a graduate and two lecturers

Those positions meant that when the chance to move to Australia to work for Sky News came up I already had two years experience in a news room under my belt and a big portfolio to show what I was capable of.

Joe Costigan, a 2024 journalism graduate, has just made the move to Sydney, Australia to work with Sky News. He says, that without his co-op experience, this opportunity would not have come around. 

Tell us a bit about yourself, what course did you study in UL, what has your career looked like to date?

I studied Journalism and Digital Communication at UL and graduated this year. I’m very much in the early stages of my career, I worked in digital news with Cork Beo for my co-op and stayed in the role for my final two years of college. I just moved to Sydney to start as a News Producer with Sky News Australia and am so excited to see what this next chapter has in hold.

Tell us a bit about your co-op placement, what organisation did you work with and what year it took place?

I worked as a digital journalist for Cork Beo, a regional news site owned by Reach PLC, for my co-op in 2022. After finishing my 6-month placement there I stayed on in a freelance capacity, working regular news shifts throughout my final year and a half of college and I continued making content for their TikTok page while I was on Erasmus in Budapest.

What impact did your co-op placement have on your future career?

My co-op role taught me so much about the world of journalism and made me much better equipped for my final year of college where I took on an editor role for the Limerick Voice. Those two positions meant that when the chance to move to Australia to work for Sky News came up I already had two years of experience in a newsroom under my belt and a big portfolio to show what I was capable of. I never would have been able to move here to Sydney without that valuable experience.

What piece of advice would you give to students going on co-op now?

My advice to anyone going on co-op now is to get as involved in the workplace as possible and try to bring new ideas. I started Cork Beo’s TikTok account in my second month there and found that showing that extra bit of interest and initiative helped me when I wanted to continue the job after my time on co-op finished.