BBC Interactive sport interview opportunity failed :/

Last Wednesday I had a job interview in Media City, Salford (A lovely place) for the role of BROADCAST ASSISTANT @ BBC Sport Interactive. This was my second interview for a professional job within the journalism industry. ( Last summer I graduated with a 2:1 in sport journalism. My other interview came at HIMSS Europe for the role of 'reporter'. (This was basically a health reporter for HIMSS website.) I did not get this job, my feedback said I was a strong candidate etc but they gave the role to somebody with more experience.

I came away from this happy because I did a really good interview, I showcased them my news blog which I am editor of etc and I was happy with the interview.

Again, for my interview at BBC i thoroughly prepared etc. Before the interview there was a written task in which I had to correct errors in a sport article (I think I did this to a good standard.) IN the interview I was confident etc, although I do not think I was quite as good as in my earlier interview at HIMSS Europe. One question in particular was how would the BBC attract 16-24 year olds to view the upcoming Olympic coverage. I answered this with social media and getting presenters to front the Olympics that young people would relate to. Although I was aware that some form of this questions would be asked I know now that i didn't answer it well enough. I feel that my brain works in a way that it needs time to reflect on a questions or problem in order to answer it coherently. On the day after the interview I had come up with much better ways in which to attract 16-24 year olds including snapchat, youtube and Twitch, unfortunately I could obviously not phone my interviewers up and tell them.

Today I found out that I did not get the role after I had emailed them. I was told on my interview that I would find out early next week probably monday i.e. yesterday. So when i heard nothing i assumed it was bad news.

Anyway I feel pretty dissapointed that I did not get the role. There was 5-6 roles on offer and there were 31 candidates - this makes me even more dissapointed - it was a huge opportunity. Anyway I'm just wondering if anyone else has had interviews with the BBC or if anyone on here was at the same interview as me. The interviews ran on three days 8th, 9th and 10th of June 2016. It feels like i'm back to square one now. My news blog which is now a website isn't paying the bills and although I had a part time job at a local supermarket i'm still pretty dejected. Anyway thanks for listening, I hope I will get some responses, i'll be here all night to chat!

A few points...

From experience, candidates are often very poor at evaluating their own interview performance. You might not have done as badly as you thought at the BBC. Have you asked for feedback?

I hope you are better at proof-reading in interview tests than you are at proof-reading your posts on here.

If your mind works in a reflective manner, would the BBC job have been the right environment for you? How much of it involved fast-paced responses to changing circumstances and how much was pre-planned?

First, well done on getting so far in the BBC's recruitment process, as those types of roles are highly sought after; you should feel proud about that. (I graduated from a journalism degree some seven years ago now.) It should be no surprise to you how tough journalism / the media industry is to 'break into'. My advice is to continue getting as much experience as you can, paid or otherwise, to build up a portfolio of experience. Specifically, focus on building your digital skills and knowledge, both technical and practical... it's CRITICAL in the industry and will give you the edge. And by 'digital', I mean all aspects in relation to journalism and broadcasting: how to write a story for the web; how to use a camera / recording devices; how to use video / audio / design editing software; how to promote a story through social media; and so on. Above all else, DON'T GIVE UP. Stick with it and you'll get there.

Journalism is notoriously hard to get into so well done for even getting that far.

First of all thanks a lot for responding.

Secondly thanks for your advice. May I ask about your working career from when you graduated up until now?

I am currently editor of my own news site politicsbulletin.co.uk. We have our own Twitter, Facebook etc. I think this helps me a lot. Also I think i neglected to talk about this as much as I should have in my interview. I take it for granted sometimes and play it down a lot but I built it up from a blog and i've been running it for almost a year now. I am trying to recruit a new writer but it's hard when I can offer no money :P.

Photoshop is definitely one thing I need to be more proficient on. I also graduated with a degree in journalism although it was a sport journalism degree - that was last year.

It was a three month contract that BBC were basically offering which would have been perfect for my first professional job but It's time i got over it.

I've asked for feedback so hopefully they will send it soon.

I started out in journalism after graduating, working for a local paper. However, after a couple of years, I decided to leave for various reasons; mainly because the money was poor and papers were shutting down left, right and centre! I now head up the customer operations function for a transport company (my career has taken a few twists and turns along the way!). But I know from working in PR roles along the way, and from working in local papers, that digital skills are the way forward. So immerse yourself in as much as of the digital world as you can and you'll prove indispensable. If you want to move into a pure journalism role, then you'll need NCTJ qualifications, especially in shorthand (minimum 100 words per minute) and media law. Many papers / broadcasters won't take people on, even at trainee levels, without NCTJs.

First of all thanks for your response, I really appreciate it.

I thought someone may comment on my grammar skills :P Fortunately I didn't really check, I just wanted to get my point across.

Yes I have asked for feedback, just waiting for it now. I guess I'm quite annoyed at myself, I know I could have answered the questions in a better way and I just wasn't expecting the question about attracting 16-24 year old's for the Olympics - it is a question I should have expected.

When I am calm I become more confident and my brain adapts accordingly, obviously in an interview situation it's hard to be calm. Generally interviews don;t worry me though it's just I didn't have an already thought out answer to that particular question - this threw me off.

Most of it was pre-planned. I mean they said that in all BBC interviews they ask 4 questions - three were fine, one wasn't but it should have been. It was my fault I didn't assume this question would come up.

At the end there was a pop quiz on sporting knowledge - just 4 questions. I only got three of these questions correct. I passed on one.

Thanks for the encouragement. BBC interviews are apparently "scrupulously fair" though so if I was the best candidate i'm sure I would have got it.

Employers such as the BBC are looking to recruit graduates because of the digital knowledge they bring - the internet age and all that.

I think you will find that the BBC has been well aware of 'the internet age' for about 20 years!

I don't think you can expect to anticipate every question you might be asked at interview which means being able to think on your feet is important. To some extent you can practise this. In the event, I am guessing that your answer went down as 'too obvious' to advance your cause.

As well as the 'four questions' and the 'pop quiz', did they not ask you anything else? About your education or your site, for example?



Often painfully so.

The view is that younger people have much more of a feel for things like Facebook, snapchat and Twitter etc.

It was the exact opposite - the questions were easy to anticipate. I just didn't say the things I should have done at times - of course my own fault.