| home | intro | programmes | donations | joining | map | contact | help|
Work Experience
Many school children and students write to ask for a week or two of work experience. Sadly we can not support this as none of our members are full-time, so there is nobody on-site long enough for students to shadow. This will be true with most small voluntary organisations. If you need a placement as part of a course, you should contact an organisation with full-time workers: a local radio station or newspaper, for example, or a charity with full-time offices.
We need members who'll stay with us for many years, so we have to favour enquiries from people who can spare the necessary time to make a worthwhile commitment. And if you're hoping to make a career of broadcasting, a future employer will be more impressed by three year's active membership than 2 weeks.
If you're old enough, please consider becoming a full member. If you write to us, please include a stamped addressed envelope .... or you won't hear from us!!
An application form is now available on-line.
Hospital Radio for Careers in the Media
Many Careers Officers and professional broadcasters recommend hospital radio as useful experience for people who are interested in careers in the media. While hospital radio may not offer much to would-be club DJs or those who aspire to Radio One, anyone who aspires to a media career may indeed gain from joining a hospital radio station.
In common with most hospital radio stations, HRS likes to place the patients' musical tastes above our own. So, expect Daniel O'Donnell to be more popular than the Oasis and don't be put off by the wide age range of patients and hospital radio volunteers.
When interviewing, we tend to consider how long you might be a member. So a student six months away from starting a university course miles away is unlikely to be offered probationary membership. You may be brilliant, but by the time you're trained you would be leaving us.
Find out as much as you can about the media. The Internet is a rich source, and we have recommended some worthwhile sites. Don't be deluded by the glamour: if you drive past a BBC building, remind yourself that 90% of it is probably for office workers. Media Studies has been an enormous growth area for colleges and universities and although there are many more radio and TV stations than there were in the 80's, to be blunt --- there ain't enough for all the students on media courses.
Don't be put off by what you've just read. There are lots of good jobs out there and many of our members are employed professionally in the media or do freelance work. Lee Fry's web site offers lots of tips on radio careers and some very good advice on being a good presenter.