The student completed a 2-week work placement at two UK celebrity gossip magazines, New! Magazine and Star Magazine. They spent the first week at New! and the second at Star. Both magazines are located in the same office building in London. The student began with tedious online research tasks but was later able to write interviews and receive their first publishing credit, gaining confidence and realization that they prefer challenging work over routine office tasks.

2.  My 2 week placement was spent on two
magazines.
 I spent the first week at New! Magazine and
during the second week I worked at Star.

3.  New and Star are both well-known, UK
based, gossip magazines.
 They interest mostly teens to early 20s and
discuss the ins and outs of the celebrity
world.
 Both magazines are based in Monument in
the Northern and Shell building, in the same
office, along with other well known
newspapers and magazines such as OK!,
Daily Star and Daily Express.

4.  Before working at New and Star, I was very excited about
the idea of working on such a well-known magazine.
 I’ve always been interested in celebrity culture and thought
that this experience would be both entertaining and
enlightening.
 Although I was nervous, I felt that because I knew the
magazine well, I would be able to showcase my
knowledge and that sort of raised my confidence.
 Working on a magazine module in second year was also
another reason I assumed that I would be able to take on
any challenges that I may have faced.

6.  At the very start, I had quite a tedious role and was made to search
online for possible stories and angles. Although scrolling through celeb
Twitter and Instagram accounts may sound fun, when you’re doing that
for a few hours a day, (knowing you could be doing that at home) it
can get quite annoying.
 I then moved on to transcribing celebrity interviews. Sometimes up to
6/7 interviews a day. I started to realise the questions were repetitive
so I asked if I could write some questions for the next interview.
 Soon, I was writing interviews for celebrities up to 4 times a day.
 I received my first by-line in the second week after writing a few gossip
nibs. The experience was very rewarding and I felt that I had
accomplished something at the end of my placement.
 I also did interviews myself, transcribed and wrote them up.

7.  Lack of challenges
 Same routine
 Easy to become complacent as there wasn’t
anything new to do

8.  I feel much more confident in the sense that I
can apply to more journalistic jobs without
feeling out of place
 It’s made me realise that I do seek challenges
as I initially thought I was someone who strays
from them.
 I’ve realised that I find office work quite boring
and I’m much more of an outdoors person
 I cannot wait to be ‘offered’ new and exciting
experiences

9.  The End