Case studies: BBC radio producer: Margaret Cooke

Margaret is a current affairs producer for BBC Radio 4. She studied French and Italian at Oxford University and graduated in 2004.

I am a radio producer for the BBC. I currently specialise is current affairs programming, coming up with ideas for existing series and one-off documentaries.

Generally, my job involves researching ideas, either alone or with a researcher, then working with my editor to devise a 'treatment' for the stories. I track down potential interviewees and contact them by phone to see if they’d be suitable contributors. I then decide a format and structure for the programme, book interviews, brief presenters, record interviews and sound effects (either on location or in the studio), edit recorded material, work with the presenter to produce a script and then with an engineer to craft the final programme. My working day can start anytime between 6am and 10am, depending on what stage we’re at with production.

I cover a wide range of stories, so in the past year I have been to 10 Downing Street to interview the Prime Minister, recorded singing rugby fans at a match in Wales, interviewed a rabbi at Auschwitz and taken a tour of a gypsy travellers' site in Essex.

After finishing my languages degree, I worked in a bookshop for six months. I used my holidays to undertake work experience at a BBC local radio station and a regional newspaper. After two years working as a trainee reporter, I moved into radio and have been there ever since - moving from local radio to national radio and from broadcast journalism to producing. To be honest, it has been my work experience and the NCTJ qualifications I gained at the newspaper which have formed the backbone of my CV and which are of more interest to employers than my degree course.

I think, in order to be successful in this environment, you need to be able to talk to people from a wide range of backgrounds and persuade them to take part in programmes. Tenacity and stamina are important because it takes a lot of work to find the right person. Attention to detail is also key. You need a probing, inquisitive mind and the ability to construct narratives and arguments. You have to be able to convey information in an accessible way and the ability to work as part of a team is also essential.

In my experience, a lot of people who say they want to work 'in the media' don’t really know what that means and a worrying number have virtually no knowledge of the programmes they claim they want to work on. So the first thing to do is to listen to a lot of radio and watch a lot of TV and think hard about what you like and don’t like about a very wide range of programmes. Secondly, it’s a good idea to talk to someone in the kind of job you imagine you’d like to do and find out as much as you can about what’s really involved - because no two roles in the media are exactly the same.

People will tell you that getting a job in the media is all about who you know and not what you know. But it’s very easy to find out who produced a programme (you can look in the Radio Times or check the on-air credits), so what’s to stop you asking for some expert career advice? Ok, they might say no or ignore your email. But really, what have you got to lose?