Carl Field - BA(Hons) Journalism, 2007
Photo: Carl, right, presenting a trophy to Mouritz Botha of Saracens (Guinness Premiership).
Study before university: Mark Rutherford Upper School (Bedford) and Bedford College
Within a month of graduating, I had secured a sports reporting job with Premier Newspapers in my home county of Bedfordshire (Aug 2007). A little under three years there saw me work on a number of paid-for and free weekly titles including the Bedford Times and Citizen, Biggleswade Chronicle, Luton News/Gazette and Herald & Post.
Since then (Aug-Nov 2010) I’ve covered football, rugby and cricket for national press agency Sportsbeat. And, as of Jan 2011, I'm employed as a sports writer at the Hunts Post - a free weekly title and part of the Archant Herts & Cambs group.
On completion, the course at Staffs gives you everything you could possibly need to get a job, as well as the confidence to succeed in whatever specialism you want to go into.
The lecturers are approachable, professional and will always go beyond the call of duty to help you out, if you show you want it enough. If I could offer any advice to current Staffs students, it would be to nail the NCTJ preliminary exams before you leave, particularly the shorthand, as it will likely save lots of time and money later.
Also the second-year work experience module is invaluable, as building up a good rapport on work placement can secure you a job later on, as I discovered.
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