Give it a go

Each week we explain how to look for work experience. This time, radio

If you'd like to be the next Tom Dunne, or even work behind the scenes at one of the dozens of radio stations around Ireland, you'll stand a better chance if you've used work experience to show them how committed you are to radio.

The good news is that lots of stations offer placements; there's also a lot of competition for them, however. So as well as targeting national broadcasters such as RTÉ 2FM or Today FM, you should apply to local and regional stations, too.

"We try to keep our TY work- experience placements busy," says Ciara O'Connor, general manager of East Coast FM, in Bray, Co Wicklow. "Sometimes there is loads of work to do, and other times there is very little. But we don't like to leave someone sitting there, so generally we will get the student involved in everything.

"We have a current-affairs programme in the morning, and students sit in the studio and take calls. Later we bring them into the production area and show them how we make ads and sound bites. Then we bring them into the newsroom, and they learn about putting stories together for bulletins.

"There is also a lot of filing work that always needs to be done, and recently we have started getting technically-minded students to help build up our databases.

"They come in around 10am and finish at around 3pm, usually for a week," says O'Connor. "We'll only take in people who have sent us an application well in advance. For the most part, students just apply themselves. They often come from the surrounding schools in Bray."

Why are young people so interested in radio? "I suppose it's the show-business element," says O'Connor. "Young people are the biggest consumers of radio, so they like to know about it."

If you want to impress, make sure your application shows a passion for the medium. "Applications that demonstrate a genuine interest in radio would always be more attractive to us," says Fiona Stack of Kerry FM. "If you have a particular interest in an area - news, music, what a producer does - then it would be easier for us to match you up when you come in to work. It is also an advantage to know some terminology - and, of course, you should know a bit about the station. This would be the same for any business."

For details of radio stations, see www.rte.ie and www.bci.ie