Rebuild, Reinvent, Redesign
Another birthday passes me by and I grow another year older, it has given me some serious time to think about my personal and professional goals. If I told you that I would have had a difficult few years after leaving university, then the reality of it is it has been more like a rollercoaster.
2019 got off to a major setback as I was let go of my content creator role. It was a fun role to work in despite coming in from a journalism background but it gave me the opportunity to rebuild my career after being severely burned out from journalism.
Throughout my career, I have always wanted to push myself beyond what I am capable of. When I think of the three words that come into mind, that’s rebuild, reinvent, redesign.
Rebuilding My Career
For nearly six years as a journalist, I have had some career highs and lows reporting across data, sports and local news. I even had the opportunity to get my work published with Computer Business Review, DESIblitz.com, theCheckeredFlag.co.uk and others.
Alongside this, I also gained valuable experience with major broadcast media companies such as ITV, Sky and BBC. At one point, I thought my career was going well till I hit a roadblock in the middle of 2018, a moment that had changed my career for the better.
It’s no secret that for the second-half of 2018, I was a reporter specialising in the consumer and enterprise technology sector. I thought I had everything I wanted, a job in London, a salary and Hampstead Heath on my doorstep until something changed.
Deep down, I knew that while I loved London and the job, my passion for tech journalism had waned with each day passing by. I once lay on my bed after work collapsing on my bed, disgusted and demoralised. This was my first full-time journalism job after university, so why was I angry with myself?
It takes time to rebuild something, and I am learning this the hard way although I would not want it any other way.
The Reinvention Phase
Once the anger subsided, I relocated back to Birmingham where I did a lot of soul searching. Inside, I still wanted to be a journalist, but I ended up getting a Content Creator position with an emerging content marketing agency in Digbeth.
During that period, it was a reinvention phase for me, switching from journalism to content marketing. I enjoyed the work, as well as taking responsibility of some big projects which included the first media briefing with the Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street which was fantastic.
It was only until the start of 2019 that I had lost my job, which only gave me further motivation to become a hack again. Through no choice of my own, I became a freelance journalist which has been a learning curve as its a lot of pitching and managing my time to ensure I have a steady stream of work alongside finding my next full-time opportunity.
The reinvention of my journalism career continues as I look to challenge myself with projects that The Bureau Local do, as well as participating in more hackdays and networking events across the UK and pitching for more commissions.
The Career Redesign
After leaving my content creator position in January 2019, I have been redesigning my career prospects as a journalist. One of my good friends in journalism encouraged me to take up Teeline shorthand to help me with my job, so I decided to take the plunge and learn shorthand.
Over a month later, and I have been spending an hour every day learning shorthand, trying to decipher my notes. It’s been tough, but I have needed to stick at it because its an important skill for journalists to transcribe interviews or key bits of information that would have been missed quickly.
Alongside my shorthand, I have been more active in the journalism community. I got my first two pitches commissioned by an editor recently which I have been working on as well as collaborating with The Bureau Local on some investigative projects.
What has benefited me a lot is the fact that I have now adopted a positive mental attitude where I aim to be optimistic in any situation that comes my way. In life, you have many setbacks, its about how you get back up after being knocked down and how you can continue without giving up.
While 2019 has not gotten off to the best of starts, turning 23 and being able to seek positives in every situation both professionally and personally will help me immensely in the rebuilding and redesigning phases.
