Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
I am Darcy,I am an Editor for Prospects amazing.
So what do you mean when you say editor?
A whole host of things. Really?
So primarily copywriter.
But also more recently media observer.
Joe, occasionally helping out with a bitof podcast editing and so budget ING.
So being social media posts, basically
(00:33):
anything that requires words for one site.
Amazing.
So let's go right back to the beginning.
What does your educational journeylook like?
Fairly standard one really.
I did A-levels in both.
English is okay,I love words and psychology.
And then I did an English degreeat Newcastle University.
And then from thereI actually got a scholarship to study
(00:56):
journalism,which is where Penn went on this path.
Rather than just writing for funand blogging for fun.
And so a not scholarship for womenin the northeast to study journalism.
And it was kind of on that coursewhere I started do more media side
journalism rather than just the coffeeand I was doing as a hobby.
(01:18):
So I started doing things likethe Geo Journalism podcast at the end.
And it was from there.
But, I decided that I wanted to gointermediate.
Nice.
So what does a typical daylook like for you?
Well, let's hope so.
I will log on C to send you requestsfor marketing to Sabina and then to reals.
And then usually I need to updateand or write in content for websites. So
(01:44):
SEO comes in
a lot, search engine optimizationfor our copy,
seeing where we can beat or competitorsif there's anything that we don't cover
that students are looking forwhat we're searching for.
And just trying to providethe best quality content
that we can about courses, careersto the top people
imagine So, what skillswould you say you need to be an editor?
(02:08):
Attention for detail.
Probably being the biggest one, which isoften a struggle with my ADHD, but.
But I get there.
And I think just the ability to analyzeother people's worth as well,
because I've often said when whatother editors or people in marketing,
or other content creators have produced,being able to analyze
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a piece of writing or piece of work,what are they trying to get across?
And is there any way that I can help themwhen they that message clearer or, sort
of more nuanced and lead to the messagethat they're trying to convey?
So, yeah, communication skillsanalysis, attention data.
what does progression like in this role?
where can you go with this?
(02:49):
I think it's a it's quite trickyin the sense that progression can shape
the landscape of what's happeningin sort of the digital arena,
I guess, rather than a traditional rolelike in law, but it's quite obvious
they just move up.
I think where my career progresses,as it goes down
the lines of what's happening in searchengine optimization, for example.
(03:12):
And, you know, there's such a big rise
in multimedia content,so you can just be a copywriter.
But obviously to progress,you need to hone those skills in video
editor in order to aim.
Kind of famous Jackal trades in theso when people hear ad,
traditionally the good news,go for it to oversee the news, go back.
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But I think especially move it forwards.
It's going to be more downthose multimedia pathways,
which is something that I really enjoythe most, is helping to develop.
And I think it's lucky that it did,because I now got those skills to go into.
I can pick up a video if someone needsmaterial, rather than just having
that like one pathwayfrom an English degree of learning.
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Yeah, brilliant.
So what are your thoughtson the constant progression?
Very quick progression of AI.
Is it going to take your job from you and.
I think anyone in
any creative industryis worried about AI at the minute.
Or if you're not worried at all,paying attention to what it's doing.
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What I would say is, again, I can't do
the analysis that is needed toAI is not in your company
and AI doesn't speak to studentslike in my pro.
I doesn't know the person in your audience
and doesn't have that nuanceof what they want to hear.
It can guess,but it'll never know as well as you do.
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So I think you have to keep in mindthat you have
the nuance of having a human brainand that you know what your audience want.
And I think in terms of copyright and yes,I can produce some pretty decent copy,
but I never created a piece of copy,use and tragic to unfold that
can pass as a real human for
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certainlylike a professional piece of work.
And I also think readers don't necessarilywant AI all the time.
So I think there are probably aspectsof the job
that will slowly become taken over by AI.
But I think
especially in terms of the contentthat we provide, it's careers advice.
Yeah, you have to be compassionate, professional and it needs to be accurate.
(05:20):
You can't give you false information, andI just can't see a world in which I can.
Your forward is compassionateand all that sort of stuff
isn't in the situationof people of Commons particulars.
It's all website for advice. Yeah.
Are there any myths about being an editorthat you would like to debunk?
I think for megetting into this career, I was
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a bit worried because I think
when you think of arts careers,we think careers
and in the media,I don't think necessarily think of
perhaps a woman,perhaps a woman from the northeast.
I think we probably think of,you know, a man on Fleet Street in London.
Right. And some financial times.
And I remember when I firstwas sort of girding that up.
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Right. I want a career in the media.
And I just thought it's it'san attainable for me,
which is what my scholarshipwas designed to offer.
But, you know, like, I've got friendsand graduates on the same course as me.
You've also got, let me just say,
a myth kind of
is that you can't do itlike I've managed to do it.
And I think is if you if you put the timeand then, you know, you've got skill
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and you're passionate about it,you definitely can.
It is just definitely a labor of love.
I did a lot of free work.
I did a lot of voluntary work,and obviously study to get married. But
there's nothing to say that
you can't do it just because you haven'tgot the traditional background.
And is that advice that you would giveto try and start writing your own things,
setting up your own blogs to showcaseand get your own writing out there?
(06:47):
Absolutely.
I think I have my own website free.
I was just posting basically as aportfolio rather than even trying to get,
you know, ranking on search engines.
It's really odd for five jobsto be able to link to that.
And you just got examplesof all of your write in,
obviously enclosed videoaudio on there now as well.
But yeah, I volunteered for charities.
(07:08):
I review music for independent labelsfor free.
I'd write for student newspapers.
So just literally anythingyou can get your hands on
if you've got the time to do it,
I think is sometimes hard knowingwhen to draw the line
and not burn yourself outworking for free.
And not saying go and, you know, likesix week internship without being paid.
(07:28):
Don't like it,so be exploited. But if you're,
you know, if you're passionate about it,like all of money is okay
not to be feel likeI was being forced to do
it was something that I enjoyedand it was also experience
and yeah, yeah, fantastic.
What would you say is the mostchallenging part of being an editor?
For me, it'sdefinitely the feedback sometimes.
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So I guess especially in a creative role,and sometimes getting feedback
can be difficult.
And I think when you put your all into create in something
that can be quite hard to get feedback,and you have to change things.
But I think as I've grown in my room,I'm a lot more receptive to it.
And I think if you ask questions asked whyand you understand
the real sort of whatpeople are trying to help you do it,
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just ultimately it helpsyou work on a better writer or better and,
but definitely at firstI think going from,
you know,write my own blogs, post to myself
online and just spelling mistakesto get an actual constructive feedback
on the way that I like my writing styleand things was difficult.
But as long like no one's I'm
trying to critique you in a in a negativeway, it's always constructive.
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So I think when you learnto sort of implement in some of that into
where I've noticed my writing and fluencyand all that sort of stuff improve.
So, yeah, I think it's difficultto be receptive to it first,
but I've definitely learned with timeto implement that a bit more.
So as you previously mentioned,you are neurodiverse.
(08:56):
So how does that affect your working day?
And so I am autistic.
I have ADHD.
Autism wise it's more
about guess how behave the workplace,how you communicate, whether it's I think
my workplace is greatI'm open California for them.
Most my quirks you know, my traits
and I have adjustmentsthat help me on my day to day life.
(09:18):
But I think certainly in other workplaces,I've really struggled with,
sort of intense human interactionall the time.
I think I used to get really burned out.
You know,I used to work in, in teaching, and
I think that was really intensebeing around people all the time.
Normal have gmask,but I think I work from home.
And again,like I said, I had a small team.
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So in terms of my autism,I think it's just learning to be open
and it was quite nice that my diagnosis,I was late diagnosed,
I was diagnosed at 24, but my diagnosissort of happened at the same time
as I graduatedand went into the world of work.
So, you know,
I didn't ever have to sort ofcome with this new idea of who Darcy was.
(10:00):
I was just Darcy,and that was what I was like since ADHD.
I think that's probably where I struggledto get the most.
Energy levels can be up and down.
No one day I can feel like I've donea whole month's worth of work, hyperfocus.
I can work all day through the next day.
I'm just really strugglingwith concentration.
But again,it's about being open with colleagues,
and just finding outwhat environment works best for you.
(10:22):
And, you know, like tips and trickson how you can trick the brain sometimes.
Sometimes I'm like a loop myself with,you know,
if I get this done, then I'll have coffeeand just those little things
that motivate me.
But yeah, definitely been openwith people that you work with.
If you feel comfortable hereand then like funders, and like accessing
those reasonable adjustmentslike flexible working, to prevent ADHD,
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you know, like sometimes
starting at eight in the morning,I just it would be better to start at,
you know, half nine and finish upsix and then, get more work done.
So if you can obviously I know some rules
you will be able to, but if you can, it'sall about advocating for yourself.
And what, you know, works for you.
So within your role do you you've gotyour degrees, you've got your masters.
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Do you have to keep evolving your,skill sets?
Do you have to keep going into training?
Yeah.
So like I said, the digital landscapeis just constantly changing.
And I don't think anyone really canpredict what's going to happen next.
So keep any skills up to date.
You know, I do a lot CPD, always watching SEO webinars.
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I've done SEO copyright trainings,you know, that is
a completely different ballparkto just write in nice, pretty coffee.
You've got to get the technical elementsin as well.
What are people searching for?
I've done content strategy courses,so with Chartered Institute of Marketing
and working out what content works,the audience are welcome.
Just share that out as much as possible.
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Having quite a nice strategy behindwhat are you producing by
and then proofreading courses, you know,just to keep my knowledge up to date.
So I think I'm always looking for tradeand where I can one
to progress my career,from being a graduate and two,
because the way that we work is changingso often,
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you will get left behind,especially with like, word of mouth.
I made that introduction.
I overviews recently something thatwe've had to come to terms with on Google
and without the trainingand without the background knowledge,
I feel like you'd be strugglingbehind a bit compared to competitors.
So it's really important to do competitoranalysis and also CPD,
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not only for you and career,but for success in the world.
Yeah, What's your favoritething about being an editor?
I love working
with words, and I've always loved wordsfrom when I was younger.
You know, I love reading and writing isI really enjoy it.
Especially if I can get my teethinto a new topic or something
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I don't know about and feel like,it's a really satisfying
feeling, feeling like I've put togethersomething comprehensive as questions.
And I think particularly wherefrom for prospects, you know, that
what you putting outthere is going to benefit someone
and someone's going to read itand find hopefully secure interim
that what they want to do is out there,or whether it's
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whether it's not even for them.
When you've answered the question,I think knowing that someone's
going to readsomething that I've put together
and take
something really meaningful away for,it is a really lovely feeling.
So how did you get your jobwith prospects?
And my master's at.
Brown was looking for, obviously,graduate jobs
and it was help out, to be honest,
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the field, how many jobs are available,but also how many applications
there were to send out.
And, you know, every job wants a coverletter and a tailored CV,
which is to be expectedif you want to get a job.
But when you're in that graduate position,it's really overwhelming.
But at the timeI was working in education,
like I said, in an English departmentin a high school.
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And I think that coupled with the factthat I was also studying, you know,
a master's degree in journalismwas a perfect combination.
I already had the knowledgeof qualifications
and busy working with young peopleand what
what it was like to go through examsand all that sort of thing.
So I had that background, a write in background,
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plus all the experiencethat I developed over the years,
you know, working for freeand volunteering and writing a blog.
So I think I applied on LinkedIn,
had a video interview, and I had a way intasks to do.
And once I'd done Moz,I got the job interview was lovely.
really go.
Well,thank you so much for your time today. We.