In Week 7, the Professional Orientation unit held an evening event on campus where students met with industry professionals and gained insight into what it takes to succeed in the field. As a sports media student, the majority of the industry professionals I met at the ‘Communications Cafe’ were related to my field of interest. I met with sports journalists, regular news journalists, a radio commentator, a digital media manager and a radio news presenter. I found the six guest speakers I met with fascinating, as they explained how they entered into their line of work and all the experiences they have had during their journeys. 

 

The six industry professionals I got a chance to speak with are listed below:

 

Caden Helmers : A sports journalist for the Canberra Times

 

Tim Gavel : Sports commentator and journalist for ABC Grandstand

 

Tom Logan : The Digital Media Coordinator at the Canberra Raiders

 

James Buckley : The Canberra Times Sports Editor

 

Samantha Rose : A newsreader and journalist for Canberra FM

 

Sue White : Freelance Journalist and media trainer 

 

The main advice that all of the professionals emphasised during my ten minute group discussions with them, was to gain as much experience as possible before I enter the workforce. Internships and personal blogs were stated as being incredibly influential on future employability, as they want to see proof that you are capable of the work expected. Another common piece of advice given was to continually immerse myself within the sports media landscape and ensure I’m reading articles, writing stories and listening to podcasts and live broadcastings to build upon the skills I’m currently learning at university.

 

As the professionals explained the importance of gaining experience before leaving university and beginning the search for a job, I questioned them on the specifics of how they went about obtaining an internship and whether they recommended I follow the same procedure. Caden Helmers, a sports journalist for the Canberra Times, shared that whilst he was studying at UC he was always emailing sports media companies and asking whether he could get an internship there to learn from them. He had quite a few internships both through his own efforts and the ones offered by the university, to the point where in his final year he applied for a job at The Canberra Times and began working there shortly after.

 

Although, the biggest take away from the Communications Cafe came from Jim Gavel, a sports commentator for ABC Grandstand. As my career goal is to become a commentator, the advice he provided was the most relevant for me as I can mimic his actions in order to improve my commentary skills. He highlighted the fact that calling a game is more than just explaining what the players are doing, it’s also about the atmosphere of the event and inviting the audience into the feeling they would get if they were physically at the match. He gave me one on one tips as to how to improve my wording and that I should have a list of alternative phrases to avoid repeating myself too much.