Sometimes interviews don’t always go as planned.
During the spring semester of my sophomore year at Framingham State University, I and the now Editor-in-Chief were both covering two different graduate programs that one British man was in charge of.
To save time, we agreed to do the interview together.
On the day of the interview, we find the man’s office in one of the academic buildings and we begin asking questions.
It was going fine until at some point the man got off-topic.
Suddenly, what was supposed to be an answer to a question about one of the graduate programs became an entire lesson on the beginning of when computers were created and how artificial intelligence and technology were going to take over the world - and the man said - this included our jobs.
We were entranced by the accent as he spoke about complex topics we would never put in either article.
At some point, the man got up from his
seat and began drawing diagrams and illustrations of what he was talking about on a whiteboard.
What was supposed to be a quick 30-45 minute interview for two half page articles became an hour and 40 minute lecture.
What was interesting about this whole conversation was that it took place at the end of February 2020. Not even two weeks later, the world began to shut down as a result of the pandemic, and work and school were beginning to transfer to online platforms.
Even now, almost two years later, things still remain online.
Every year the English Department will host a journalism careers night with former Gatepost staff. This year’s meeting remained over Zoom.
This year, many of them discussed how they continue to work from home and shared how they believed a lot of their work would remain that way following the end of the pandemic.
What does that mean for us?
How different will our experiences in journalism be when we begin to enter the workforce?
Despite freelancing for The Woonsocket Call and The Pawtucket Times for approximately seven months now, I have never seen the inside of their office.
I only know what the editor looks like from his Twitter profile picture!
We’ve only had one phone call and have communicated strictly through email ever since.
There have been no problems because of this. Communication remains good and efficient and work is getting completed.
But would my experience have been different if it hadn’t been for the pandemic?
Will I ever get to share the same experience in journalism as those before me have?
It is quite troubling and I don’t have the answers - no one does. Well, maybe the British guy might.
But there are a lot of unknowns about what the workforce is going to look like years from now.
It is important we keep this in mind as we continue making our way through our training and learning.
Perhaps it will all go back to normal, but I can’t help but think about what a “new” normal would look like.
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