Comments on: Once upon a time, there was a banana.

By: megalasaurus

megalasaurus — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 03:20:20 +0000

I did work experience for the harbour agency in high school… cleaned the stationary cupboard I think about 4 times in the week i was there. One of the agents even ‘allowed’ me to rule the lines in his diary – and he told me the only reason i could do that was because I grew up in Parramatta and he was a huge Eels supporter. Still had lots of fun and got to observe and see how it worked – exactly what I was there to do.. not actually anything important!

Oh and now that I’m a full time employee at a bank (with a degree) I still have to clean out the stationary cupboard! Gotta start somewhere

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:49:16 +0000

Hi Mia,
Just this year I completed a two week internship at MX Newspapers in Melbourne. I am not in high school, I organised it independently.
I was expecting to go there and be made to fetch coffees and deliver messages, boring stuff, but I was more than happy to do it. I was just rapt that they allowed me to walk into the office! But the staff were amazing, even offering ME tea or coffee.
I actually got to do a lot of cool stuff. I was given my own desk; I accompanied the photographer on heaps of jobs and actually got to meet a few famous people, I wrote up descriptive articles and researched information for the editor. I even got to write an article for an education feature they were doing. I was stoked. They even allowed me to work at JMAG for a couple of days; I got free magazines and posters and transcribed two interviews for them.
It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I wasn’t treated like a student but like a fellow colleague. I was so grateful that they just gave me the time of day, listening to my opinions and ideas was just a bonus!
I would have gladly gotten that banana for your son, heck I would’ve probably brought you back an apple and orange too!
Jess

By: Monique

Monique — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:55:54 +0000

I am currently interning at Cosmo and feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I have been there for 2 months and yes it is hard hard work girls. We get mail and coffees and besides that I sit at a computer all day for at least 8 to 9 hours working as the assistant to the online editor, it is tiring and not glamorous like everyone perceives it as. I travel 2 hours on 3 different types of transport twice a week just to get there…and do it with all the love and energy I can muster while still finishing off my final semester of university and working part-time. I hope I am an exception to how Gen Y has been viewed in today’s society. There are us women (and men) out there who are the exception we are working our butts off with our hearts on our sleeves for something we love. I hope my day will come soon and maybe just maybe I can be a magazine editor one day too. Love you Mia xx

By: Mic

Mic — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:45:56 +0000

I did WHO and Dolly at the start of this year and will be flying back to Sydney from Adelaide in Dec for a week each at Cleo and Ralph.
I fall in the super-enthusiastic category of workie. I stayed late every night at WHO doing extra filing, just because I enjoyed the atmosphere of actually being in the offices (and also I was a little scared of hanging out by myself in the hostel dorm I was staying – the best I can afford).
Everyone has been super nice and seems to appreciate the effort I put in. My problem is the lack of follow-up. I was welcomed to email particular with questions etc…and did so about a week after returning to Adelaide. Haven’t heard a peep since.
Even harder when you’re determined to get an internship, but no-one can tell you how/where to apply. And a girl in my journalism course just got accepted for an internship too…of course only because the Fashion editor is dating her brother.
It’s heartbreaking when you can’t get that leg-up over everyone else.

By: Missamoo

Missamoo — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:45:11 +0000

I’m just not sure when just doing the job became such a battle field? No one wants to be treated like crap understandably. I still wonder are we working for the job title or because the chosen job calls to us?
I enjoy the slogging my guts out to achieve something, not matter what job it is, guess i’m a just a mug!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:59:37 +0000

I’m a journalist at a newspaper and we have had the same problem. I got my job because I did three months full-time as an intern and I was happy to do anything. These kids come in for a week and expect to be writing a front page. We have had some shockers- a girl who flirtily touched my chief of staff on the arm as she walked out to say goodbye (I have found no reason to touch him in three years of workin there). She also had no volume control and I had to tell her to shutup because she was disrupting my phone interview. Another who almost got kicked out of court for being disruptive and strolled up to a prosecutor and introduced herself as if she worked for the paper. She let it slip to us journos that she actually wanted to be a TV reporter and she was just slumming it with us print peasants. She also complained about doing vox pops ( I once did 35 in a day as an intern). Another who interrupted news conference to argue with a court reporter about a witness statement despite the fact he hadn’t taken down one word of notes and didn’t know how to do shorthand like she did. To be honest, probably one out of every six work/exp kid we get in is any good and it makes you wonder if it is worth it?

By: Mia

Mia — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:53:13 +0000

HC – it’s a long time since I wrote this post and I do hope I managed to convey that I’ve worked with some FANTASTIC work experience girls. Evidenced by the fact that I gave so many of them full-time jobs! Well, as many as I could.
I shouldn’t generalise, you’re right.

By: Amanda (bugmum)

Amanda (bugmum) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:13:36 +0000

I know this is about a year too late, but I also did work experience at ACP about…ooh…17 years ago (holy crap! am I that old?)
I used to spend every uni holiday interning in the Publicity department and they couldn’t have been nicer (except for the then head of Publicity and Marketing who sent a second-hand message that she didn’t want the work experience girl answering her phone…I now see that was fair enough, albeit rude.)
I got their coffee (and fruit) but was also given the opportunity to write media releases and assist in the organisation of events (Dolly Covergirl Awards – yay!)among other things.
When the Manager of the Team was leaving ACP she called and let me know she’d recommended me for a position that was coming up…in the end, I went somewhere else, but I was always incredibly glad for the opportunity.
I think you get out what you put in. They saw I was keen, would give 100% to the most menial of tasks and, in return, they gave me the opportunity to hone my skills. It remains an experience that I’ll always remember fondly.

By: HC

HC — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:47:00 +0000

I agree somewhat with the idea that Gen Y’s have the “I want it..NOW”, however within my friendship circle and myself (20 years old) have never experienced it. It is a extremely broad generalisation and I disagree whole heartedly that the stereotype applies for all Gen Y’s. I am a hard working, ambitious young woman who has been brought up not to expect life to fall neatly into my lap, complete and perfect.
I recently saved my part time wages (currently studying journalism) to fly from Melbourne to Sydney to do 2 weeks of work experience @ ACP, over 4 magazine titles.
I agree completely that you have to start at the bottom, work hard for your goals, and I never once complained about many of the menial, boring, sometimes physical tasks I was given.
I made sure that no matter what job (yes fetching coffees, muffins, fruit, mail) I accepted with a smile as I didn’t want to be labeled one of “those annoying work exp. girls who complains” No its not fun, but I did it because thats the industry I wanted to crack.
Mia, I think your opinion of current Gen Y ‘workies’ is far too generalised.
However, I do agree with some comments; that a bit of common courtesy and manners is not too hard, it only takes 2 seconds out of your (understandably) busy day, especially for someone who has saved you the trouble of going out and getting your own coffee.
Out of all the magazines I spent time at (four), I have to admit (and I have loved Cosmo for many years) Cosmopolitan was the most unstructured, ‘go fetch’ position that I experienced. While the majority of the girls were nice, a simple smile, ‘thankyou’ or recognition goes a long way.
It works both ways – treat ‘workies’ respectfully with courtesy and manners, the same way you would any other adult you do not know, and I’m sure the majority will be happy to experience a week in one of their fave mags, even if it is doing the menial tasks such as fetching little boys bananas!
“Oh the work experience girl was TOTALLY expected to pay for my banana. I always made my staff buy me things with their own money. Presents, petrol, shoes…..And sometimes? Just cash.” comment by Mia.
- It was a fair question Mia! My best friend also recently flew to Sydney to do exp @ SHOP, and was asked to buy 2 tins of tuna and given 40c, no please or thankyou’s! My friend was too embarrassed to ask for more money, so just bought the tuna out of her own pocket. She should have spoken up some of you may say, yes, but who’s responsibility is it?

By: disgruntled ex workexperience

disgruntled ex workexperience — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:56:24 +0000

That is one side of it..
It is also really hard to get past that image of green workie in the magazine industry without a bit of ‘that’ attitude..
When in Highschool I would travel from a coastal out-of-Sydney town to do work experience at ACP… after a while i was offered the trainee ship there, which I did first year out of highschool. I thought i had struck gold, i really did, I loved each and every minute of it. Then, it seemed my moment was up… I got asked to come into an interview to be editorial coordinator for a national womens lifestyle ( i just missed you working in the company as editor mia!). I was in the final two for the choice, and was knocked out of the running by one of these work experience girls that the lifestyle editor, who I was then close to, said she was very much the ‘unwilling to get coffee’ type. Apparently she knew the Fashion Editor, and she had pushed for her.
ah well that goes the way of office politics right? Just very disappointing… I worked at another mag for just over a year and a half (it was the job that came up just after the first opportunity and time was running out on lease/money/year long traineeship!) but it had nothing to do with womens lifestyle what so ever, though in the same company..and after getting to that same ‘top two’ position for many womens lifestyle mags entry level positions in the next year, armed with my now fat freelance lifestyle-writing lookbook, which i was building in my spare time, and still not getting positions from editors who were favouring current interns (which is fair enough)… I always cringe at people calling Gen-Y people unable to work hard at what they want. 3 1/2 years from that first day of work experience, 2 1/2 of them full time and in free time freelance writing for these same titles and still no relevant entry level position…
at the moment im at uni studying communications and wondering whether the mag industry is still worth getting back into after the degree..
entry level positions in all companies now are getting less and less common, due to that lovely financical crisis! I guess all of us Gen-Y’ers will earn back our work ethic reputation while scrambling for them!