The Real World: The importance of thinking outside the box
As a student in Fanshawe
College's School of Broadcast
Journalism from 1981 to '83, I was
fortunate enough to enjoy a number
of practical learning experiences. In
fact, about two-thirds of my time
involved helping operate a busy
newsroom and interviewing members
of the community for newscasts
and documentaries.
Still, I attended regular classroom lectures — English, economics, history, law and, my favourite class, Film Appreciation with recently retired Fanshawe professor Joseph Dunlop-Addley. But I'm guessing that as a current Fanshawe student, sitting through an eight-hour day of lectures and PowerPoints isn't your preferred method of learning.
Lectures are necessary and they do serve a purpose, but I like to think of them as the starting blocks of higher education. As a professor, I use PowerPoints to instill a sense of curiosity within my students. Once introduced to a new set of tools necessary to obtaining employment, it is then up to students to run with these new ideas — develop a skillset that will help separate them from the competition.
We've all heard the term 'think outside the box.' During my entire career as a journalist and media relations professional — and even as a Fanshawe student — I've advanced through the ranks by thinking outside the box. Many times as a student reporter I would have coffee with my professors at D Cafeteria and pick their brains about what I had learned in class earlier that day. And whenever I interviewed a politician, athlete or member of the business community, I would ask questions — sometimes away from the microphone or camera — that didn't necessarily involve the news story to which I was assigned, but did interest me in terms of my own career.
Classroom instruction is imperative to earning a diploma and learning the basic skills necessary to your chosen profession. But it's just a start. Thinking outside the box — taking additional steps, doing your homework and considering all angles — is what will help separate you from the majority of job seekers.
In the mid-1980s, I was working part-time as a radio newscaster and reporter, freelance writing on a parttime basis and bartending at a downtown hotel. I knew then that I wanted to write on a full-time basis, and I also knew that networking was an all-important piece to that puzzle. In fact, I had earlier left a well-paying office job in order to have more face-to-face contact with people with whom I could network.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of a business card, even now as you begin or complete your studies. When I bartended, I always kept my business cards behind the bar: "Jeffrey Reed, Freelance Writer," with my phone number and — I can admit now — a cheesy graphic of a quill pen. It was either that or an image of a typewriter. To refresh your memory, a typewriter is an insufficient writing instrument (precomputer) that involves messy carbon paper and mounds of incomplete stories piled high on the floor, resting at your feet while you stumble past an opening paragraph. It wasn't pretty in the early days.
One day, while volunteering to bartend a convention luncheon, a gentleman with a camera hanging from his neck approached me for a beverage. I asked him about his duties that day, and learned that he was taking photos for a trade magazine involving the conventioneers. You guessed it: I handed him my business card and asked if he needed a writer.
Two weeks later, that same gentleman — an editor with a large publishing firm — handed me my first cover story. Today, I still work with that publisher as a writer and editor, contributing to scores of magazines, newspapers and corporate newsletters.
This was a classic think-outside-the-box initiative come to fruition. I didn't wait for a job to come to me. Simply mailing my query, CV and writing examples wasn't an option. I chose to bartend; I chose to work during a noon-hour business meeting; I took the step to create a business card; and I offered my skills to the photographer — who turned out to be a senior editor with that publisher. Despite my gaudy cummerbund and bowtie, and liquor-stained shoes, I must have made a strong first impression.
As a student, there are numerous ways for you to think outside the box in terms of jump starting your chosen career. Fanshawe College and the community at large have a myriad of groups and associations which involve people from all walks of life. You'll find that successful professionals will often make the time to speak with you about your chosen career, and may be open to mentoring you during your time at Fanshawe.
Learn from lectures, and soak in all that a PowerPoint offers, but remember to think outside the classroom: there's a whole world of knowledge waiting for you.
Award-winning journalist Jeffrey Reed is a Fanshawe College professor with the Corporate Communication and Public Relations post-graduate program and an instructor with Fanshawe's Continuing Education department. E-mail him at jreed@fanshawec.ca.
Still, I attended regular classroom lectures — English, economics, history, law and, my favourite class, Film Appreciation with recently retired Fanshawe professor Joseph Dunlop-Addley. But I'm guessing that as a current Fanshawe student, sitting through an eight-hour day of lectures and PowerPoints isn't your preferred method of learning.
Lectures are necessary and they do serve a purpose, but I like to think of them as the starting blocks of higher education. As a professor, I use PowerPoints to instill a sense of curiosity within my students. Once introduced to a new set of tools necessary to obtaining employment, it is then up to students to run with these new ideas — develop a skillset that will help separate them from the competition.
We've all heard the term 'think outside the box.' During my entire career as a journalist and media relations professional — and even as a Fanshawe student — I've advanced through the ranks by thinking outside the box. Many times as a student reporter I would have coffee with my professors at D Cafeteria and pick their brains about what I had learned in class earlier that day. And whenever I interviewed a politician, athlete or member of the business community, I would ask questions — sometimes away from the microphone or camera — that didn't necessarily involve the news story to which I was assigned, but did interest me in terms of my own career.
Classroom instruction is imperative to earning a diploma and learning the basic skills necessary to your chosen profession. But it's just a start. Thinking outside the box — taking additional steps, doing your homework and considering all angles — is what will help separate you from the majority of job seekers.
In the mid-1980s, I was working part-time as a radio newscaster and reporter, freelance writing on a parttime basis and bartending at a downtown hotel. I knew then that I wanted to write on a full-time basis, and I also knew that networking was an all-important piece to that puzzle. In fact, I had earlier left a well-paying office job in order to have more face-to-face contact with people with whom I could network.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of a business card, even now as you begin or complete your studies. When I bartended, I always kept my business cards behind the bar: "Jeffrey Reed, Freelance Writer," with my phone number and — I can admit now — a cheesy graphic of a quill pen. It was either that or an image of a typewriter. To refresh your memory, a typewriter is an insufficient writing instrument (precomputer) that involves messy carbon paper and mounds of incomplete stories piled high on the floor, resting at your feet while you stumble past an opening paragraph. It wasn't pretty in the early days.
One day, while volunteering to bartend a convention luncheon, a gentleman with a camera hanging from his neck approached me for a beverage. I asked him about his duties that day, and learned that he was taking photos for a trade magazine involving the conventioneers. You guessed it: I handed him my business card and asked if he needed a writer.
Two weeks later, that same gentleman — an editor with a large publishing firm — handed me my first cover story. Today, I still work with that publisher as a writer and editor, contributing to scores of magazines, newspapers and corporate newsletters.
This was a classic think-outside-the-box initiative come to fruition. I didn't wait for a job to come to me. Simply mailing my query, CV and writing examples wasn't an option. I chose to bartend; I chose to work during a noon-hour business meeting; I took the step to create a business card; and I offered my skills to the photographer — who turned out to be a senior editor with that publisher. Despite my gaudy cummerbund and bowtie, and liquor-stained shoes, I must have made a strong first impression.
As a student, there are numerous ways for you to think outside the box in terms of jump starting your chosen career. Fanshawe College and the community at large have a myriad of groups and associations which involve people from all walks of life. You'll find that successful professionals will often make the time to speak with you about your chosen career, and may be open to mentoring you during your time at Fanshawe.
Learn from lectures, and soak in all that a PowerPoint offers, but remember to think outside the classroom: there's a whole world of knowledge waiting for you.
Award-winning journalist Jeffrey Reed is a Fanshawe College professor with the Corporate Communication and Public Relations post-graduate program and an instructor with Fanshawe's Continuing Education department. E-mail him at jreed@fanshawec.ca.
