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Asha Hipperson, BA Journalism, Careers E-Mentoring, LEAP 2020/21

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LEAP Careers Blog
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Asha Hipperson, BA Journalism

I am a final year Journalism student with a love for writing, reading and travel. I joined the mentoring scheme because I was looking for some insight into industries that I might wish to be a part of in the future. Primarily, I am hoping to pursue a career in public relations (PR), but I am also interested in magazine journalism and media law. CV editing, application writing, and interview processes are a common occurrence in final year, so I was keen to develop these areas with help from someone who had been through it all before.

My mentor was Rebecca Edwards, who works in PR but has also worked in journalism in the past. We were paired up because her current and previous careers were really relevant to my own future goals. Knowing little about the industry, it was great to be able to get help and advice from Rebecca, as well as an insight into what different PR roles entail.

Rebecca and I decided that we would have a weekly video call to discuss different aspects of careers, including interviews, applications, cover letters and how she had progressed to her current role. We also shared emails to organise these and for me to send my CV to receive feedback on.

The part of the mentoring scheme I found most helpful was advice and guidance on writing cover letters for different companies and editing my CV to be tailored towards various roles. Rebecca even helped me to write a cover letter that successfully got me an internship at a PR firm!

I am currently an intern at this firm and learning a lot, as well as gaining a great insight into the day to day work of a PR executive. After university I’m hoping that this experience will help me to gain a graduate job in the industry and all of Rebecca’s advice will assist me in succeeding in application and interview processes.

I would tell fellow students to absolutely take part in this scheme! My mentor was incredibly helpful, and we still keep in touch. I firmly believe the mentoring scheme has helped me towards my future career goals.