a travel
writer/journalist. I love travelling and writing, and working for a
company that needs someone to write about a certain place, a
review, or for a guidebook or something similar appeals to me.
The hours of the job completely depends on what type of job
you have – you may need to travel somewhere new every month
or be away from home for a while. It varies within each job.
If I could get some experience in the different industries, that
may help me to find what I like working in.
Studying at college may also help as we are looking at different
things in the Media/journalism industry.
The Guardian and The Independent have massive travel sections
which I’d be interested in working for – broadsheet newspapers.
IDEAL JOB ROLE

5. - Being a good writer. If you experience the most amazing time
away somewhere but can’t string together a good sentence
about it, you’re not going to be very successful. You need to
have a passion for writing and be good at it.
- Have time to travel. It could be that it’s half an hour away, or
a thousand miles away.
- Find your niche – if you’re like most other writers, no one is
going to be excited about you. You need to find something
different about yourself that you can show off.
- Develop other relevant skills – it’s always good to offer an
employer more than one skill. Photography is a good one to
have.
TASKS MY ROLE INCLUDE

6.  Keep it short - no travel editor has half an hour to wade
through 10 pages of pitch.
 Know the publication.
 Check to see what the publication has covered recently; if it
has covered your story or specific place, don't pitch.
 If you refer the travel editor to your personal website, make
sure it works and is up-to-date.
 Have an original hook; amazingly, backpacking around
Thailand has been covered before.
S o u r c e : h t t p : / / w w w . t h e g u a r d i a n . c o m / c a r e e r s / b r e a k i n g - i n t o - t r a v e l - j o u r n a l i s m
WRITING A PITCH

7. CURRENT JOB ADVERTS
These are some examples of jobs
currently being advertised on a
website called Indeed. A lot would
accept CVs being sent in online to then
narrow everyone down and move on
from there.
Depending on experience, the salary
can vary, the job tasks may, vary as
may the hours.
Some people have an online profile
where employers search FOR them
too.

8. MY CV
This is my CV
which was
created aimed
towards
employers aimed
in the media
industry.

9. MY COVER LETTER
This is my cover
letter which
attaches to my CV –
I wrote it to The
Portsmouth News
Editor asking for
some work
experience.

10. Portsmouth News is produced by Johnston Press and is the only
paid-for newspaper in Portsmouth, England.
I am going to be applying here for some work experience (if I am
not successful there are other magazine/newspapers (local) that I
can apply for as well).
On the Portsmouth News Website, there are loads of different
contacts however the the best to contact about work experience
would be most relevant jobs@portsmouth.co.uk as the only other
contacts on the website are editors. On the Portsmouth News
website, there’s a page where you can search for current jobs on
offer: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/jobs. Here you can narrow it
down to an industry you’re interested in and see what’s on offer. If
I did have a chance to get some experience with them, it would be
great if I could learn about how things work in the building, the
different job types they have going and shadow someone in the
Travel section possibly, as that’s what I want to do. It could be
good to get some experience with a local Newspaper such as this
one.
PORTSMOUTH NEWS

11. Get work experience
(possibly Portsmouth
News) while still
studying at South
Downs and having part
time jobs.
PLAN OF ACTION
After finishing college, consider going to
University to study Journalism or English
(possible ones are Portsmouth,
Southampton Solent or Bournemouth).
Hopefully, during my
time at University, I
will gain some sort of
placement – good
experience.
UNI
Straight
intowork
After leaving college with the
qualifications I want, find
some more experience with a
relevant company. If not,
start at the bottom of a
company and work my way
up. Experience gained here
would be good to have on my
CV – any time of experience
in a relevant work place.
Placement
If the job I go into has a
possibility of leading into a
higher skilled and better paid
one, then stay there. If not,
keep looking for other jobs
and keep trying to apply for
something that appeals to me.
AfterUNI
After uni, if I get the
results I want then I can
attempt to try and get
into the industry I enjoy
the most. If I don’t get the
results I want, I can still
try to apply to loads of
places and hope for the
best. As long as I keep
trying and keep applying,
hopefully I can get
somewhere and whatever
happens then will decide
the next step.
What I want to achieve:
- Be happy with my results at college/UNI/work
- Have a good job that I’m happy with
- Get relevant experience to help me
- Learn new skills that I didn’t before
- Have a good idea of what I actually want to do
Things to do during work experience:
- Shadow someone for a day
- Learn more about the company/job sector you
want to go to
- Ask questions about the job you want to do
- Have a go at being a journalist

12. Strengths – Good perspective at challenges, getting things done
early, being on time, organised, enjoy learning new skills, high
expectations
Weaknesses – Can lose focus if something is taking time/I am
struggling with it, find it hard to accept failure
Opportunities – Portsmouth News, Hampshire magazine, local
leaflets/brochures
Threats – May not have enough experience for a job, other
candidates may have more experience and a better profile,
found a good work experience opportunity in London but entry
requirements don’t match with me
SWOT ANALYSIS