After four long years away I went back to school last week but this time not as a student. I had been asked to speak to year 13 students at the Guernsey Grammar School & Sixth Form Centre so I could share pearls of wisdom about working in the local media industry.
In the days before giving the talk I had re-traced my journey over the last couple of years which included completing a degree in media studies at the University of Portsmouth, work experience placements at BBC Guernsey, Channel Television and student radio station Pure FM, and a stint working as a broadcast journalist at Island FM before landing a job at Orchard PR as an account executive earlier this year.
But, it was as I stood before the students in the lecture theatre that I suddenly remembered just how lost I had felt four years earlier sitting in exactly the same spot. At the time it seemed that getting a job in the media industry would be impossible, but I know now, from my own personal experience that it is not and that Guernsey has a thriving media industry, particularly PR, with plenty of opportunities for willing and enthusiastic candidates.
