For my post placement skills set, I will reflect on a few key skills which I pointed out as being weaknesses before I began my work placement that I feel I remarkably improved on during my time with NME. Then, below this I will display a list of what I feel are some of my main strengths and weaknesses from a behavioural and technical perspective in my skills set now that I ave completed my placement.

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Confidence

For me, my levels of confidence in my writing and myself as a person have risen dramatically after my work experience placement with NME. As I pointed out in the pre-placement section of this online portfolio, I was understandably nervous before I began my week-long work experience placement down in London. However, despite already having some music writing experience behind me with Discovery Music, I was also lacking in confidence in my abilities as a writer and thought that I may have been a bit out of my depth for the challenge ahead of me which could have easily negatively impacted the overall experience of my placement. However, I was determined that I would relish the experience and not let nerves or negative thoughts get the better of me throughout my time in London. I feel that as a result, as each day went by and I began to really set into the role, my confidence and self-belief rose in leaps and bounds as I began to realise that I actually could work to the level that would be required of me within in a writing role at NME. I began to realise I really was not out of my depth. In fact, I was informed by the writing staff that my Glasgow Punk piece that was published (which I feel is a huge achievement in the first place just to have published) was one of their top performing articles of the entire week on their website. 

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To sum up, to have been given the opportunity to work with NME and have two of my very own articles published under their name within the space of a few days work, I feel, is more than I could have ever dreamt was possible. As mentioned, my confidence in my writing abilities has understandably risen after this achievement which I will now be taking into my new role as Dundee Venues Editor with Edinburgh based magazine The Skinny. However, my confidence in myself as a person has also increased as a result of this as I've proven to myself that I should always aim to push beyond the boundaries of what I expect of myself in situations I come across as I may never reap the full benefits or rewards of opportunities if I don't give them everything I've got.

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New Writing Techniques

During my time on my placement, I learnt various new writing techniques and skills from several different staff writers as I worked on pieces throughout the week.

 

The main thing I have taken away in terms of techniques to apply to my writing is to ensure that the opening lines of my articles are attention grabbing from the get-go. Otherwise, the reader will naturally lack the urge to continue to read on for the remainder of the article - makes sense. A few of the pieces I worked on during my placement lacked this punchy opening to begin with and after sending drafts to staff writers for feedback, this piece of advice was pointed out to me to apply to my writing which will now undeniably set me in good stead for my future articles. 

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Other important things I learnt to consider when writing articles during my time on my placement include being careful over word-choice - specifically adjectives - to relate with the general demographic that I am aiming for with my article and allow them to engage with my written work as best as possible. Furthermore, I also learnt to use my initiative and be creative with my writing from day one as I pitched three of my own unique ideas to senior staff writer in which two of them resulted in becoming published articles. 

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Communication Skills

I pointed out that communication skills were a weakness in my skills set before my placement meaning this was something I imperatively had to work on to achieve any form of success during my placement. Looking back on my placement, I was very happy with how my communication skills came across. With every draft email I sent to staff writers, I always ensured that I asked for their feedback or thoughts wherever possible to improve my chances of learning new tips / techniques to take forward in my writing. If there were ever times where I did not have a set task in front of me, I ensured I was approachable and made the consistent effort to ask staff writers if they had any jobs they needed a helping hand with. Furthermore, I also ensured that I helped out my fellow work experience work colleague for the week, Julia, if she ever needed help with some of the tasks she was assigned throughout the week. 

 

In all, I felt that my friendly, communicative approach to my placement worked out well throughout the week.  As a result of getting on so well with all the staff around me, at the end of the week they offered me the opportunity to come back down to work with them on a second potential placement if I wished to do so which shows that I must have built a solid reputation for myself and my writing during the placement and this could not have been achieved without a solid level of communication skills.

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STRENGTHS

Behavioural

• Confidence

• Hard-Working

• Good Communication Skills

• Creative

• Approachable

• Work to Deadlines

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Technical

• Good Software Skills (e.g. Microsoft Word)

• Experience in the Music Journalism sector with NME and also The Skinny at present

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WEAKNESSES

Behavioural

• Quiet/shy personality at times

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Technical

• Still relatively inexperienced in the music journalism sector as a whole (good/bad point)