Rehanon Mackenzie

On completion of my postgraduate magazine journalism course I chose to work as a freelance journalist and as a bookkeeper for a charitable organisation.
* I found and wrote several personal interest stories whilst at Nursing Times, which gave much needed lighter news during a week reporting the findings of the decline in nursing standards in the Mid Staffs PCT.;
* The ability to speak to the people that make a feature worth reading. When I wrote a piece for Health Service Journal about good practice in tele-health for the treatment of chronic conditions I made sure I secured an interview with the leading research professor in the field.;
* Over the 18 months I was a bookkeeper for a charity social club I updated the organisation to a computerised accounting system and structured a payment plan. The accounts went from being 23k in debt to 27k in profit.;

I am working part-time within the communications department writing the case studies of people affected by cancer that accompany all the media produced by Macmillan. I also assist the press office with releases and analysis.

This role requires excellent people skills as I have to interview people that have been through the most traumatic time in their lives and it's important to be able to communicate in a warm manner with sensitivity.

The nature of cancer means that I talk to people from all walks of life, young and old alike. This has enabled me to tailor my interview technique to be individual to the person I'm talking to and has meant I have been able to gain a great deal of interview experience and have produced quality material that can be used to support Macmillan's work.

The use of case studies in media work means that sometimes a whole story will be required and at other times just a quote. I am able to talk to a case study or if we already have the story in the library take the most important and pressworthy facts from it.

I have been able to develop skills to successfully roll out a campaign as the press team works closely with the policy department on the delivery of Macmillan's campaigns. I have gained a great deal of experience in social media as it's one of the biggest tools used to locate case studies and encourage participation in the e campaigning as well as delivering information and successes.

The varied responsibilities of the role has allowed me to develop further my time management skills as I have had to make decisions on what is most important and plan my own working week. As well as taking part in the shared media responsibilities of the office.

Freelance Journalist & Bookkeeper ,

I provided temporary personal assistance to several outpatient departments and their consultants.
* My secretarial skills and experience allowed me to clear several months' backlog of patient correspondence that had amounted during a staff sickness period.;
* I received great recommendations from both staff and patients on the quality of my interpersonal skills.;

Following my radio training I was the first person on my course to be offered paid industry experience.
* The show I produced became an established format at the station due to its popularity and is now a permanent fixture of the station's programming.;
* I streamlined scheduling time for the station's music programmer by using my organisational and influencing skills I was able to secure the station membership of Spain's music distribution database. This meant any new music and press information could be simply downloaded from one source.;

I worked as a contract communications officer using my skills to oversee and conclude projects in the housing department as the council moved from a departmental to centralised communications team.
* One of my biggest achievements in this role was highlighting the positive work of the council that led to Southwark receiving national and local coverage in print, radio and television.;
* A specific example of the above was my work as public relations lead on the Capital Clean Up campaign, a London wide environmental initiative. As a direct result of my work over 50 projects were initiated and publicised leading to the council being featured in London newspapers and the BBC evening news.;