Why my rude awakening to the job made me decide to take a different approach
IDON’T get praised very often, and nor do I expect to be, so on the rare times that I do it comes as a very welcome surprise. The occasional pat on the back does everyone good whatever they have done to receive it and we all appreciate being acknowledged for our efforts, whether at work or at home.
So this week, when I read a piece of flattery someone had said about me, it genuinely moved me.
Because it turns out that someone chose a career in journalism because of what I did to help her.
No, honestly, she even put it in writing, on the internet and everything, so it must be true.
I recall Dani coming on work experience to the Derby Telegraph in 2019 in the days before the dreaded C-word.
She was young, bright, enthusiastic and keen, just what you like to see from a fledgling journalist.
I was asked by the news editor if I would take her to court for the day and show her what I do and I happily agreed.
But I never expected that day to have such a life-affirming impact on her choice of career.
Don’t believe my words, however, this is what she posted online this week: “It was a day a few years ago, a day spent in Derby Crown Court in fact, that finally convinced me I wanted to be a journalist. I was in my early twenties and I was shadowing the Derby Telegraph’s veteran court reporter Martin Naylor. He knew all the court ushers by name, wore a suit and wrote everything down in shorthand. As we shuffled along the benches inside the courtroom he quietly and patiently explained the
ins and outs of the job and I was enthralled.”
Now I’m not so sure I like the idea of being called a “veteran” but that aside I was genuinely taken aback by what Dani penned.
Over the years, I have always done my best to support and encourage work-experience wannabe reporters who have come and gone.
Some have been terrific and gone on to forge successful careers in the industry or public relations while others were, shall we be polite and say less impressive?
And my philosophy for doing so was set by my own experience when I was less of a “veteran” and more a cub as I went to shadow a reporter at a different newspaper many, many moons ago.
On my first morning there she, like me years later, was asked to take “the work experience lad” out on a job with her and her attitude was that she couldn’t be bothered and that I would be more of a hindrance than a help to her.
She shunned almost every question I asked and was, quite simply, rude to me all morning.
On that day I vowed that should I be fortunate enough to be in the same position as her I would act in precisely the opposite manner.
And so that’s what I have done, being as welcoming and supportive as I can be to any nervous youngster (and they have almost all exclusively been nervous youngsters) who have come to try their hand at Telegraph Towers and find out how we have operated.
So to hear just one success story, as I have this week with Dani, has lifted my spirits and made me realise that taking the second option and offering encouragement to the next generation was very much worth it.
Now I’m not so sure I like the idea of being called a ‘veteran’ but that aside I was genuinely taken aback