Double GCU success with football placement

A six-month placement has allowed two GCU students to develop new and existing skills, benefitting their coursework and career prospects.

Fourth year Multimedia Journalism students Rachel Gibson and Andrew Morrison spent time with Scottish Championship side, Hamilton Academical Football Club, working as social media assistants.

Rachel and Andrew first heard about the opportunity through Nickolas McInally, a former GCU student and the club’s Head of Media and Communications at the time.

We caught up with both students to hear about their experience:

Why did you want to get involved?

Andrew: “I love football, it’s my favourite sport. I’ve always wanted to get involved in any opportunity to get my foot in the door, whether it be through social media or even through coaching younger people.

“I knew this was a great chance for me to go and see what it’s like to work at a proper football club. I wanted to see the ins and outs: how it works on a daily basis and get an insight into what a match day experience is like.”

Rachel: “I didn’t know what sort of journalism I wanted to go into when I first started at University. I then did work experience at a different club and realised I liked it, so for me it was just about getting more experience in the football-journalism world.”

Tell me a bit about your role when you were there?

Rachel: “I wrote a lot of match reports and interviewed players. I was also involved when the new manager John Rankin joined. He wasn’t actually meant to sign that day and it all happened very quickly, so it was good to have a wee bit of pressure on me to produce work.”

Andrew: “I did a bit of standing audio commentary for people that are partially sighted. They are given a headset at the start of the game and I have to talk them through everything that’s happening. When I was younger, I used to commentate on my own games of FIFA, so I had a bit of experience! I definitely felt a bit of pressure, but there was a lot of positive feedback.”

Do you feel more confident after being part of this?

Rachel: “Definitely. We were given a bit of guidance but there was a lot of free rein and we certainly had the opportunity to be creative. There was full trust in us and I think that was because our boss studied at GCU and knew we came from a good course.”

Andrew: “At first I was a bit nervous because I was approaching players that I’m used to seeing on TV and on Match Attax (football trading) cards. There was a bit of pressure there but my confidence definitely developed.”

How has this set you up for your future career?

Rachel: “I’ve had work experience before with a League 2 side and there was probably less structure and less fans, so I definitely feel like I’m working my way up. Having that challenge of showcasing a bigger club definitely helps going forward because I now know what it’s like. Even things like working to tight deadlines is really good experience to have at this point in my career. I don’t feel like I’ll be in a situation where I’ll have bitten off more than I can chew.”

Andrew: “It’s given me a rough idea what I want to do after Uni. It’s developed skills I already have and made me feel a lot more confident, even with things like phoning up players or managers looking to do interviews. Having more experience on camera will also help me for projects during my final year at GCU.

“I would quite like to stay with football and go into a social media role once I graduate. It definitely reinforced the idea that football is something I want to be part of.”

What would you say to other students about getting work experience while at University?

Rachel: “I think it’s very important. I remember when we started in first year and they told us we had to get work experience; I thought our lecturers would be able to teach us everything but this has definitely opened my eyes. I think going out and getting experience can change your perspective on your course and help you see another side of the profession.”

Andrew: “I think in Uni, you’re not really exposed to the harsh reality that can come alongside working full time. When things go wrong on the course, you get criticised but then you can just go home and forget about it – when you’re actually working it becomes a lot more urgent.

“It’s good to get a bit of reality around what you’re going to experience in your career.”

By Ross Clark 
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or message me on Twitter