SYN Media

Work Experience Blog: July 2018

Written by Grace Jemetta

In Year 9, the task of finding work experience was absolutely daunting. I had no idea what I wanted to do, and felt extremely lost as I watched people find placements left, right and center. It wasn’t until the careers teacher at my school sent out an email to my year level about working at a radio station. I immediately emailed her back asking for details, and hoped that no one else would snag the position I so desperately wanted. When I found out a month later that someone else from my year level had acquired a placement at SYN, I thought all my hope was lost.

Fast forward one more month, I had received a call from Molly, the Work Experience Manager, telling me that they had a placement for me. I was beyond excited that I had been given the chance to spend a week doing something that I would enjoy.

When it came to the time of my work experience, I was terrified that I would have to spend a week by myself with people I don’t know. This changed as soon as I walked in the doors of SYN. I was immediately met with kind and welcoming people, who made me feel like I was working with them, and not for them. Something extremely special about work experience at SYN was that I got to work with people in the around the same age group as me. Despite the fact that I was the only teenager in the place, everyone treated me as their equal, and the fact that I was younger than everyone didn’t matter.

During work experience I was able to complete activities that I never thought I would do, and everything I did was extremely enjoyable. I recorded some podcasts and sweepers, and edited them the next day. Even though I despised listening to my voice, I still enjoyed the task as it was made easily understandable for me. I learnt many things from this task, including how to edit audio and add music to it to make it sound as if it were on the radio, and that I need to stop saying “um” and “uh”. Many of my tasks included talking to people about how radio and the organisation of shows works. I always felt comfortable talking with the members of SYN when we were talking about the task we were doing, and they all showed interest in me and what I things I enjoy.

The highlight of my work experience week was when I got to be a part of the live TV on 1700. I was given the task of being a camera operator. I thoroughly enjoyed this job as I got to film a band playing live. I was quite proud of myself every time the red light came on, as it meant my shots were being aired. This experience put me out of my comfort zone as I had to learn something quickly then apply those skills during a live TV show, but I enjoyed working with a big group of people and learning how a TV show is made.

This week has been incredible, and I don’t think I could have enjoyed work experience this much at any place other than SYN. I have learnt that being put out of your comfort zone can result in the most rewarding and exciting experiences.

This week wouldn’t have been possible without the wonderful members of SYN, and I hope to be back in the future.

Applications for 2019 work experience will open in October 2018. Questions? Email membership[@]syn.org.au.