Comet editor sends out a recruiting call for our next news team star

Here’s my headline news this week – I’m looking for an apprentice.

And if you want a career which is endlessly rewarding, challenging and changing, it will be my pleasure to give you the best possible start.

Let’s get a few things cleared up first. I may be a bit old and wrinkled, but this is not a Lord Sugar deal.

You won’t be asked to give yourself a daft name, do battle with potential rivals, tackle nonsensical challenges and put up with grumpy abuse if things don’t go well, with the ever-present possibility of being shown the door at short notice.

I want to help someone develop into one of our stars of the future, and this ‘earn while you learn’ offer is a golden opportunity for the right person.

That someone will be bright and curious, fascinated by the world around them and appalled by the idea of a job where life is predictable.

They’ll need to be confident, able to talk to all sorts of people about all sorts of things, and itching to spread their wings as soon as they’ve shown they can.

The two-year programme means working with our Stevenage-based news team, writing reports for our papers and websites, spreading the word about what’s going on through social media, revelling in the excitement of deadlines and last-minute changes, while spending one day a week at college in London learning technical writing and shorthand skills and other crucial stuff like law and civic affairs.

I’ve been training young journalists for more than 30 years and they’ve gone on to senior roles on national papers, TV and magazines, become editors themselves, set up their own companies, and all sorts of other things – the transferable skills you learn in this game are much-prized in many other fields.

Most of those I’ve worked with have been graduates, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

But this is a great chance for someone, maybe a school-leaver, who isn’t convinced by uni options and wants to get on with building a career.

That sounds like me all those years ago – does it sound like you, or someone you know?

Click here to find out all the all the details you need to know.

I can’t wait to tell someone ‘You’re hired’ and set them on their way.