Former Oxford football captain Jack Hazzard graduated in 2007, with a degree in Modern History.
He is starting as an editorial assistant with Setanta Sports in July 2008.

What were your aims when choosing a career?

I didn't really think a great deal about a career before finishing at Oxford, preferring to focus on my degree and on football. All I did know was that I wasn't really interested in a conventional city career; I just wanted to try something else first, and to do something which really interested me. That led me to something to do with sport, it really was as vague as that to begin with - which was both equally frightening and exciting.

What work did you do after graduating – and how important was it to getting your offer from Setanta?

It's difficult to find conventional routes into jobs in the media. There are some training schemes, but they are difficult to get onto, and require luck as much as anything else. The advice I got from everyone in the know was to try and get unpaid work experience - so I took a temporary job at home and applied for work experience at a wide variety of places. I started a sports blog, imaginatively titled Hazzard On Sport, which was a useful thing to be able to reference people to when writing to them. Whether they read it or not I don't know, but I think it helped to show I was serious. I've been working towards my football coaching badges as well, which is another string to my bow I hope.

The money from the temporary work put me in a position to be able to accept offers of unpaid work of varying lengths at the local paper, a football magazine and a production company specialising in sports programming, among others. That led to opportunities for some temporary paid work at those places - and you build a reputation from there. You start with administrative roles, and if you do them well you might get an opportunity to research some pieces, then help to create them. This is the same as in most careers on varying levels. I ended up getting to make a 'Goal of the Month' competition which was great fun, and even better experience. Work experience is also the best way of getting to meet lots of people. My interview at Setanta came about initially because I was put into contact with them by someone else I was doing work experience with. Like a lot of people who have seen it done to cringe worthy levels at Oxford I hate the idea of formally 'networking' so I never consciously do it, I just found I met a lot of really interesting people and I always wanted to find out more about what they did and how they did it. If you have a genuine interest and knowledge of the subject (in my case all matters sporting) that is going to be obvious.

Is there anything else you did to research your career?

I spoke to as many people as possible, including a careers advisor in Oxford who helped me with drafting a letter but wasn't able to put me in touch with any companies specifically. Some of my requests for work experience gave me the opportunity to speak on the phone and in person with a couple of senior people in the media who were extremely helpful but without sounding like a broken record really the fastest way to learn is to get some experience. I thought I would like working on a magazine but actually found it relatively unappealing when I tried it. As I gained experience television production appealed more and more, I like the opportunities for creativity that provides.

What sort of training are they likely to give you?

Hopefully I will be mainly gaining experience in lots of different areas of producing studio programmes and outside broadcasts rather than lots of really formal training but everything is going to be a learning experience. I'm still in a position of not knowing exactly what I want to be doing in ten years time but I don't think there is any problem with that. If you have a master plan then great but I don't think there is any need to panic if not.

What will the hours be like?

The hours will be irregular and working on football in particular there are likely to be plenty of weekends but that comes with the territory and I'm comfortable with that. Obviously if you're working on pre-recorded television you have to get it finished before it needs to be on air and if you're working on live coverage you are going to be working whatever hours that show is on. Hopefully those are going to be hours when most people aren't at work because that means it's more likely they're watching the transmission!
I'm sure things will change over time but at the moment I just feel as though I want to work as hard as possible to make my mark.

Do you have any advice for current students or recent graduates considering a career in sports media?

Put yourself in a position where you will be able to accept work experience and then apply for as much as possible by contacting anyone you can. Keep the first point of contact relatively short, and then lead with whatever your strongest credentials are. I was captain of OUAFC and had played in three football Varsity matches in addition to my degree so that and my blog always got an early mention.
When possible I have found an e-mail is more likely to get you a response than a letter - but be prepared to hear nothing back from most people you contact.
If you are good and most importantly if you work hard, it will impress people and lead to opportunities. But be prepared to be patient even with a strong CV, which I felt I had. Oh, and if you don't live in London, hope for some good friends kind enough to let you sleep on their sofas!