Intern Profile: Jonathan Demos

Posted: July 30, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Intern Profiles | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Today’s profiled intern is aspiring sports journalist, Jonathan Demos. 

He is the current match reporter for The Box Hill Hawks (VFL) and intern/match reporter for Melbourne Storm (RLC). Jonathan applied for his position at the Hawks after seeing it re-tweeted on My Interning Life. 

Jonathan shares his advice on My Interning Life 

The Basics

Jonathan Demos 21, in my final semester studying a Bachelor of Journalism at La Trobe University.

Dream job? 

My dream job would have to be any sort of role, whether it be in journalism or digital media, which would allow me to gain an opportunity to go and cover an international sporting event. I think getting a chance to go and cover an event like the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics would be unbelievable.

You love sport – what’s your all time favourite sport?

I would probably have to say AFL. Footy would have to be what I am most passionate about, especially when I was growing up. However now, I’m interested in most sports.

Tell us how you scored both of your internships as Match Reporter for the Box Hill Hawks (VFL) and Melbourne Storm (RLC)?

With the Box Hill internship, I actually saw it re-tweeted by the My Interning Life account on Twitter. From there, after reading about the role I applied, had an interview with the General Manager for Box Hill and was then lucky enough to be offered a role match reporting for Box Hill.

With Melbourne Storm it was a little different. Over summer I emailed a few places, Storm being one, my resume just saying I was interested in gaining some work experience. To be honest I didn’t think much of it would come of it. A month later I received a phone call from Storm’s Digital Media Manager asking if I would be interested in match reporting for their website. Since then I have also been fortunate enough to spend some time mid-week in the offices at Storm.

It all has been a fantastic opportunity. I’ve been lucky enough to meet some great people through my experiences and have learnt heaps from them.

Explain what you do on a weekly basis at the Hawks and Storm 

For Box Hill, apart from the match preview I write during the week, my other tasks are all on game day. I report on the match for Box Hill and Hawthorn’s websites and interview the coach after the game. As well as this I update Box Hill’s Facebook and Twitter with scores and generally just what is going on.

At Storm when I spend a day there mid-week I usually a few weekly articles for the website, for example a wrap of each NRL round. Other than that, during the week it really depends what is happening in that particular week. Usually there will be a press conference or video to shoot I can help out with and report on. On game days, basically it’s pretty similar to Box Hill. I just report on the match and then go to the press conference following the match to see what the coaches say (links are to Jonathan’s match reports).

How have you juggled your internships, university and having a social life?

It has actually worked out okay. Uni holidays have taken up a fair chunk of the middle of the season. Also, in the VFL, each team has four byes in the season and with the NRL each team has three byes. So there have not been too many weekends where I’ve had to cover two matches.

Do you think one or two internships is enough? Will you do more? Why/ why not?

That’s a good question. I guess it is always good to get more than one perspective on something. Having said that it probably really depends on how much you are getting out of the internship. I guess there is probably not a lot of point in doing four or five internships just for the sake of having on your resume if your not enjoying it and learning.

Is Twitter a useful tool for media students like yourself – how has it helped you?

Apart from seeing the Box Hill internship as I wrote above, there probably haven’t really been too many other cases where it has specifically helped me. But it’s definitely a good tool to see what people in the media and journalism industry are writing and thinking about.

Jonathan gives his advice

If you get a chance to gain any experience then take it. The worst thing that could happen is that you find that you actually don’t like something – and that’s probably not such a bad thing.

Asking questions and trying to learn as much as you can once you are doing an internship would probably be the biggest thing. Most people will only be too happy to help.

You can follow Jonathan on Twitter and read his match reports for the Box Hill Hawks and Melbourne Storm.   

My Interning Life: Melbourne Storm RLC

Posted: March 26, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Aubrey | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hi Everyone,

I finally scored myself an internship at a sports organization. I have been following up a couple of clubs in rugby union and in the AFL since mid last year. After learning about the experiences that Luke, Ashleigh, Aimme and Anne had in the AFL as interns, I really wanted to experience the inner workings of a sports organization myself.

At uni this semester I am undertaking an internship subject where we are required to do 120 hours worth of unpaid work experience. I already intern at Milk PR and, I will be doing a weeks worth of work experience at Cosmopolitan Magazine in April. It seems that these were not enough for me. I wanted to do more interning.

Late on a Sunday afternoon I was doing some homework for my internship subject and was writing down organizations I’d like to work for. Melbourne Storm was on my list.

I had met Social Media Manager Daniel Pinne at a photo shoot for Milk PR and Heartkids. Daniel was actually following me on twitter so we swapped contact details. I decided on a whim to send Daniel a quick email asking if he was still looking for interns. He replied the next day and we set up a phone interview.

I emerged from my home study after my conversation with Daniel and  announced to my Dad, “Guess who is Melbourne Storm’s newest intern?” and he gave me a hi-5 and we discussed the challenge that lay ahead of me.

I’m not going to lie. I know little about NRL and about Melbourne Storm. A year ago rugby was not even in my vocabulary. How much things can change in a year.

Because of a university assignment I fell in love with rugby union and the Melbourne Rebels. Now because of my determination to find some work experience at a sports organization, I find myself working for the other rugby code – rugby league – and Melbourne Storm.

A year ago I also knew nothing about public relations and I look at how far I have come. I have recently finished up the PR for Sexpo Sydney with my boss Shereen. I set up several radio interviews for the international Sexpo talent such as Ron Jeremy, sent countless emails to the media locking in press, kept a WIP file of all my progress and wrote up media schedules for talent. I couldn’t have imagined doing these tasks by myself a year ago.

Yesterday I went to my first NRL game, Melbourne Storm v Sydney Roosters. Storm crushed the Roosters 44-4. I felt lucky to have experienced the game from such an incredible view, up high in the press box. Billy Slater is an absolute freak, I would almost compare him to Geelong’s Steve Johnson because of their abilities to read the play and score the un-scoreable.

My tasks during the match were to keep an eye on the Storm’s twitter feed, take photos of the match for a half time facebook post. At half time, I updated Storm’s facebook page with the photo I had taken and updated the page again at full time. Daniel told me that he was aiming for the days overal facebook ‘likes’ to be around 5,000. The page received well over that.

Storm’s official twitter page was going nuts. After the game I was in charge of asking fans a couple of questions to keep the conversation going and kept using the hashtag ‘#purplepride’. When I asked who was the best player on ground yesterday, many fans replied with one to three players but noted the entire team worked collectively for the 40-point roasting.

Later this week I will officially start at Melbourne Storm as a Social Media Intern.

Embarking on this new adventure at Melbourne Storm does make me nervous. I know I am capable of doing the work and learning everything I can from Daniel and the team. I would also hope that I bring a different perspective to my internship and some new ideas.

I realize how much of a chance Daniel is taking on me and I hope I can fullfil his expectations.

I also know that I’m not doing this internship without any fellow student support. Another LTU student Jonathan Demos will be blogging for Storm this season (Jonathan is also the match reporter for the Box Hill Hawks). Past featured intern Dion Bennett will also blog for the Storm on the odd occasion.

If I can give a piece of advice to interns and students reading this  wondering how I did it all…my advice is to be proactive. You have to at some point stop talking about what you’re going to do and just simply do it.

Start that blog, create your own twitter account, write articles, get published and send out your resume to organizations asking about internships. Get your foot in the door in the media industry any way you can.

I honestly thought I wouldn’t have a chance this year after my attempts at finding a sports internship were looking slim. As one door closes, another door opens and, I suppose sometimes it’s a little bit of luck and being at the right place at the right time.

It is also your determination and belief in yourself to just send one more email and ask. Who knows you might eventually get a ‘yes’ like I did.

 
You can follow Melbourne Storm and my new boss Daniel Pinne on twitter. You can also read yesterday’s Melbourne Storm match report written by Dion.