{"id":7669,"date":"2020-07-23T15:28:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T14:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/careers\/?p=7669"},"modified":"2020-07-23T15:28:20","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T14:28:20","slug":"cccu-student-success-story-achieving-a-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/careers\/cccu-student-success-story-achieving-a-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"CCCU Student Success Story – Achieving a dream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The following is the story of Jake Peach, Alumnus of CCCU who graduated with a undergraduate degree in Film, Radio and TV in 2018. Whilst this is a story of his successes after leaving CCCU, it also shows how he used his time effectively as a student to achieve his career dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I\u00a0decided to come to\u00a0Canterbury Christ\u00a0Church\u00a0(CCCU)\u00a0to study Film, Radio & Television, firmly knowing that I wanted to\u00a0get into\u00a0radio, which I appreciate is very lucky in some sense. My dream was to reach the BBC\u00a0and I knew it would\u00a0not\u00a0be easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Presenting Drivetime on CSRfm<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The first thing people told me about radio is like any other job\u2026 I needed to get hands-on experience.\u00a0So\u00a0on my first day of University, I signed up to CSRfm \u2013 the student and community radio station for CCCU and University of Kent.\u00a0Of course\u00a0it\u2019s vital to learn the theory that underpins the subject but there\u00a0is\u00a0nothing better than\u00a0getting practical experience.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Presenting the Student Radio Chart Show (we won an award for the show and I got to shadow Greg James at Radio 1 as a result)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I used my first year to settle in like any student would but volunteered as much time as\u00a0I\u00a0could to present shows, help with promoting the station and anything else that got me near a studio and learning how to use the equipment, the formats of radio and just learning how it worked really from\u00a0others.\u00a0Then in my second and third years, I took on more responsibility by taking on managerial jobs, overseeing Daytime programmes and then became Station Manager for my final year. It was a big task to try and juggle running a station alongside\u00a0my degree, but it was worth it and taught me a lot about working within a team and accelerated my overall understanding that there is more to radio than\u00a0what\u00a0you hear\u00a0coming out the speaker.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Presenting an outside broadcast at Canterbury Food & Drink Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Getting that initial experience\u00a0and professional understanding\u00a0of radio was important but as I got closer to graduating, I needed some real-world experience of the industry.\u00a0So\u00a0I reached out to the local BBC Radio Station which was BBC Radio Kent. I sent\u00a0a number of\u00a0emails asking to shadow any show I could at the\u00a0station\u00a0but\u00a0I was not\u00a0getting much response. As you go into this industry, people will also tell you it\u00a0is\u00a0\u2018who you know\u2019\u00a0that helps get you places. It just so happened that being involved in CSRfm led me to getting in the door at Radio Kent. CSRfm always had involvement with the end-of-year Summer Ball\u00a0at CCCU,\u00a0and\u00a0one of the team working on the Summer Ball happened to have a brother that worked at Radio Kent\u2026 and then my emails were picked up and I got my chance.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Running a recruitment stand for CSRfm<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Following on from this, I shadowed at any opportunity they gave\u00a0me, whether that\u00a0meant getting up at 4am for the early shows and then making it back for lectures or whether it meant giving up my weekend\u2026 I was THERE. After shadowing\u00a0a number of\u00a0programmes and giving up my free time, I was offered my first shifts to work freelance at the station around my studies.\u00a0My first shift was in at the deep end on New\u00a0Years\u00a0Eve, keeping the station on-air with 9 hours of pre-recorded programmes, followed by working on a 3-hour live programme through to 1am. Yes\u2026 this meant I gave up my New\u00a0Years\u00a0Eve which you might think is CRAZY (which it is); but I\u2019m certain that it put my name in people\u2019s minds and showed I was dedicated and passionate, which is what bosses look for.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My first shift at the BBC<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

From there, I went on to\u00a0graduate\u00a0from\u00a0CCCU\u00a0and took some time to travel abroad. Then after graduating as a result of my work with Radio Kent, I managed to pick up some work at BBC Essex, which is where I\u2019d moved back to after University.\u00a0Again\u00a0this work was initially freelance, saying YES to pretty much any shift that came my way and then a full-time contract came up after about 6 months or so. I went for it and luckily, I got the job! Along\u00a0with this most recently, I picked up some work on BBC Introducing in Essex, producing the show each week and helping the presenter to broadcast the show.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Producing one of my first shows on the station<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

My\u00a0ultimate aim\u00a0has and always will be to present radio full-time but it\u2019s very difficult to get your break, with an unfortunately ever-shrinking industry. But by working in production, I\u2019ve picked some invaluable skills and absorbed as much information as I can e.g. operating a studio desk, writing scripts\u00a0and\u00a0learning\u00a0about\u00a0technical equipment.\u00a0Although it feels like I\u2019ve been doing this for a long time, I\u2019m only 23 and I\u2019ve quickly learnt there is no rush to get to where you want to quickly. It\u2019s very easy to get quite depressed and put lots of pressure on yourself, because you haven\u2019t reached your\u00a0ultimate aim\u00a0that you set out to do. But patience is a virtue and essential in this business and the saying, \u2018good things that come to those who wait\u2019 couldn\u2019t be\u00a0more true.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Well, it’s me on Graduation Day!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I would also recommend taking advantage of the Careers & Enterprise team – they really helped me get my foot into the door\u00a0actually with\u00a0their Work Experience Fund. I was one of the first people to take advantage of the scheme and the bursary really helped me with travel expenses getting to Tunbridge Wells for BBC Radio Kent, which I otherwise would not have been able to get to – and possibly would\u00a0otherwise\u00a0have missed out on the opportunity.\u00a0It goes without saying that the careers advisors helped me on multiple occasions with refining my CV and giving me advice on how to write a good cover letter.\u00a0It\u00a0is\u00a0incredibly important in any industry to put yourself across in the best way but even more so within media – so the advice I got was invaluable and seems like it paid off!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting further support from The Careers and Enterprise Team at CCCU<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You can get ongoing careers support via the following ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n