Back in Action

14 June 2011

I'm back after spending last week in Australia.

My first stop was in Brisbane where I got an opportunity to spend time with the Australian Regional Media Online team particularly with Heidi Costello (Online Day Editor) and Steve Zeppa (Group News Editor) and got a really good insight on how they operate and the way that content is loaded for the 27 websites that fall under their department.

I also got a chance to talk to Belinda Reilly (Managing Editor - APN Online Aus) and share some insights on the project that I am working on at the moment with regards to content loading and management. We also agreed to share information and I look forward to completing my report and send her a copy (with Jeremy's permission, of course!)

From there, I moved on to Sydney where I had booked a few meetings with people to introduce myself and get to know them a little bit better.
First on my agenda was David McGrath (Head of Content). I had done some work for David and we had exchanged emails and a few phone calls so i took this opportunity of meeting with him in person. It was a great meeting and hopefully, i will get a chance to work on a project with him in the near future.
Then I also got a chance to meet with Katrina Stone (in charge of Corporate affairs). We had a pretty candid chat about my experience thus far and shared my thoughts on what a person on the coal face probably thinks but doesn't have the avenue to tell the decision makers. She is a wonderful person and was very encouraging in the interaction. She has asked me to elaborate on some ideas and I will get back to her on those.

With these meetings done, it was time to get ready for the assessment centres for the Fast Track recruitment program.

There were 2 assessments in total in Sydney and included both internal and external candidates. They were all from a wide variety of backgrounds from practising lawyers to teachers to sub editors and ranging from Brisbane to Perth to Tasmania!

It was a very enjoyable experience albeit a difficult one as there was a lot of things that needed to be done precisely and each of us had to play a part in it.

In two days time, the third and final one will be held in Auckland and should give Rob and Tracey with enough firepower to get Fast Track 2 underway for this year.

To all the assessment centre participants thus far, best of luck. The hard part is now done.. time to sit back and wait for the results.

As I write this up, the country is reeling from another aftershcock in the Cantebury region and this was measured at 6 on the richter scale. More damages have followed and some people are looking at rebuilding their houses and property for the third time! Keep the faith Christchurch. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you.

Assessment draws near...

30 May 2011

This is true on two counts. Firstly, one of my project deliverables was to provide an assessement of the current state of APN Online's content loading procedure. This was to encompass all masteheads that fell under the APN Online banner including, nz herald, nz magazines and nz regional media websites.

As part of this, i have been spending a lot of time talking to the people who are involved in the states of both content creation and loading and gettting an understanding from them about what is working and what isnt.

While all this has been going on, the Fast Track recruitment has been going on as well.

So, I will be heading into Australia next week to tee up with the Australian Regional Group News Editor and if possible, drop over to Brisbane to see how they do things there before I head over to Sydney to prepare for the Fast Track Assessment centres which are scheduled for the week of the 6th (june).

To all participants, who have made it thus far... Congratulations and best of luck. The assessment centre will be one hell of a day..it will challenge you, it will push you and by the end of it you will be physically and mentally drained. It wont be easy.. but hey, if it was, it wouldn't be worth it :)