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!