19 March 2020

My UEA Story: Carolyn

Languages and Communication Studies Alumni

Job Title: Editor - France Magazine
Employer: Archant Ltd
Location: Archant House, Oriel Road, Cheltenham

Please explain how your career has developed since graduating.

I have travelled a lot, worked my way up through journalistic career ladder via TNT Magazine, Metro newspaper and now editor of France Magazine.

 

What is the most rewarding aspect of your current role?

Creative in variety of ways - design, photography, words, editing. Speaking French, nice to use the skill.

 

What steps did you take in finding employment (e.g. careers centre, job websites, networking events)?

Concrete student paper and work experience prior to graduation. Attended lots of networking events to help each subsequent career move.

 

What are the key skills you learnt at UEA?

French, journalism.

 

How have they made a difference in your career?

Concrete was an essential training ground on all aspects of newspaper and magazine production.

 

What piece of advice do you wish you'd received before you graduated?

Save up as much money as possible before job hunting: work experience is unpaid, and first jobs in journalism are really badly paid, so don't start off in debt!

 

Do you have any tips for current students or recent graduates?

Web/apps/new tech is the future of publishing, so concentrate on that.

 

If you use languages in your job, how do you use them and what do you use them for?

Speaking to tourist board PRs, photographers.

 

What is the professional and personal value you place on being able to speak a language other than English?

Much better working relationships with key contacts in travel industry.

 

Can you provide a short description of an incident from your time at UEA, your year abroad or your professional life which stands out (language related or not)?

A private tour of the French Prime Minister's official residence - Hotel de Matignon - by the government curator (speaking in French) and Penelope Fillon, wife of premier Francois Fillon, for an article in France Magazine, before meeting M. Fillon briefly.

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