JaMD04 – Lecture 1

This module covers all things relating to placement and work experience, as well as generally making myself more employable in general. At the moment, the placement side of things feels very far off, though I know I would like to do a variety of things, to better understand what I would like to do after finishing third year.

Since the 20 days total can be spread out over the year, I would like to have found some kind of work experience by reading week, which is about a month away, even if I haven’t started it then. Just having my foot in the door somewhere would be better for my mentality than having no idea and no goal in mind.

Over tonight and tomorrow, I plan to look online at places that offer work experience – Plymouth Herald for certain, and Plymouth Heart possibly as well – and see how to apply, as well as ask Mike and Sarah about other opportunities, like the potential to shadow a freelancer for a day, or something of that nature, because I’m not sure what I would like to go into.
I know I like doing radio work, particularly the producing side of things, but I find it easier to keep my voice in written media, whether online or in print styles, and I prefer that about it.

In today’s lecture, we looked at personality tests; some places of work still use them as a way of gauging whether they think people would be suitable to work there. I don’t know how accurate they can be for picking and choosing people for jobs, because I think there are many more external factors that affect a person. Four letters cannot possibly predict how a person would react to every possible scenario, especially because there’s so much variation between the types.

I do, however, think they are a fairly accurate way of looking at personality, so long as they are not seen as set in stone and any deviations from the classification are not seen as some giant personality change.

The test I am most familiar with is the Myers-Briggs test, which I’ve done a lot and it comes up the same every time. My type on this test is INFJ, which is known as the “advocate.”

People with the same type include Nelson Mandela, Nicole Kidman and Wilson from House M.D. Some of the strengths of this type include being creative, insightful and altruistic, while the weaknesses include being incredibly private, sensitive and can burn out easily. Funnily enough, journalist and careers in the media are listed as suitable careers for an INFJ, so, if this is accurate, I’m glad I’m in the right place.

While I stand by what I said before, in that I don’t think it’s Gospel, and I definitely see more weaknesses in myself than those listed on this website, I think the part about having an ingrained sense of morality and idealism is true, and that’s what I want to bring into my work as a journalist.
In the end, I want to report on social justice, and inequality between social groups. Eventually, I’ll know how the best way to go about this, and how to get there.

 

 

 

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