Huddersfield Town FC are currently enjoying their first ever season in the Premier League. With them on their journey in the top flight is BA (Hons) Multimedia Sports Journalism student Rebecca Hawksworth, who is spending the entire season gaining vital work experience in the club’s media department…
As I was approaching the end of my first year with UCFB I considered it vital that for my second year I went out and got some credible work experience within the sports media industry in order to enhance my CV.
Back in March, I emailed my CV and a cover letter to a number of football clubs within the North West and after a meeting with the Head of Marketing and Communications at Huddersfield Town, I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to intern with the club one day a week for the whole season – Huddersfield’s first in the Premier League.
Working for the club every Monday, my internship entails me writing all of the feature pieces on the opposition teams and various other articles for the match day programme. I have also been privileged enough to help film and interview some of the club’s under 23 players, sit in on some of manager David Wagner’s press conferences and write match previews of the academy games for the Huddersfield Town website.
Being immersed in a Premier League environment every week is an incredible experience and is something that can’t be taught. While of course your degree teaches you the skills you need for the career you’re dreaming of, implementing these ideas into a working environment and seeing how the industry works is a whole different game.
My degree and my work placement go hand-in-hand in enhancing my CV and making me an all-round better journalist; so that when I graduate I can go out into the industry with everything I need to become successful.
Despite having only been interning at the club since September, I have already learnt a great deal on how to succeed as a sports journalist as well as how to initially break into the world of sports media. I myself am able to tell that my general writing skills have improved vastly since working for the club, and I continue to improve and learn more about writing structure week on week.
Being given that insight into how content is produced for a football club on a weekly basis is incredible and so far I have thoroughly enjoyed my time interning with Huddersfield. With my own career aspiration being to one day head the media department of a football club, my work placement with the club has only spurred me on more and provided me with that extra bit of motivation to go out and achieve my goals.
