BY RAEJHON JOHNSON
Jacqueline Doorey has managed to land a prime job at CBC just four years after leaving Sheridan. In a new Sheridan Sun series called Life After Sheridan, we ask a wide range of grads how they found employment.
Doorey enrolled in Sheridan College’s post-grad program where she studied Journalism. She believed it could help her get an internship for a job she was pursuing. Doorey instead improved all of her journalistic talents through Sheridan and credits them for her success.
Sheridan Sun: What influenced you to choose Sheridan’s New media program?
“For me, the whole reason I went to Sheridan was to improve my demo reel and get an internship, and I did both,” said Doorey. “It ended up being the producing, story pitching, interviewing and writing skills that have made me more of a producer, which is way more marketable to employers. Rather than someone with just one niche they want to work in, like just writing, or just on air.”
Doorey found that one of the most important assets to have in school was connections. No matter what program you’re in, you’ll never know what connections could help you down the road. However, she learned it’s not always about making new connections, but maintaining relationships.
“For me, the biggest asset was that my teachers worked in the field,” said Doorey. “One of my teachers even became my boss at my first job. I just kept in contact with my teachers.”
Doorey would end up with a job that would have to do with sports. But she never limited herself to just sports. She felt that you should never have your eyes set on just one thing in your field because it would limit her options and opportunities.
“Just my personal opinion, but I think it’ll pigeonhole you if you only focused on one aspect of your program, and you don’t want to make this industry even smaller for yourself,” Doorey explained. “Sheridan will be good because you can focus your projects on whatever you want. Start building your portfolio while you gain other skills like breaking news, long-form storytelling beat reporting, etc.”
Sheridan Sun: What helped you find success at Sheridan the most?
“Being flexible/being able to do lots of types of things helped me the most,” Doorey said. “I came out of Sheridan and my internship with on air, interviewing, computer editing and production skills. My first gig was interviewing, the second was creating content, and now I’m an associate producer. So having a handful of skills you’re good at or at least a couple, transferable skills are good to break into the business you want, and then once you get in you can choose your top skills to become excellent in.”
Doorey had a waitress job she held after she graduated while she pursued jobs in her field. She was given an offer for an on-air job out west, but it was a big risk. Doorey would have to drop everything, relocate to a small town. She was asked to do reporting, camera, writing, editing, producing and radio for a small amount of pay. She knew it was an opportunity but felt she had more value than what they offered. She turned it down, volunteered at Rogers and a week later got a call from CBC.
It started off as one or two days a month, but Doorey’s hard work paid off. She has now found success covering the Olympics in Toronto and Paralympics in Rio on 2016. She is a social media producer/content producer for CBC and their sports YouTube channel.
You can keep up with Jacqueline Doorey’s success on her Twitter. You can also check out her work on CBC’s sports YouTube channel.