Monday 4 January 2010

Death knocking with the Hackney Gazette may be a dream job but it's not a dream salary


Guardian feature writer and columnist Tim Dowling choses as his "dream job" today being a trainee on the Hackney Gazette.
He is one of 10 journalists trying out their dream jobs in a G2 feature in the Guardian . Sadly, being a trainee on the Gazette does not come with a salary to dream about. The G2 feature puts it at £15,000. That leaves it joint ninth in the jobs chosen by the 10 journalists.
It is only beaten for low pay by being a trainee deckhand on a fishing trawler, with a salary estimated at £10,000. It is equal to that of a milliner but beaten by the pay of an Army officer, vet, plumber, hairdresser, lecturer, landscape gardener and special effects artist.
Dowling explains his desire to be a trainee on a local paper is because he "sidled into journalism without really knowing what skills, qualifications or experience were required. By the time I realised just how underqualified I was, it was too late to give the money back. I have, however, always harboured dreams of having the benefit of training and a long apprenticeship."
How did Dowling get on? He manages to help out on a death knock but then has a disastrous impact on the paper's computer system.

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