Anyone who’s spent time unemployed will know the drill. Write one CV, write one cover letter and then send to a thousand companies. You’ll be inundated with phone calls from recruitment agents about jobs you can’t remember applying for, whilst pretending it was the one you really wanted over them all. Eventually I began working in a call centre… and hated it.

I have a media degree, and I really felt I was wasting my time (and my degree) spending my days trying to sell broadband. However, during my time at said ‘contact centre’ – Snack Media gave me a call regarding a football writer position I had applied for.

Of course I jumped at the chance, I spent half my life talking about the beautiful game and to have the chance to spread my thoughts to millions? I was salivating.

Things moved awfully quickly after that. It began as a short-term internship on ‘Football Transfer Tavern’, working from home. The great thing was that we only needed to write three articles a day, allowing me to continue working throughout my placement.

I really got into it, and I began expressing my desire for his to be more than just an internship. I had been fortunate that my editor was aware of my website design skills as well as my writing ability and when I expressed that I would love to do more for the business, he made sure the right people within the business were made aware.

It wasn’t long at all until I was presented with an opportunity to prove myself, and you’re browsing it right now. The Football Journalist was designed by me and offered an opportunity to work from home designing and maintaining football websites, as well as writing for them too. My hard work paid off and it wasn’t long after that I was working for Snack on a basis which allowed me quit my job in that wretched call-centre.

The great thing about working for Snack was the variety of jobs that I began to receive; the management love to work towards a person’s strengths and quickly sought after jobs for me that suited my ability. Before long I found myself dealing with a wide range of tasks across the company, including website maintenance, photoshop graphics and even producing football videos. It was a dream come true, not only was I making decent money, but I was gaining invaluable experience too, right from my own home.

I was very lucky though, I feel that the internship is a real opportunity to prove yourself and you have to grab it with both hands. Those who take the chance for granted simply walk away with some articles and something for their CV, in the world of football journalism you have to really love what you do and be committed.

Now as I write this, it is just seven months after my first contact with Snack Media and I have secured a dream job at the BBC as a content producer for Interactive; a job I would never have got if I had spent the past few months in a cell-centre. Unfortunately, it does mean I have to leave this wonderful company that have offered me so much, but of course it does leave the door open for so many more keen applicants to really show what they can do.

Starting Date: Monday 16th January.

Date of interviews: Monday 9th January.

Apply now by filling in the form below!

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Internship Schemes Recruitment Status:

Football FanCast: Now Recruiting

Football Transfer Tavern: Now Recruiting

Formula One: Now Recruiting

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To apply for any of the schemes that are currently now recruiting or to register an interest in a future internship scheme please email thefootballjournalist@snack-media.com and put your desired scheme in the subject bar.

“The opportunity to WORK as a football writer? Surely this is too good to be true, right?”

Whilst similar thoughts raced around my mind, I decided to apply for the aforementioned internship, and was lucky enough to be invited to an interview with SN&CK Media MD Niall Coen. Niall explained the details of the scheme to me, as well as a little about the company and its websites.

Shortly afterwards I was offered a position on the internship scheme (an offer which I gratefully accepted).

The start of the internship was marked with a compulsory training day. At this day I got to meet my fellow interns for the first time, as well as editor Martin Crawford and MD Sarah Kennedy. We were briefed on how to use the website’s content management system, as well as provided with general tips on writing for the site.

The 12-week internship was split into three roughly equal ‘stages’; stage one, designed to ease my fellow interns and I into the role, saw us assigned two-three articles a day (for the company’s primary website, www.footballfancast.com), with each article title selected by Martin. At first I was issued several titles pertaining to my beloved Liverpool, with other topics selected as I gained more confidence and experience. I was also given the opportunity to write static content for the website’s fan-generated Wikipedia pages.

The latter stages (two and three) of the internship saw my fellow interns and I issued with more responsibility and artistic freedom – choosing article titles was now our responsibility. These changes helped to develop another set of journalistic skills – learning how to spot stories, and how to spot stories that would generate large reads. Choosing articles for other interns meant selecting stories that would be suited to their writing capabilities.

Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed the internship, I must stress that it proved to be hard work on several occasions! I was frequently pushed out of my comfort zone, and spent many days writing for periods of up to 10 hours. However, Martin was wonderfully supportive throughout the course of the internship, providing expertise and motivation. Martin also compiled exhaustive and extensive statistics and reports, allowing my colleagues and I to see tangible proof of our progress and success.

Deciding to apply for the internship at SN&CK Media has proven itself to be one of the best decisions I have ever made (and then some). Thanks to the opportunity provided to me by the website, I can boast the following:

• I now have 125 published articles, articles which have amassed 461,728 reads (and counting),
• I have appeared as a ‘guest expert’ on Sky News live dotcom show on five occasions,
• I have over 250 followers on my Twitter page,
• I have discovered a sense of direction and purpose (am now set to go back to university to do a masters in journalism).

I would thoroughly recommend this internship scheme to anyone with a love of football and writing.

Zarif Rasul

As a graduate of the University of Brighton where I acquired a BA (hons) Degree in Sport Journalism I had long had an interest in writing about the beautiful game, but initially found it difficult to get a break in the field.

Whilst on the job hunt I came across SN&CK Media’s football writing internship, so I applied immediately and was lucky enough to be chosen. During my time writing for FootballFanCast.com I learned a lot about the media and football writing that I did not know previously, and I believe it will hold me in good stead for the future.

Blog writing was fairly new to me as I was allowed to express my opinion quite freely, whereas in previous work placements I had mainly written more news and quote pieces. As a football fan I appreciated giving my two penneth worth on the sport.

Also, it was always nice to receive feedback on my pieces (sometimes good, sometimes bad) which not only helped me gain a sense of debate and community with my readers, but they also helped give me ideas for any future blogs that I may have written. For example, after writing a blog about players who Tottenham should and shouldn’t sign many of the comments I had received were dead against a Michael Carrick return (an idea which was mooted prior to the opening of the transfer window), so I wrote a follow up blog discussing the pros and cons of Spurs re-signing their former midfielder from Manchester United.

As a Chelsea fan like many others fans I could sometimes be found guilty of being biased, but after writing blogs about many teams I soon learned how to empathise with other fans and see things from their point of view as well as learning how to take my Chelsea hat off and criticise my club if it was warranted.

One big advantage of the internship was finding out how many reads each article got in weekly read reports and each intern filled out their individual intern plans to monitor their numbers.

The read reports were useful as they helped to provide a gauge on what sort of articles worked for you, what ones did not and how you can improve on what you had done previously. Aside from being useful for an analytical purpose, it is always nice to know when you have had a good week and that people are reading your work.

Before my internship I had not had much experience in the importance of the social media and how networking sites can be a useful tool to build up a readership to follow your work, but as it stands I have a growing number of followers on Twitter (currently around 600 people). My followers have been useful in helping me compile my blogs, particularly regarding lists as I debated with several of the Twitter users discussing which players should be in a Chelsea all-time British XI and a foreign XI also.

It was also a pleasure to work with my fellow interns, who I’m in contact with on my Twitter and Facebook accounts. I often discussed with one or two of the interns in particular in regard to ideas for articles and it was useful to help each other spot an angle on a story. We often read each other’s work and provided buddy feedback for a particular intern on a weekly basis, it also helped give me a sense of the other interns’ style and I feel as we all learned something by reading the work of the others.

Spotting a story was something I became quite adept at during the internship as after a number of weeks I had gained a feel over what sorts of stories could do well for me and also gave me a freedom in what I decided to write about supported by our editor, who helped us develop the best of the ideas we came up with.

As well as suggesting articles for myself to write about there came a point when we also had to nominate a few blog ideas for a chosen intern to write about. After reading the other interns’ work I learned how to spot a story which would suit their style as well as giving them a challenge and was always pleased to see if a story I gave to someone did well when the read reports came out for that particular week.

During the internship it was always comforting of having the support of Martin Crawford (Chief Editor), Tom Jones (FFC employee), Niall Coen and Sarah Kennedy (MDs of SN&CK Media). Even though I was away working on my own most of the time I had the feeling and pride that I was part of a team and found it easy to approach anybody in the team regarding any questions or problems, particularly Martin and Tom who we were in contact with on a regular basis.

As an internship it was a very rewarding time, the support involved was excellent and the praise received helped to encourage and help me grow as a writer. I would recommend the FootballFanCast.com internship to anyone with aspirations of becoming a football writer and wanting to learn about the business.

Anthony Williams

Studying it through the majority of my educational years, journalism is a big passion of mine. I have experience in the journalistic field where by I produced a number of articles during my years in higher education. However, prior to me being accepted to the FFC internship, I had never actually written a sports article. I was very grateful to be chosen out of the vast numbers who applied for the internship, and as a result, promised myself to seize the moment and produce work to the best of my abilities for the upcoming 3 months.

My work varied; in the sense that I was open to write articles about any club other than the one I support. This gave me more knowledge and updated me on other clubs’ issues, which was good for me, as I like to keep on top of everything going on in the Premier League and in Europe. My motivational levels throughout the 12 weeks never dropped, and this is evident within my work. I set a personal target for myself which was to attempt to beat my weekly reads every week. Unfortunately this did not go to plan, but I did manage to accumulate some great numbers which was a satisfying accomplishment, and subsequently boosted my confidence for the commencing week ahead.

There were some weeks within the internship which were tough, and to be honest draining in some cases, but my love of writing about the sport never faded. I enjoyed producing every single article I wrote, and was pleased to see that my work was popular amongst the readers of the site. There was nothing more rewarding than seeing readers view your work and post comments (even if some were rude), more importantly, the best thing was to see what you had accomplished on a weekly basis through the reads. The group of interns were given more responsibilities as the weeks progressed. We had to assign ourselves as well as our intern mates’ articles during the last few weeks of the internship. I liked this aspect of the scheme as it was a challenge to find the right articles suited for your assigned mate as well as articles which would generate good reads. I never encountered any real problems during my 12 weeks. If I did have any queries on an article or an idea, my editor was always there to lend a helping hand.

The 12 weeks taught me how to manage my time as a writer, enhance my researching skills, as well as give me valuable experience within the journalism sector of my preferred area. I applied for the internship purely for the fact that I wanted to gain experience within football journalism and showcase my writing skills. I definitely feel like I achieved what I wanted within the 3 months. I enjoyed every single day of the internship and looked forward to doing my work, made really good friends with the other interns on the plan, and can’t thank FFC enough for the opportunity they gave me. A great experience and one which will no doubt help me with my future plans.

Tony Merakli

The three months that I spent producing articles went very quickly and I think that is mainly because writing the articles has been very exciting, both due to my love of football and the way that FootballFanCast have designed their internship scheme. As I progressed through the scheme I was able to enhance my journalistic skills in terms of writing a story, spotting and sourcing a story and picking an appropriate angle for the story.

When I first started I had a good idea of what to expect as it had been made clear to me in the interview stage by the MD, Niall Coen, of what they were looking for. Prior to the project starting it sounded like everything I was looking for and the reality lived up to the expectation. Firstly I had an introduction day where I got to meet my fellow interns and my editor, Martin Crawford. I was given a refresher on how the scheme would be run and how our weekly reads for the website would be calculated to measure our own performance. Another interesting aspect was how the site used social media to promote its work and the unique techniques that were being utilised.

Having had some experience writing essays for university from home I realised that a potential problem of finding motivation could occur but this never proved to be the case on this internship. Straight away I was given insightful and interesting articles to write about and not once did I ever receive a task that wouldn’t keep me going or not excite me. Whilst there naturally had to be a love of football for me to be motivated and to have a chance of doing well on this scheme, the structure of it was spot on and it couldn’t have been outlined any better.

I was gradually eased into the project by writing two articles a day that were given to me by my editor with a few breaks here and there. By the end of the scheme we were all choosing the majority of our stories for ourselves and each other and we were writing  over 10 articles a week at least. At times it could all seem fairly demanding but if I had any problems about the workload then my editor would gladly see to any of my queries and advise me on how to best proceed.

At the end of the internship I’d had my work read by nearly 250,000 people and it’s staggering to imagine that my articles could generate that much interest. However the fact of the matter is that my articles did do that well, and it’s thanks to FootballFanCast that I’ve had the opportunity to share my work with so many people. Not many places give you a chance like this and I’m pleased that they gave me the opportunity to show off my skills. I believe that I am now a much better writer because of this internship scheme and the experience that I’ve gained could prove invaluable to helping my career as a journalist.

Charlie Rowing

If you decide that football journalism is right up your street, then there may be further opportunities for you to take advantage of following the completion of your internship. One intern David Tully has gone on to run a Liverpool fan site, Live4Liverpool.com, and is now forging his career in the world of online football journalism. David comments favourably on the opportunities he was given:

“Overall, the internship gave me the insight I wanted, to know whether football journalism was for me, and after the completion of the internship I was offered by Niall and Sarah a chance to be an editor of a new website. It was an opportunity I gladly accepted and they have given me the complete freedom to come up with ideas for how the website should be presented and what should be on the site in regards to content. I am now running the website live4liverpool.com, and earning money from a sport I both love watching and writing about.”

Mark Greenwood is another successful Intern who has also had the opportunity to start and run his own football website. Having an unrivalled passion for Spanish football, Mark is now running ThisIsFutbol.com and is sharing his love of La Liga with fellow supporters. Mark has come on a long way since the start of his internship and it is a journey that he has enjoyed hugely:

“I’m very grateful at the opportunities given to me by SN&CK Media as my running of a site has led to increased creativity and thinking on my part and also the opportunity to share my interests with the rest of the world. There’s even more of a sense of responsibility when you’re running your own site and I think it’s helping me mature as a person and as a writer as I have to carefully consider what people would want to read. I believe that I’m growing as a person with these responsibilities and that can only be a good thing.”

Chudi Onwuazor has also completed the internship scheme and now runs the Manchester United site TheBusbyWay.com. He speaks of being given all the help needed to set up and run his own site, the pride and responsibility that he has earned and the fact that he is now doing a job that he loves. Chudi exclaims that:

“In running The Busby Way, the quote ‘If you find a job you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life’ has proper meaning. I love Manchester United and to get paid to discuss all things Manchester United seems a right touch. When I did my internship for Football FanCast I was given all the tools in order to run my own site and now I do, I’m finding it like a hobby rather than a job.”

“There is a real sense of responsibility as well as ownership with the site that is helping develop me not only as a writer but also as a person. People email me and ask me questions on United like I am an authority and to see that people are reading what I write as well as interacting with it real does make me proud!”

As David, Mark and Chudi will testify, a SN&CK Media football journalism internship is a great way to get a taste of the world of online journalism and many opportunities are opened up upon completion of the internship. David and Mark have gone from football fans, to experienced football writers and are now running their own football sites and writing about the sport that they love. The internship is open to anyone with a passion for the beautiful game, and you too could soon be a fully fledged online football journalist.

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If you would like to join the Internship Scheme, please email us at info@snack-media.com

After submitting my CV and a brief statement, I was invited to write a few sample articles. After these were submitted, I met with Niall Coen (MD) and Chief Editor Martin Crawford for an interview, and started work for the company a few weeks later.

An induction day covered the majority of the technical I.T. based information that was necessary, as well as a basic outline of what makes a good article, what makes a good title and how to source material etc. However, this is truly an internship where you learn on the job, and by the end of the 12 weeks, my writing and confidence had improved beyond recognition.

The working week included three articles a day (one for Football Transfer Tavern, two for Football FanCast), and I must admit, at first, this was a struggle. However, Martin Crawford, the Chief Editor, was extremely approachable and understanding, and if issues arose, Martin was quick to offer assistance. After the end of each week, there was a conference call with Martin and Sarah Kennedy (MD, SN&CK Media) and these calls gave good feedback on the work I’d produced for the week. Further, an intern report was filled out and completed every week via Google Analytics, which documented the number of reads I’d procured, and was vital to my development as a web based journalist. This intern plan also offered further feedback at the end of each week, and was a helpful way to augment, and track my own progress.

Working from home can be difficult at times, but I found that the workload kept me fully occupied, and I was constantly motivated to achieve higher readership with each passing week. The internship gives interns the opportunity to source their own stories and articles, and I became very interested in manipulating titles to ensure the highest number of hits. As media is now so web based, an understanding of search engines like NewsNow.com and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook is imperative to achieving high readership. Without high readership there is no advertising, and this is how websites like Football FanCast make money. SN&CK Media certainly give their interns an excellent overview of how to use these tools to achieve hits for articles and therefore the website, as well as helping to improve the quality of the intern’s written work.

Finally, I was rewarded for my work and graft with the opportunity to represent the company on Sky News, and I went on the Dot Com show three times. The show went out live, and was designed to represent the ‘internet’ and ‘bloggers’ reaction to current events (I discussed the John Terry affair, and injuries to David Beckham and Wayne Rooney).

The internship for SN&CK Media was hard work, but I have now had my work read by near enough 200,000 people, whilst also making appearances on national television to discuss football. At the induction day, we were told to think about what sort of writer we wanted to be. Football FanCast gave me the opportunity to express myself and dip my foot in the ocean before taking a swim, and I doubt I’d have gotten the opportunity anywhere else.

Mark Turner

We met for an initial training day in January where our Editor Martin Crawford, Sub Editor Tom Jones and Managing Directors Niall Coen and Sarah Kennedy were present. The meeting immediately gave me excitement for the project as everyone was extremely friendly and the having the prospect of writing material about one of my passions. I and the rest of the interns were taken through how to write an article, what constituted a good article and how exactly to promote out work through social media. Furthermore we were taught how to upload articles to the website which is profoundly easy once grasped.

From this we were eased into a weekly plan which Martin emailed to us with our articles. Any problems we had Martin or Tom were available to email or contact by telephone. This safety net, especially in the first few weeks really helps with your confidence. Additionally I received a weekly intern report from Martin about my progress with a weekly read count. A Buddy feedback form was filled out on your peers so that we as interns could offer ideas and guidance towards each other.

Whilst writing up to three articles a day for both FootballFanCast.com and TransferTavern.com I really began to understand how the industry worked and how to increase my readership. Sarah Kennedy, one of the Managing Directors has brilliant expertise in Social Media. She offered me guidance in creating a successful Twitter account in which to promote my articles. Within 6 weeks I had over 2,000 followers on Twitter reading my pieces. This just highlights one of the many skills I have learnt throughout this internship.

After a few weeks, Martin began letting us as interns decide what articles we wished to produce. We could now really show our flair and ideas for articles to the Football FanCast team. Yet again if I needed guidance on any issue Martin was always available as was Tom, Niall or Sarah. What made the whole experience enjoyable was the safety net I had in place. At no point did I feel out of my depth or worried about producing the right work. If I needed help, it was a phone call away.

On this internship we were also given the opportunity to interview members of the public to create articles. The interns met in the friendly atmosphere of a pub near the Emirates in North London, before heading out to interview fans about certain aspects of their teams the interns as a group had decided. Upon regrouping, Niall and Martin got a few rounds in and some food which went down a treat.

I would most certainly recommend this internship as I now have a large portfolio of work available to employees. It is quickly available for access on the internet to anyone. Furthermore I have learnt skills you just cannot learn in academia. How to gain reads, what makes a good story and how the business works. I never felt pressured by any of the guys at Football FanCast; all I ever received was encouragement and praise which I found spurned me on more. If you are looking for a way into football journalism, there isn’t much better than this.

Matt Balmforth