The Story I Forgot To Tell The Press & Journal
Last week I mentioned that I had been interviewed by Susan Welsh from the newspaper. Well, that article appeared today and you can read it by clicking . It's also reviewed .
I hadn't realised that Susan was writing a piece for the paper's jobs section, otherwise I might have offered some more practical advice on how to begin a career in broadcasting. I might also have shared the following story about how I almost missed by big chance.
You see, halfway though my post-graduate course in journalism, I was sent on a two week student placement to Moray Firth Radio in Inverness. The news editor at the time was the legendary Mike Hurry who probably taught me more in that two weeks than I had learned in the rest of my time at University.
On Friday nights, Mike would invite the news team to join him for a drink in the Clachnaharry Inn. We'd have a couple of pints, some stovies and then retire to the back room for a game of pool. On my second visit to that pub , after the last day of my placement, he made me an offer. He said that, if I played pool and beat him in just one game, then he would offer me a full-time job.
Well, as you can imagine, I played my socks off. I studied every angle for every ball..chalked my cue at every turn and approached the game with the kind of mathematical integrity that you seldom see outside the realms of NASA.
And, of course, I was soundly beaten. Thrashed. Don't think I even sunk one ball. Yet, a few months later, after I had graduated, Mike gave me a call and offered me that job anyway.
Now, if only the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's recruitment policies were so simple.
