Jill Foster,
Features Commissioning Editor of the Daily Mirror
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Degree:
BA Communications Studies [2:1], 1997
What does
your job typically involve?
I wish I could give you a typical day but that's one of the things
about journalism I love - no day is the same.
I can tell you what I did today - came up with ideas for features,
did a ring round for some quotes from some celebs for one of our
stories, went out for lunch with some people from Cosmopolitan magazine,
came back to the office and arranged some features with a couple
of PRs, finished off a health feature I was writing earlier this
week, answered these questions, went home.
Not overly exciting but not certainly not dull.
How did you
get started?
During my first week at Nottingham Trent I plucked up the courage
to visit the Platform editor, Emily Millward.
I told her I was interested in doing anything for the paper and
she gave me a video to review. I spent hours on it because I wanted
it to be just right. Emily liked my work, gave me some more and
it just spiralled from there.
Became features editor or something, then news editor - I can't
remember....we made it up as we went along but I did spend more
time in the Platform office than I ever did in a lecture theatre
or the library.
What plans
do you have for the future?
I used to make plans for the future but don't bother any more because
it's pointless. Events and circumstances crop up which change your
career path and lifestyle. For instance, it was my main ambition
to be working on a national newspaper by the time I was 30. This
is bound to sound like I'm showing off but I got there at 25 so
now my plans have all shifted - God knows what I'll be doing by
the time I am 30. I'll probably have burnt out by then and down-shifted
to become a lollipop lady.
Salary bracket?
enough.... but in case my boss reads this - not enough!!
Any advice
to Trent graduates?
Only to the ones going into journalism – get as much experience
as possible.
Get your face known on local papers, magazines etc and get loads
of cuttings by working on Platform. It really is a great starting
block.
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