About this blog
What is the Media Club?
It’s a club set up by the University of Manchester Careers Service to help students who want a career in the media.
The University doesn’t have any specific media-related courses, so this is our way of providing a grounding in media skills through industry speakers and practical sessions.
This isn’t a media course, nor is it a PG Dip alternative; it’s something that students volunteer to be part of, to give themselves an edge in the competitive media world. We’re a club. We thought that sounded a bit more fun. Actually, a lot more fun.
The idea is that, with some of these foundations in place, our graduates will be even more employable and that canny companies will be able to use us to spot talent early on.
The aim of the sessions is to give you an insight into the media and ultimately get you on the way to your dream job.
We’ll do that with top guest speakers and some practical sessions on everything from interview techniques to writing and voice coaching.
But as this is Year One, we want your input as well. What do you want to know? Who do you want to hear from? What’s worrying you the most?
If you are desperate for digital media help, video editing advice, production training etc, ask us and we will try to put on additional sessions with experts in those fields.
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
At the end of the day, it’s down to you, the more you push us, the more we’ll give you in return – well, within reason!
So why all this blog/Twitter/LinkedIn malarky?
Networking is important.
Scratch that. Networking is vital.
You’ll be surprised how many jobs don’t need a CV, don’t even need an interview, they just open up through contacts.
Media people have BIG contacts books.
Everyone you know, everyone you meet is a potential contact.
It could be a story, it could be your next career move, so never ignore a good networking opportunity.
Having a grasp of tools like Twitter and Linkedin is a great help and it allows you to talk to professionals through a medium that they’re already using. More importantly though, you should be listening to the themes and trends, because if you’re following the right people, you’ll always be a step ahead of the pack!
Our online element (Twitter, Linkedin) gives you a chance to network and ask questions away from Media Club events and we’re hoping that people in the media industry will be able to help whenever possible as digital mentors.
Stephen Chapman
