My Week At Channel 4

Hey guys,

I think this counts as a weekly recap, because I literally spent all week working in Channel 4, so I'll cheat a little and next week we'll be back to regular weekly recaps.
The whole idea of working under such a well known broadcaster is crazy and I'm still shocked that I got to do it. First I'll give a little run down of the application process if anyone is thinking of applying for something similar down the line.

The application process was just a series of questions about myself, my interest in the media world and why I wanted to apply for work experience. I can't remember exactly what I said as it was a long list of questions and I also was very pessimistic at the idea I would actually get chosen, though I did try my best. In my application I spoke about my blog and my passion for online media content, talking about my hopes to get into broadcast journalism after finishing my degree. I also believe I mentioned what I liked about Channel 4 as a brand and how I felt the work experience scheme would benefit me. I also sold myself a bit cause, hey, that's what you have to do!

About a month later I got an email from Gaby, from 4Talent congratulating me for getting onto the scheme and giving me the details for the week. I was so surprised but excited and after calling my mom and I started planning going home for the week as the scheme is in London it made more sense for me to go home and travel from there as opposed to university.

On the first day, I got in, was introduced to everyone else on the scheme. There were about 20 of us in total and we got told there were about 1000 applicants, which made me feel very special indeed as all of us were divided between different teams specialising in different things so it meant (to me anyway) that my application have been good. The first day was mainly team building exercises and a tour of the office building, which is amazing by the way. We also got introduced to our teams and spoke to them about what we hope to accomplish in the week. I was in the Online team, and I spoke to them basically repeating what I had in my application, my interest in the media, my hopes to be a broadcast journalist/presenter etc. The team was amazing and then told me and another work experiencee (is that right? Probably not but this is a blog post not a dissertation) that they would try to get us meetings with people in the same types of paths we were interested in/had experience in the field.

Then there was a lot of meetings, I think that's a big part of media work, which is something I knew before, but every one was really beneficial and I was like the over excited child in school bringing my notebook and taking notes at every one. All these people have much more experience in the field I really want to go into so I obviously have to take it in. After all I was only there for a week and I wanted to get the most out of it that I could. During all of these meetings, we had a meeting with the social media team. This really gave me a lot of insight into how social media management works and I think it was really obvious that it was something I had an interest in, I spoke about social media influencers, and despite not being one, I "admire" what they do as they literally turn themselves into a brand and are able to get leaps and bounds ahead of most in respective fields. I spoke about bloggers such as Gracie Francesca and how she started off with a blog and Youtube and is now presenting documentaries which is similar to what I want to do.

It's probably from this meeting that I realised my passion lies more in social media and content creation than perhaps presenting, it should have been more obvious to me as I already create content on my blog and I use to suffer from the worst stage fright (I mean I would start crying) so perhaps presenting isn't really my cup of tea.

I spoke to my mentor for the week who then made it possible for me to shadow a member of the social team, Kate for the morning, which I loved. I got to sit in on an actual meeting for one of E4's shows that's returning in 2017 and despite not really knowing what was going on, I did feel included and I also solidified in my mind that this is really a route I want to look at.

This was sadly on my last day working with the Online team and I do truly feel there's not enough days in the week to accomplish everything that you want which is why you really have to listen and take note of everything that is said to you/pay attention to everything you do.

The final day we were back with the 4Talent team, going over what we had learnt, whether we would do it again, do we still want to go into the fields we thought etc etc. We also had a little Q&A with the team about how to better our chances of getting back to Channel 4 ideally as a permanent member of staff or how to get onto one of their other schemes such as 4Crew (which I'm hoping to be my next step) or apprenticeship schemes for those not in university.

I feel the week was a bit overwhelming, but amazing. It made me think of things I know I never would have if I just spent that week working/in university. I got to speak to people who were actually doing what I hope to do in 2-3 years, not just people blagging. They gave me advice which really made me want to prioritize and get my shit together. It really made me feel like:
"Yes I want to be here."
Media is truly the path I want and I haven't wasted years at A Levels and university because I'm hopefully going along the right lines.

I feel that covers everything that happened during the week without being exceedingly long. I really aim to be concise in my posts though I know a lot of people like long ones, I personally think shorter ones are more my style. Plus the more I go on the less things start to make sense and I don't want to put people off.

I hope this helps anyone who is thinking of applying to a similar scheme and encourages them to do so or just perhaps let's someone get a nosy look-see into my not so boring week.

Ren x