Welcome to the second edition of AlumNOUSE, a space where current students can see what our alumni are up to post graduation. Our second alumni student is Jess Wilkinson, an English Literature graduate based in Leeds. I sat down with Jess to discuss how post-grad life has been so far, the creative projects she has been involved in, and her hopes for the future.
We started by discussing media societies in York, and Jess explained her involvement in the Yorker, and the societies she was involved with during her time in York: “I was a part of LitSoc – I miss Poems and Pints! I was quite active in that society and then I did Climbing Soc, Yoga Society, a bit of FeministSoc in first year, but it was all remote due to Covid”. The high level of engagement that Jess had with societies at York was key to the enriching experience she had at university, and is something that she recommends for all students.
However, the impact that Covid had on Jess’s university experience meant that a large portion of her teaching was conducted online, as well as some societies during her first year: “My first year was pretty much fully online. In the first term, they tried to do a mix but it didn't really work, so second term I was just stuck in the flat. But second year was a lot more in person, and third year felt normal, and then it felt good”. Despite the amount of remote teaching that Jess experienced, she remained positive about her overall university experience.
We started to talk about post-grad life, and whether, so far, it had been what Jess had expected: “It’s very different. With the job market that I want to go into it is very competitive, so I’ve done a lot of unpaid work to get more experience in those areas. I do a lot of freelance writing. I write for a music blog, and I do social media for a writing page called WipPitch, so I make instagram graphics and TikTok”. Jess also did a one month internship with the Borgen Project: “The Borgen Project is a charity based in Washington and I wrote seven or eight articles about issues related to global poverty, so I had to pitch the articles myself and make sure they were within the guidelines. At the end of my internship, I interviewed the head of the charity which was really cool. It was really good to get that serious journalistic experience and have that door open for an opportunity in the future”.
The industry that Jess is looking to go into is copywriting. She is currently part of WordTonic, a community for Gen Z that provides an online learning platform for copywriting. Jess explained the origins of WordTonic: “The founder Caroline when she went to a career event at school was told that she could be a teacher, but copywriting was never brought up as a career to her, so she’s trying to make her generation realise that this is a career that they can go into if they want to be creative. They run masterclasses, they give us briefs every week for spec copy [ads that you create without a company paying you to do so] to create a portfolio”.
When asked what advice she would give to students looking to break into the journalism, PR and copywriting world, the main quality that Jess emphasised was patience. “It definitely requires a lot of patience. I’ve been applying to so many kinds of jobs since July, and I’ve got interviews and got to the last stage, but I’ve missed out because someone had that bit more experience. Patience and doing freelance work is what I’d recommend”.
I asked Jess what piece of advice she would give to students to get the most out of university: “Honestly just get involved in as much as you can! I did a lot of societies, but I still think that I could have done more! But I was doing a part time job and I was a volunteer at Nightline, so that took up a lot of time.”.
Looking to the future, Jess explained her latest creative project: ”I am going to try really hard to get my book published. I wrote my first novel during university. I’ve been writing it since I was fifteen, but started writing it properly when I was at university. I am querying literary agents and trying to edit it at the moment. I also run a Bookstagram account with the view to publicise my own book further down the line ”. Jess talked more about the book: “It’s basically about not being ready to be in a relationship. The way that anxiety affects not just your love life, but everything. It’s about these two people: Heather and Charlie. They see each other at a really low point, and from there they go from not being able to be in the same room to not being able to be without each other. It’s about how their relationship evolves, and how because of the issues they are facing they are not ready for anything romantic and it gets a bit complicated”. When talking about the creative process of writing the novel, Jess mentioned that experience was key. As Jess’s experience that she could draw on developed, so did her writing skills through writing fanfiction when she was fifteen, which she stated was a great way for any young writer to hone their craft. When asked what other advice she would give to young budding writers wanting to get published, Jess stated “I’m still trying to figure out getting published, but again, patience is a big thing. A lot of agents take a while to get back to you. The advice that I’ve had from everyone in the industry is that you have to finish the book first before you start trying to get it out there.”.
Writer's note: It was wonderful to chat with Jess about the exciting worlds of copywriting, journalism and publishing. I would like to thank Jess for her participation in AlumNouse, and I wish her great success in getting her book published! You can follow Jessica’s bookstagram account: @robinreadss
If you want to get involved in AlumNouse, please contact grace.bannister@nouse.co.uk
