Critical Reflection on Career Development:Grow Model

The one-year internship module urges me to find an internship and makes me always reflect on my career plan within cultural and creative industries. The internship blog records every try for an internship opportunity, every reflection on myself and every step I prepare for my career path.

During this year, I applied three internship positions. The first one was in October 2012, I applied for Hearst Magazine, however, I even did not get the interview opportunity. After the disappointment and failure, I applied for the internship in Marketing Department in Phoenix Chinese News & Entertainment (PCNE). For this internship opportunity, I was interviewed for three times and finally got this internship interview. Recently, I got a new three-month internship at CBN TV in China, which might offer working opportunity after the internship. I will work at CBN TV station from September to December 2012. After all endeavor this year, I am clearer about my career path.

G for Goals:My short-term goal is to enter the management trainee programme in Hearst Magazine China.

My long-term goal is to work at its fashion magazine, Chinese Elle, as a columnist or fashion editor. (Chinese Elle belongs to Hearst Magazine China).

Thus, in brief my goal has as follows: “It’s December 2014 and I am using my research skills developed on the MA CCI programme in my current well-paid researcher job in the Elle’s editing department, preparing for the fashion event held by Elle and thinking about the new topic in Elle Magazine.”

R for reality (What have you actually done?):
In October 2012, I got to know that Hearst China would recruit for the management trainee programme in London. I applied for it, however I failed. I even did not get the chance to be interviewed. After the failure, I reflect on myself. The reason why I fail might because they are recruiting who can start the training in China in December 2012. Obviously, I am not able to do that. I will graduate in December 2013. Anyway, I gained some experiences about Hearst China.

I also tried to find an internship in UK fashion magazines. However, there is no any recruitment information published online. This makes me disappointed. I looked at the recruitment requirement of Hearst China again. I found that they prefer people who have international background, media related education background and working experiences. I had an exchange programme in Germany during my bachelor degree and I am doing a master programme at King’s college London, therefore I think I have an international background. My bachelor degree is Film, TV & Media Arts and now I am doing Cultural & Creative Industries. This means that I have an media related education background. I think what I can enhance myself is to do a media-related internship. As it is hard to find an internship in UK fashion magazines, I started to think about other media companies.

Afterwards, I applied for the PCNE TV station, and luckily I got this internship. Although PCNE is a Chinese TV station based in London rather than a fashion magazine publication, it is very well known in China. I think it would be helpful for the application for the management trainee programme of Hearst China 2013.

Recently, I am preparing for the recruitment of Hearst China. I made a job-hunting group with my friends who are hunting job this year. We make plans, do online application exercise and train interview skills together every week.

I also choose ‘Fashion, Culture and Society’and ‘Aesthetic Market and Aesthetic Economy’as my optional modules at King’s College London. In these two modules, I learnt fashion and aesthetic market theories from Simmel, Veblen, Bourdieu, Callon and so on. These theories will provide me knowledge to have profound insight if working at fashion magazines.

My dissertation, is also about Elle Magazine. I did some researches on Elle Magazine and women’s fashion magazine. I also did questionnaires and interview with readers of Elle Magazine. During doing my dissertation, I get to know more about Elle and other fashion magazines. I also know how readers of Elle Magazine readers think.

O for options (What could you do?):

After one year, it will be the recruitment for Hearst China 2013 soon. As I have got the internship at CBN TV station, I will do this internship first. CBN is one of the most famous TV station focus on economics news and reports. This would be helpful for my application for Hearst China since they prefer who has media related working experiences. I am also going to have a cold visit to Hearst China in September when I go back to China.

If I failed again for the Hearst Magazine training programme, I will do a media related job or public relationship or marketing first to gain some working experiences, then look for opportunities to work in fashion magazines, especially Elle.
W for way forward (What will you do?):
To achieve, I will make plans for it. In September, I will do the internship at CBN TV station. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I will train interview skills and other job-hunting techniques with my job-hunting group. In October, I will apply for Hearst Magazine China. As I have already failed in the application for Hearst China, I will apply more companies this time. After graduation, I will base in Shanghai, while Hearst is the only fashion magazine company in Shanghai. Therefore, I will look at other areas that I am interested in. I will apply for jobs at public relationships or marketing department in companies such as L’oreal or Unilever. In a word, I will apply for various jobs in October and November. However, I still want to work for fashion magazines after I gain some experiences in public relationships or marketing department.

Critical thinking about CBN TV station V.S Chinese Elle Magazine

Today I talked with professor Wang at Tongji University, China. I had two of his modules during my bachelor degree, therefore he knows me. It would be great if he can give some advices on my career.

I told him my internship experiences at PCNE and the next internship position at  CBN TV station. He encouraged me to work at CBN TV station as this is one of the most famous and professional TV station which focus on economics report.

I also told him that I want to work at Elle fashion magazine. He thought it would a good job as I am keen on fashion magazine and had some relative courses. However, he reminded me  some facts.

1. The access to fashion magazine is very limited. I do not know anyone in this area.

2. There are not many editors in a fashion magazine, if I want to do the job, I might to work in marketing department or public relationship department first rather than being a fashion magazine editor.

3. There are only around 30 people in Chinese Elle Magaizne, I might do a job in other magazines in Hearst Magazine company rather than in Elle Magazine directly.

4. Although working in fashion magazine looks fabulous, but salaries for Chinese fashion magazine in China is low. Obviously it cannot afford the lifestyle and luxury brand as fashion magazine advertised.

I got the internship opportunity at CBN TV station

Today, I got the e-mail from CBN TV station. I was informed that I got the three-month internship from September to November. There is a great opportunity to offer regular employment for this internship. I will try my best to do it. 

However, if I do this job, I will go away from being a fashion magazine editor. The problem is that the recruitment of Hearst Magazine starts in the end of October, it is late. The training progamme there is also very competitive. I do not know whether I am lucky enough to get the job. Therefore, I will do the internship at CBN TV station first.

I am thinking about making a cold call to Hearst Magazine or make a cold visit in September. Will it be too rude? 

Telephone interview from CBN TV station

Two days ago, I was informed to have a skype interview this morning. I was so nervous that I got up very early and check my skype every five minute. At 11am, I finally got the Skype call from CBN.

The interviewer was a middle-aged man. He asked me questions such as my computer level, especially Final cut and Photoshop,  why I choose CBN TV station, and what is my shortcoming and so on.

I was hesitated to talk about my shortcoming. Obviously, I have many weakness, but  I do not know how to say it properly in an interview. I considered for a while and said that I have procrastination. He had no facial expression at all and asked me another question. To be honest, I still have no idea about this kind of questions.

Job Hunting Step Six: set a job hunting grouo with my friends

I connected with my friends who are going to find a job in Shanghai. There are 25 people in total. Among them, 11 people are willing to join my job hunting group. At present, we are in different cities all over the world, therefore we decided to discuss online every Tuesday and Thursday night.

Task today is to think about what companies you are going to apply for and check the time of their recruitment time. I feel to prepare job hunting with other people is a good idea. It makes job hunting more fun rather than difficult task. It also makes us have more time to communicate with each other. As we are not in the same city or country, we did not regularly meet or chat before. The most important thing is that you will not feel lonely or disappointed too much when you confront job hunting, because you know that your friends are doing the same thing with you. You are not the only one who is tired and busy.

Advices on job from my parents

My parents discuss about the job after graduation with today via Skype. They asked my plan for it and give me some advices. 

1. Practise interview skills with my friends who are also hunt for a job

2. Exchange job hunting information with my friends who are also hunt for a job

3. Try to make cold calls to companies I am interested in

4. Prepare for it as early as possible 

5. Make a plan

6.Do not lose confidence if rejected. 

Because of the internship module, I started to prepare for job hunting very early and often reflect on myself. In next few days, I am planing to set a job hunting group with my friends and classmates who are going to look for a job in Shanghai. We will make plan, exchange information and practice interview and online test together regularly.

Keep in touch with the colleagues at PCNE TV station

The course has enhanced my realisation of the importance of networking. I intend to keep in touch with PCNE and my former colleages. 

I meet my colleagues at PCNE TV station today. Although I have finished my internship there, I made friends with some of my colleagues, including interns and regular employees. My previous college, Yiting, shared me some contacts who work in cultural companies in Shanghai. This might be useful after I go back Shanghai. 

Job Hunting Step Four: Make a plan for my job season

After some preparation , I decided to make a plan for the job hunting season.

1. What companies I am going to apply for ?

1)Fast Moving Consumer Goods oCmpanies(FMCG): Unilever, P&G

2) Cosmetic Companies: L'oreal, Estee Lauder

3) Luxury Brand Companies: Chanel, Dior, LVHM，BMW

4)Public Relations Companies：Ogilvy, Weber Shandwick

5)Fashion magazine Companies: Hearst

6) TV Station: Phoenix TV, CBN TV

2. What positions I want to apply for?

I want to apply for marketing department, public relationships department in companies; editor in fashion magazine and TV programme producer or planning at TV station.

3. What job I want to do most?

Fashion maghazine editor at Hearst. I particularly want to work in Elle Magazine in Hearst Magazine Company.

4. Make a timetable

After go through all companies I am going to apply for, I need to make a timetable for it.

Job Hunting Step Three: Using Sina Weibo

Sina Weibo  is a Chinese microblogging  website similar to twitter. Now most famous companies have their official Sina Weibo account to provide their job opportunities information. It is a very good way to gather job information in China.

As the job hunting season is coming, I followed  accounts of companies I am interested in to collect job information.  

Job Hunting Step Two: The preparation for Unilever recruitment

The recruitment of Unilever will begin soon. I am going to apply for the position in marketing department. There are two programmes suitable for me. One is their regular graduation recruitment in China, another is Unilever China Overseas Management trainee programme in UK. The China Overseas Management trainnee programme will be based in London in the first year and then go to China. It is designed to give all the training and experience required to be a manager in two to three years. The trainee will be hired into a particular business area and will develop leadership skills by getting real responsibility from day one. 

First of all, I googled this programme and found some application and interview experiences written by people who successfully get the job. Basically, the application have four steps: online application, online  logical test, telephone interview and face-to-face interview. 

I decided to prepare for the open questions for online application first. There are three must-answer questions:

a. Describe a time when you came up with an idea that you had to obtain buy-in for.

b.Describe an occasion when you have had a big issue to solve and you needed help.

c.Describe a time when you spotted an opportunity and made it happen.

This is quite similar to many other companies online application questions. I  prepared some stories of mine for answering the three questions. The application system will open in the end of August. Wish me a good luck!

Reply received from the CBN TV Station

Today I received the reply from the CBN TV Station. They asked me to attend the interview in August in Shanghai, China. However, I will be still working on my dissertation in UK. I asked Miss Li, the HR, whether they could interview me by Skype. Luckily, she agreed.

I applied for TV programme planning assistant. This is quite diffenrent from the marketing department in PCNE TV station. Therefore, I watched a TV programme of CBN TV station and write a TV prgramme rundown by myself. I also called my friend, Qian about her routine work, who used to be a TV programme Planning. Good luck with the interview for CBN TV station!

An application for CBN TV Station

I am going to make an application for CBN TV station. The first thing for me is to write a cover letter and add my internship experiences at PCNE TV Station. As PCNE is famous in China, the internship experiences there might be quite useful. I am also going to attach my reference letter from PCNE to the HR of CBN TV station. 

The internship begins in the September. They might give working offer after 3 months internship. At the same time, I will also prepare for the recruitment at Hearst Magazine, which is my dream company. 

The hardest year to find a job in China

The situation of job affair in the year of 2013 in China

It is reported that the year 2013 is the hardest job hunting year  in China. According to the Ministry of Education, there are more than 6.99 million college graduates in 2013, 190,000 more than last year. The large number of graduates certainly brings the fierce competition in job market.

The hard situation reminds me to prepare for my job as soon as possible. Hearst, my favourite company, usually recruits in September and October. Other fashion magazines, however, do not have regular recruitment to the public. They usually recruit employee via recommendation in their network. Unfortunately, I do not know anyone in the network. The only hope for me to work in a fashion magazine is the recruitment of Hearst in September. 

However, I was informed that there is an internship opportunity at CBN TV station in September. CBN is one of the most professional financial news TV station. This is quite relevant to another dream job of mine-----to work in Bloomburg. I know it is hard to get a job in Bloomburg, internship at BCN TV station might be a good  choice. Therefore, I am going to send my CV to CBN next week.

Job Hunting Step One:Using LinkedIn

Finally I start to use linkedIn. Please search for my name, Yige Liu on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a social networking website for people in professional occupations. Founded in December 2002 and launched on May 5, 2003, it is mainly used for professioanl networking. As of June 2013, LinkedIn reports more than 225 million acquired users in more than 200 countries and territories.

After the internship in PCNE, I started to look for a job or an internship in or after September. LinkedIn popped into my mind. Therefore, I get started to register and create my linked-in page. I also found some friends and professional people on the website. 

One good thing for using linkedIn is that headhunting might find my profile, although the possibility might small. Another thing is that I can see other people's profile, especially who are successful in the field I want to engage in in the future. Then I can reflect on my own and decide where to go next.

My personality test result

In order to think more clearly about my career path, I did a personal test today. The personal test. Here is the link:   http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp


My type is that: ENFJ

Extravert(56%)  iNtuitive(62%)  Feeling(50%)  Judging(11%)

• You have moderate preference of Extraversion over Introversion (56%)
• You have distinctive preference of Intuition over Sensing (62%)
• You have moderate preference of Feeling over Thinking (50%)
• You have slight preference of Judging over Perceiving (11%)

Traits for ENFJs are:

• Genuinely and warmly interested in people

• Value people's feelings

• Value structure and organization

• Value harmony, and good at creating it

• Exceptionally good people skills

• Dislike impersonal logic and analysis

• Strong organizational capabilities

• Loyal and honest

• Creative and imaginative

• Enjoy variety and new challenges

• Get personal satisfaction from helping others

• Extremely sensitive to criticism and discord

• Need approval from others to feel good about themselves

There are some career choice suggestions for ENFJ type people:

• Facilitator
• Consultant
• Psychologist
• Social worker/ Counselor
• Teacher
• Clergy
• Sales Representative
• Human Resources
• Manager
• Events Coordinator
• Sales Representative
• Politicians/Diplomats
• Writers
• TV programme producer
• Public Relationship Manager

For myself, I want to be a fashion magazine editor or fashion magazine columnist. The rest result shows that my personal type is correspond to my career plan. 

The reflection on the internship in PCNE

After the internship at PCNE, it's time to reflect on myself.

1. My engagement at PCNE
I was working at the Marketing Department in PCNE. My routine works are:

• Editing and uploading TV programmes on the website of Phoenix CNE via FTP server
• Managing official social media of Phoenix CNE, i.e. Facebook and Sina Weibo
• Making the subtitile for a talk show at PCNE
• Making the new TV programme timetable and adjusting the recording time of TV programmes every month.
• Plane events and the slogan for 'Miss Chinese Cosmos Pageant' European region. 
• Did marketing research of the potential audience for PCNE TV Station

2. What I learnt at PCNE
First of all, I practiced my professional skills such as editing videos and making subtitles. Secondly, I learnt how to do marketing research and online survey efficiently.Thirdly, I became more careful and strict to time. Last but not least, I always reflect on myself after the internship at PCNE.

Here is some simple thoughts about my reflection on the internship experience at PCNE.

Reflection on my idea career paths and what I did for them

Rhys once talked about career management in the class. After the class,  I'm always thinking about my career management and career path. Here are my reflections and thoughts.

There are 3 career paths I am interested in:

1. An editor in a fashion magazine such as ELLE or Vogue.

2. A job in a marketing or public relationship department in Unilever or L'oreal.

3. A journalist in Phoniex TV station.

What I prepared for these job paths?

1. An editor in a fashion magazine

I did an ICP research about Hearst China, which owned China ELLE in summer holiday. After this research, I know the history of  China ELLE, how they recruit staff and the way they work.  After I came to King's College London, I chose the aesthetic economy & aesthetic market and fashion culture & society as my optional modules. I also applied for the 2012 trainee management programme of Hearst China. Although I even did not get an opportunity to attend the interview, at least I tried. I can try it again in 2013.

2. A job in a marketing or public relationship department in Unilever or L'oreal.

I collected information about the Unilever or L'oreal. I got to know there is a China programme in Unilever  every year. Those who are able to enter this programme will be trained in London for one year, then they will go to China for work. I  registered  this programme online to know what I should do during the application process. I am going to apply for this programme after graduation at KCL.

3. A journalist in Phoniex TV station.

I applied for an internship position at Phoenix Europe last November. I went there twice for interviews at both marketing and news department in last November and December. This Monday, I e-mailed the HR manager to ask the decision for the internship position. She said she had to discuss with team leaders and would reply me by this week. Today, I received an e-mail from her. Because the interviews were several days ago, the team leaders want to have a short chat with me as an interview again. Wish me a good luck: )

I prepared for all these three career paths. I hope I can find out which career path  is  most suitable for me after my graduation. During the year at King's, I will do an intern within these career paths. In the next 5 years, I hope to do an job within my idea career path. As all career paths do not have a long history in China, I hope I can be a professional in one of the fields in the next 20 years.

I think my plans are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed.

More understanding about PCNE when I am leaving

The last day of Ada and me 

Time flies. It is the time to say goodbye to PCNE. I have worked as a part-time intern for 3 months here.  During the 3 months, I fulfilled my dream to work for Phoenix TV station since childhood.

Working in the PCNE is totally different from what I thought. First of all, there are not many emplyees in the company based in London. There are around 30-35 people in the office. However, all the TV news from UK are produced here. I am so proud of it. Secondly, I realised that PCNE cannot offer the working visa. This means that I definitely can  not work here in the future. Thirdly, Phoenix TV station are recruiting people in Shanghai. This is a good news for me, as Shanghai is my hometown.

However, after 3 months work, I start to doubt that whether I really want to work in the Phoenix TV station. To work here, it means that I have to sacrifice lots of my free time and work for a long time. As most work in cultural industries, it is also low pay. Another thing is the office in Shanghai is small, there are only about 20 people there.

I might to rethink again about my career path and give myself more choices.

New things I learnt at PCNE----to do your dream board

Basically we have a training every week. For this week, our topic is to do a dream board. Yoyo asked interns in marketing department to find some pictures or words they like, and then stick them on a board or do it by computer.  The rule is that do not think about the reason, simply choose pictures you like.

After one day tiring work, we gathered together to share our dream boards. This is the most exciting for us as we can share and talk about our ideal life and dreams.

CC shared her dream board at first. She is obsessed with antique, therefore there are many antiques on her board. She dreamed to be a professional antique collector. While Ada is a cat lover, she shared lots of pictures of cats. She said she wanted to own more than fifty cats in the near future. At the same time, Ada posted picture of reality shows，as she also dreamed to be a successful director of reality show. She wanted to make a TV programme like The Voice of China. Her board is also very organised, just like the way she works.

Back to my dream board, I did not mention directly about my career dream. It is more about an ideal life mode for myself. There are many pictures about family and travelling. There is also a picture of a cute baby. It may indicate that I really dream to own a family with a nice house, a beloved partner and a cute baby. And, we together to see beautiful views all over the world. My dream board is particularly bright and colorful compared with other people. Every one said 'Wow' when they saw my board. And at the first sight, every one looks at the cute baby. 

After sharing our pictures with each other, Yoyo told us the reason why she asked us to do a dream board. She wanted us to look at ourselves and ask ourselves what we really want and do not waste time on what we do not want.  

For me, as the bright and colourful dream board of mine, I want to do a job which can make people lives better and keep me updated with the world. For example, to be an editor of a fashion magazine, which makes women more beautiful and elegant. Also, as shown in my dream board, family is a very important composition  for my future life, I want to be a freelance columnist for magazines after ten or twenty years later. 

To conclude, what I really want is something make other people live in a better way and keep me fresh and updated with the world.

My suggestion for a new online TV programme

  The Chinese TV programme named 《职来职往》

As I talked about in an older post, PCNE is going to do a new online TV programme which concern about Chinese students in the UK. It shows in the questionnaire that the thing students cares most is to find a job. Therefore I am thinking about a programme which can help students in the UK seek for a job. It might be caught their eye. 

I am not sure whether the idea is feasible, but it just popped into my mind. It is inspired by a TV programme called 《职来职往》 in China. Actually they even have episodes for UK students, while their dominating target is not  students in the UK.

Here are links for two episodes of 《职来职往》
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fn_9tifDAk  ；    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBLbMOsJfTM

Why Chinese students in the UK might be interested in the TV programme:

1. to get a job in the Uk is very difficult for Chinese students  (much more difficult than in China);

2.  a large amount of students want to stay in the UK after graduation;

3. salaries in China are low compared to in the UK;

4. acquiring working experiences helps to finding a good job in China if they want to go back in the future.

Also there are Chinese companies based in the UK, such as Huawei, the bank of China, etc. They are most likely to cooperate with Phoenix CNE to offer job opportunities to Chinese students.  Another point I mentioned  is that job offers in 《职来职往》are not  guaranteed jobs but more like an paid internship position or paid  probationship position.  The company can reject to offer him or hereafter the probation if the individual is not appropriate. Actually, for students who do not have much experiences, they are not confident to gain a good internship. They hope there are  some organisations or some thing like that can help them to build a career path. I saw on a page of a company which help students to gain internship. It just started to post but he gains fans rapidly. 

I also know there are many organisations at universities concerning career path and companies such as BBY( this company is in based in Shanghai and Beijing) to do this.

BBY gives students advices of seeking for a idea job, applying for an overseas university progamme or a MBA programme. They have free lectures in different university to attract students to join their classes. Their classes including seminars and various activities. They teach techniques and knowledges you should know when you are seeking for a job. 

My point is that career planning is what many students concern about. If Phoenix has  such a TV programme on our website which can help students to gain a internship or job offer, it might be very attractive to them.

New technique----doing a marketing reserch

This week, my main job is to do a marketing research of Chinese students in the UK. This is my first time to do a marketing research, although it is not easy for me, but after all, I learn a new technique.

The main audience  of PCNE is Chinese family in Europe at present.  Although Phoenix TV is well-know among Chinese people all over the world, students in Europe seldom watches PCNE. This is because most of them do not have a TV. Another problem is there are not many entertainment TV programme in PCNE, as it is famous for international news and politics talk show. However, there is a large number of Chinese overseas students, PCNE also want to target at this group.  Therefore, Yoyo asked Ada and me to do a marketing research of Chinese students in the UK. They wanted to do a brand new online TV programme which aimed at students.

The first thing we do is to do investigations. The investigations includes the number of Chinese students in the UK, the regions they are in the UK, their sex, their major, their hobbies, their concerns, their favorite brands, their consume mode and their favourite TV programme.

Ada and I divided the jobs. I am mainly responsible for their hobbies, their concerns, their favorite brands, their consume mode and their favourite TV programme. Therefore, I did a questionnaire online about Chinese students in the UK by survey monkey.

Here is the link of questionnaire:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DJX2M9Y

I posted on PCNE official website, official social media. I also invited my Chinese friends and classmates in the UK to fill this questionnaire. My target was 280 filled one. However, there were only 120. I realised that I should add some bonus on it to make it more attempting. Therefore, I negotiated with Yoyo. She disagreed my suggestion. Because we do not have enough budget for it. Whatever, I will try to find more people to do the questionnaire next week.

The preparation for Miss Chinese Cosmos Pageant 2013 European Section

Miss Chinese Cosmos Pageant European Section is one of  the biggest event at the PCNE TV station.  In 2013, this pageant European Section will be held in France in August. Then the top 3 in European Section will have the chance to go to Hongkong to take part in the final competition. Miss Chinese  will recruit Chinese girls  in China, Europe, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. 

The recruitment details are in the website: http://miss.ifeng.com/

Although this pageant will be held in August, PCNE started the preparation since April. Except for my routine work, such as updating social media and editing TV programmes, I am also responsible for French visa issues (as the pageant will be held in France) and to make a slogan for the pageant.

French visa issue is not a difficult problem as there are still months away from the pageant. However, I made 10 different slogans for the Miss Chinese, none of them satisfied my manager. 

The introduction of my host company (Phoenix and PCNE)

Phoenix Satellite Group

Phoenix Chinese TV Group has huge influence among Chinese people globally as it provides the best sources of international news available in Chinese. It has been rated as one of China’s 500 most valuable brands, announced by the World Brand Laboratory, one of the world’s leading brand evaluation organizations, in the world Brand summit since 2000. 

Phoenix Chinese News & Entertainment Channel (PCNE)

Based in London, PCNE is a channel which belongs to Phoenix Chinese TV Group and targets to Chinese audience in European.   As a bridge connecting Europe with the greater China Region, Phoenix Chinese News & Entertainment Channel (PCNE) brings to its European audience an uninterrupted stream of political and business information and a variety of entertainment programs through a wide distribution network. The channel broadcasts its Chinese programmes 24/7 via satellite transponder Eurobird D9S to 60 countries and regions in Europe.Phoenix CNE is also dedicated to promote closer economic partnerships and cultural exchanges between China and Europe, creates waves for Chinese enterprises and provinces in their efforts to open up new trade and investment opportunities in Europe.Apart from serving the needs of the European Chinese communities, Phoenix CNE also offers a window of opportunity for investors to target the most affluent and educated European Chinese as well as for European companies to generate publicity as they charge into the China market.

For myself, I started to watch Phoenix TV news since its inception in 1996. Although I was only 7 years old at that time, the comprehensive and professional global coverage of Phoenix attracted me. Since that time I have wanted to be a journalist in Phoenix and was inspired to develop an interest in international affairs at that early age. It is a dream that comes true for me to get the internship opportunity at Phoenix CNE.

Things I learnt in first week

From this week, I start to work at Phoenix TV station. I work two days per week, from 10 am to 6pm. In the first week, the previous intern, Mengyi, told me all routine work: making the cover of TV programmes, editing video, uploading video, doing timetable of TV programme, posting new articles and news on Facebook and Sina weibo, etc. Because Mengyi will leave her work next week, I have to bear all things in mind. During two days working, I learnt something I think is very important I think for my work and study.

Things I learnt in first week:

1.     Efficiency is No.1

I have many work every day, if I cannot finish my tasks, I have to do it at home. Furthermore, I am working in a team, doing things slowing will influence other people’s efficiency.

2.     Never be late

Working in an office, There is no excuse for being late. It takes me half past an hour by train to the working place，therefore I have to get up before 7.30 am on working days.

3.     Be patient and careful

Many works are routine and basic. It is not very difficult but I have to be very patient and careful. For example, every time before I editing a new clip, I have to set the video size at full size. If I forget this, the video exported will be in a wrong size. If I made spelling mistakes on programme name, the video will not show on the website. 

Videos  I  edited and uploaded 

                                                            Photo with Mengyi

Mengyi has worked as full-time intern in marketing department at Phoenix for more than one month, she  will leave next week.  Mengyi taught me everything about my work.

 My desk in the office