Five aspiring young journalists came into the Guardian recently looking for tips on how to break into the profession. Listen to them grilling seven journalists from the Guardian and the Observer about their career paths on our latest podcast.
The students:
Chiswick Community School
Ellie Elks Herrmannsen, 14
Tammy Harris, 15
James Fell, 15
Robin McMichael, 14
Jonida Tafilaku, 14
Thanks to their teacher Kelly Thomson and head of education for the Guardian, Margaret Holborn. The podcast was produced by Kate Taylor.
The journalists:
Simon Hattenstone
Features writer for Weekend Guardian, Simon also has a weekly sports column.
Helen Pidd
Helen is a reporter on the Guardian. She joined the paper in 2004 to edit Office Hours and was a commissioning editor on G2 before joining the Home News team in 2007.
Hilary Osborne
Hilary is editor of guardian.co.uk/Money. Last year she set up the guardian.co.uk/Environment site, and she still blogs for the site occasionally, as well as writing for the food blog Word of Mouth. Before working for the Guardian, she worked at several personal finance magazines, including a three-year stint as editor of What Mortgage.
Ben Green
After spending four years producing news and phone-in programmes for LBC in London, Ben went to Channel 4 News to launch their Morning Report podcast. Much as he loved waking up at three in the morning, he joined the Guardian in October 2006 as one of their crack team of audio producers. Ben now spends his time writing bad jokes for the Media Talk and Science Weekly podcasts. Sometimes he speaks out loud, too. He still has plans to write a (bestselling) children's book, but currently the market is oversaturated with fatcat titles.
Caspar Llewellyn Smith
Caspar is the editor of the Observer Music Monthly magazine, the author of the possibly misguided Pop Life: A Journey By Sofa (Sceptre) and an occasional contributor to the nation's airwaves.
Hannah Pool
Hannah Pool is a Guardian columnist and the author of My Fathers' Daughter.
Simon Rogers
Simon Rogers is news editor (graphics) at the Guardian. Previously he edited the Life science section and was the launch editor of the Guardian's online news service.
