Skip to content
University of East London
  • Staff login
  • Student login
  • Study

    Study

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Undergraduate study

    View all of our undergraduate subjects.

    Explore now
    • COURSES
      • Undergraduate
      • Postgraduate
      • Getting back into education
      • Subjects
      • May starts
      • Apprenticeships
    • STUDENT INFORMATION
      • Student life
      • Current students
      • New students
      • Accommodation
      • Term dates
      • Fees and funding
      • Scholarships
    • VISIT UEL
      • Open days and events
      • Our location
  • International

    International

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Virtual Open Events

    Need support during your admission journey?

    Attend our virtual events
    • APPLYING
      • Advice for your region
      • Pre-degree courses
      • Immigration advice and compliance
      • Transferring to UEL
      • International admission deadlines
      • Pre-sessional English
      • Malvern House pathway programmes
    • STUDENT INFORMATION
      • Accommodation
      • Term dates
      • Fees and funding
      • Scholarships
    • VISIT UEL
      • Open days and events
      • Our location
      • Virtual open events
  • Your career

    Your career

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Are you an employer?

    Advertise a vacancy on our platform today.

    Get started
    • STARTING YOUR CAREER
      • Career Zone
      • Explore your career
      • Career coaching and mentoring
    • GETTING A JOB
      • Meet employers
      • Be your own boss
      • Volunteering
      • Work while you study
  • Partners

    Partners

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Are you an employer?

    Advertise a vacancy on our platform today.

    Get started
    • Partnerships at UEL
    • Train your workforce
    • Share your skills
    • Connect with our people
  • Our research

    Our research

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    REF 2021

    Read about our Research Excellence Framework submissions and results

    Impact case studies
    • Postgraduate research students
    • Research impact
    • Partnerships
    • REF 2021
  • About

    About

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Connected campus

    We are improving our three campuses for people to study, work and live.

    What we're doing
    • OUR UNIVERSITY
      • Our schools and subjects
      • Staff
      • Governance
      • Professional services
      • Vision 2028
      • Alumni
      • Accreditations
      • Sustainable Development Goals
    • TEACHING AND SUPPORT
      • How we teach
      • Mental wealth
      • On-campus nursery
    • GET INVOLVED
      • Events
      • News
    • GET IN TOUCH
      • Our location
      • Contact us
  • Home
  • About UEL

Graduate lands internship with Financial Times

Hero Carousel

lulu_ft2

Lulu kept her dream alive despite tough pandemic jobs market

See all of our News articles

Published

19 May 2021

Share

Share On Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn

A University of East London (UEL) journalism graduate has seized an opportunity to make her mark with a leading media brand after long pandemic months when she began to wonder if her career would ever get started.

Rolhat Zen-Aloush, known as Lulu, has landed a prestigious six-month internship with the Financial Times - and now she has her foot in the door she’s intent on proving her worth - and staying there.

Despite leaving education at the height of the lockdown, and having to earn a living as a waitress, Lulu fought her feelings of despair and kept on believing. More than that, she worked up job applications and listened to a work coach who gave her advice.

I remember him telling me to apply for the FT internship. I really didn't think I'd get it - I mean the FT is one the most popular names in the trade. Anyway, I applied and the next thing I knew I was asked to attend an interview.

"I was so excited, but I also didn't get my hopes up as I knew it would be competitive. Nevertheless, I tried to be confident at my two set interviews, where I think I showed them what I'm capable of bringing to the FT,"

Lulu (real name Rolhat Zen-Aloush), UEL graduate in journalism, said.

 

Before that change of fortune, life had been tough.

"I was working as a temporary waitress for roughly three months before lockdown in November and it wasn’t something I enjoyed. The whole pandemic made things difficult, even finding a basic job felt impossible at one point.

Good news

"I did feel hopeless. I felt as if I studied for no reason because journalism has always been so competitive, so finding a job in the industry isn't always easy especially as someone who is newly graduated. But I was applying for jobs constantly."

And then came the good news.

"When I first received the offer, I couldn't believe it, I was in utter shock. I was over the moon to have finally found a job that related to my degree. I felt all the hard work over the years had finally paid off.

"The best thing was getting back to what I love doing, which is writing. But also, I've been in contact with some brilliant people in the industry. The Financial Times is an amazing workplace. It's very diverse and they always offer brilliant support and help for those who need it. 

"I work closely with the FT Pensions Expert platform. I'm asked to write articles for the site. I feel really happy at work at the FT - there is a big sense of belonging and everyone is just so lovely to work with. I have already had articles published. Only two months in and I'm very proud of myself.

"I would love to stay with the FT, and I hope that this will happen when my internship finishes around September. In journalism, it's not always easy to bag the exact job you want so it's important to be open minded about the type of work you do while staying optimistic that the dream job will come if you really work for it."

Lulu has set her sights on a career in international reporting. She was brought up in the UK but is originally from Kurdistan. Ultimately, she'd like to become a Middle East correspondent, giving voice to the suffering of the Kurdish people.

Student life at UEL

Lulu graduated in the summer, and she maintains fond recollections of studying at UEL. "It was so much fun," she said. "I honestly had the best experience as a university student and that's mainly due to the amazing lecturers.

"Throughout the three years of my course, I always had enormous support and my lecturers always tried their best to ensure that our education was a priority. The modules I studied were most definitely insightful and helped me understand overall what it takes to be a professional journalist."

And her advice for anyone thinking of studying journalism?

"Try to build a portfolio of your own work as part of getting a journalism degree. For instance, try blogging, writing articles, pursuing your own stories, all these things can really help.

"The hardest truth I found when leaving university is that not many companies will take newly graduated students unless they have some work experience. I would really encourage students to try to take advantage of opportunities that UEL offers."

Lulu's former lecturer Simon Miles said, "Lulu won't mind me saying that when she arrived her written expression was pretty poor. But she worked and worked, first as a reporter and then as an editor, and her current achievement is down to her perseverance and determination.

"Good journalism is vital to a healthy democratic society. At UEL we don't just want to teach skills, we want to instil a commitment to one of the great professions. It's having that attitude, together with the skills, that will give a graduate the edge. And Lulu had that attitude."

If you are thinking of a career in journalism, see our website course pages. 

Share

Share On Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn

Communications team

Contact us for press and interview requests

 

+44 (0)20 8223 2911
pressoffice@uel.ac.uk

Help us make this site better by telling us what you think about this page

Social Media

Follow us on social media:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube Instagram TikTok

University of East London

University Way

London, E16 2RD

United Kingdom



T. +44 20 8223 3000


Explore UEL

  • About UEL
  • Take a virtual tour
  • Calendars
  • Freedom of information
  • Governance management
  • Services and departments
  • Find us
  • Contact us

The University

  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • News
  • Events
  • Jobs

University of East London

University Way

London, E16 2RD

United Kingdom



T. +44 20 8223 3000


Copyright ©2023 University of East London

  • Accessibility
  • Data protection
  • Sitemap
  • AccessAble
  • Modern slavery
  • Legal and compliance
  • Cookie settings
  • Privacy