World Service- Future Voices

Job Introduction

BBC’re starting a work experience scheme based in the World Service languages.  The World Service is one of the world’s leading news broadcasters – they have twenty-nine languages at the moment, including English.  The World Service Group, all the international parts of the BBC, has a weekly audience of over 265 million people around the world.  The BBC reports from more locations than any other international broadcaster, and increasingly we’re training up bilingual reporters, who can bring us the story in English and another language.   They’re trusted and respected by our audiences, and they’re a multi-media broadcaster, on radio, TV, online and via mobiles.  In 2014, they launched TV bulletins in ten languages, in addition to our long-established Persian channel and 24 hour Arabic TV.  They’re a dynamic, ambitious, challenging news organisation bringing the world’s stories to BBC News, at New Broadcasting House in the heart of London.

Role Responsibility

They’ll give you the chance to work at BBC News in two languages, English and another World Service language.  You don’t necessarily need journalism skills before you start; they’ll give you a week’s training in radio, tv and online reporting.  You’ll spend the next three weeks in a language service, and in other BBC News and Current Affairs programmes across BBC News, getting a taste of what it’s like to be a bilingual reporter at the BBC.  You’ll meet a whole range of people here, from producers, editors, presenters, camera operators to online and social media journalists.  You’ll come out with a good idea of the wide-ranging journalism that goes at the BBC World Service and across the rest of BBC News.

You must be fluent in speaking, reading and writing in both English and one of the following languages:

Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Dari, English, French, Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, Kiswahili, Kyrgyz, Hausa, Hindi, Indonesian, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Sinhala, Somali, Spanish, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese 

The Ideal Candidate

You’ll be bilingual in English and one other language.  You’ll be proficient in writing and reading in your second language, as well as a totally fluent speaker.  You’ll be obsessed with international news, and keep up with what’s going on around the world.  You’ll be a great communicator, curious about the world, and good at getting your message across. You’ll be willing to travel around the UK and abroad as part of your reporting duties if necessary, and you’ll probably have some idea of the output of the BBC World Service.

They’re not looking for lots of qualifications, in fact there are no minimum entry requirements, but you must be able to show that you’re passionate about news, and about pursuing a career in the media industry.

You must be over 18, and available to work on the dates stated.  The placements are all at New Broadcasting House in London.  They want you to have a great experience with them, so from day one you’ll be involved in our programmes, contributing, suggesting, developing ideas, and we hope demonstrating your reporting skills in two languages.  They welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and from every corner of the UK.

Package Description

You must be available to come to New Broadcasting House for four weeks inclusive on one of the following course dates: Monday 2 March – Friday 27 March and Monday 22 June – Friday 17 July.

You won’t be paid, but if you are from outside London, they will give you accommodation, and pay your living expenses.  If you are from London, they will pay for your travel and lunch expenses.

You will have a mentor during your time at the BBC World Service, and they’ll do their best to make it a challenging and productive work experience for you.

Application deadline: 15 February 2015

Read more and apply here.