BA in Journalism and Digital Communications: Graduate Profile - Cillian Sherlock | 51��ɫ

Graduate profiles

MA in Technical Writing: Graduate Profile - Deirdre Ann Brogan

I worked in the science area and as my career developed I realized that I was doing a lot more writing than I thought. So when I finished up at my job, I looked for a different career path and chose technical writing.

MA in Journalism: Graduate Profile - Tara McCormack

My name is Tara McCormack and I am from County Offaly, I decided last year that I wanted to go back and pursue journalism. I have been in radio for the last eight years, I actually got into radio during my undergraduate degree at UL which was the BA in English and media, as it was known at the time.

MA in Journalism: Graduate Profile - Mostafa Darwish

Mostafa is a graduate of the MA Journalism programme and is originally from Eygpt. Mostafa describes his experience of the programme and his delight at recently winning Student journalist of the Year 2020 at the Student Media Awards (SMEDIAs).

Cillian [pictured above],is a postgraduate student who completed a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Journalism and Digital Communications.

UL Journalism graduate Cillian Sherlock now works with RTÉ.

Why did you choose UL/this course?

This course appealed to me because I was always very interested in news and current affairs. I wanted to advance my writing and broadcast skills so that I could tell stories in a creative and effective manor. I was also excited about the opportunity to study and work abroad during Third Year.

Describe your typical day:

I need to get on the road to travel to whatever event I’m reporting on for that day. You’re always covering something different and get to talk to lots of people every day, and share their stories. A lot of research will generally have been done beforehand so by the time I meet up with a camera operator, we’ll have an idea of how we want to approach things - but the joy of the job is finding the unexpected and being creative on the fly.

After filming and doing all the interviews, it’s time to get back to RTÉ to edit the video files. It needs to be a quick turnaround to make sure everything is done in time to be ready to present the show live in studio. After the show, its straight back to setting up the next report!

In what way did your course prepare you for your career?

The course allowed me to develop my abilities in print and broadcast journalism. In job interviews after graduating, I was able to point back to a large body of work from my time at UL, as well as my Cooperative Education semester. Projects like the radio show or the newspaper help students get a sense of what working in a real newsroom is like, as well as the opportunity to try out lots of different roles. You learn from the working experience of the lecturers and guest speakers and they have also given me plenty of advice since graduating.

Any advice for school leavers?

Take time to be open to new people and new experiences. You don’t need to figure your whole life out now, you have loads of time! It can feel like there’s a lot of pressure on you to live up to the expectations of others, and it is very easy to get stressed out about that. But my advice would be to make sure you’re enjoying yourself and feeling fulfilled by doing what is right for you.