GT-bye

As my internship comes to a close, I’ve been asked to think about what I’ve learnt here at TARGETjobs towers. So as I promised our blog editor Jackie, I’m going to give you a bit about the top five ‘things’ I’m taking out the door with me when I leave.

This may not sound very cool but one of the most important things I’ve learned is Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). I realise that this makes me sound like I spend far too much time at a computer and before I started at TARGETjobs I would have wondered why I would need it too, but really – it’s useful. With so much of the media making its way online, employers are emphasising more often that they want experience in online journalism. I’m not saying that I’m an expert, but having a working knowledge of HTML will hopefully mean the difference between me and another candidate.

Staying on this tangent, my next most important ‘thing’ is the content management system (CMS) that we use at work to get all that lovely content online to you guys. Again, boring as I sound, knowledge of how to use a CMS is a great soft skill that you can put on your CV. It’ll show a prospective employer that you know how to work the ‘behind the scenes’ bit of a website and that you won’t cause their website to crash on your first day, substituting stock exchange rates for a cute picture of a cat in a box and party hat.

My third ‘thing’ that I’m taking with me is confidence. No, I’m not going to strut my stuff out the door like I just don’t care – this relates to writing. Previously I would fret over who read my blog posts in case they took offence to them, or thought my comments ridiculous and inarticulate. TARGETjobs has taught me to shift this angst. Writing on a regular basis has taught me that through practice my writing has become better. I’m quite happy to write now and publish away without fear of rebuttal.

I’m also more intelligent now. Ok, not really, but I can pretend to people now that I’m more intelligent than I am. Having worked on pieces for (deep breath) finance, management consultancy, IT and technology, property, quantity surveying, law, media and a good chunk of The Guardian UK 300, my knowledge of different industries has increased beyond what I thought was possible. It means that I can hold a conversation with a colleague about the technical points of a finance graduate scheme and understand the brain-teasers asked of graduates at interviews.

At this point I must stress that the fifth ‘thing’ I was going to take with me when I left was one of the titanic apple desktop computers that our design team have, but I’ve been assured that this isn’t possible. Apparently it’s something to do with theft.

Anyway, the last ‘thing’ I’m taking with me is advice. After four months of full time work, I would be a fool not to remember at least a few of the things people have said along the way. For instance, I realise now that it’s not just about having a huge amount of work experience on my CV, it’s about being able to convince an employer on one piece of A4 that they just have to meet me. No pressure then for the next time I put pen to covering letter paper…

On a serious note, I would like to thank everyone I’ve worked with at GTI Media who have contributed to my experience over the past four months. They’ve been extremely rewarding and I will miss you when I’m back at university.