- Are you passionate about entrepreneurship and technology?
- Do you want to learn key storytelling and communication skills and get a solid foundation for a career as a journalist, digital marketer, or maybe even for starting your own business one day?
- Would you like to meet some of the most successful IT business leaders, investors, and digital economy players who shape the future of Southeast Europe?
Good news! We’re now accepting applications for the third cohort of The Recursive Academy.
During this program, you will gain hands-on experience in telling and popularizing the stories of those expanding the space of possibilities for our region. You will become acquainted with emerging technologies, understand disruptive business models and get a better grasp of the direction in which the world is heading.
Some practical info
Who: We’re looking for university students, 3rd year or later; Recent graduates; Young journalists and content creators with up to 3 years of experience; and Career switchers who want to become digital storytellers;
What: 4-month paid internship (it’s possible to combine it with your studies): 3 months as part of The Recursive Newsroom and 1-month as part of a partnering tech employer or media outlet.
When: The program is scheduled to start in mid-October 2022 and continue until February 2023.
How: Send us your CV/LinkedIn/ video pitch at [email protected].
Deadline if you want to join this cohort: September 22. Then, we jump on a quick call to get to know each other.
The final step before sending you a formal proposal would be for you to write a short essay on the Bulgarian tech innovations that have inspired you the most.
Where: In-person at the Betahaus coworking space in Sofia with an option for remote work if you need to attend university lectures in a different city.
Why: Over the years, our team has worked closely with many tech companies in Bulgaria. We’ve seen first hand that the market needs talent able to tell good stories but also able to understand business and technology.
All globally successful companies around us are very good at one particular thing – being media companies, producing content all the time. Southeast Europe currently has a limited pool of storytellers and we want to expand it. This is essential if we want to live up to our mission to give more international visibility to the region.
But if you dare to join us on this adventure, we certainly believe that there will be plenty of job opportunities for you down the road.
“The Recursive helped me scale my working habits, creating from scratch a young and ambitious person, willing to improve herself every day. What I liked a lot was the large-scale thinking of my mentors who let me develop in my own way, but always stood around to guide me, show me my own blind spots and highlight my strengths. For less than a year, I got the chance to participate in one-to-one meetings with Silicon Valley legends, get a 360 degree view of the entrepreneurial ecosystems of SEE, manage multiple marketing and content creation campaigns, and discover the business fields I would like to develop in.”
Viktoriya Kuzmanova
One of our interns in 2021 who afterwards joined global tech company Progress
The ideal profile
- You come with excellent English in writing and speaking
- You have any experience that can demonstrate a desire for learning and teamwork: for example, university clubs, volunteering, work and travel programs, other internships, etc.
- Of course, bonus points if you have already created content in the past, even if it was not professionally. For example, you have written articles and blog posts or created videos for Instagram, YouTube or TikTok. Feel welcome to send us examples.
- You care about bringing a positive change to Southeast Europe
- You’re result-driven
- You’re used to taking personal accountability
- You have good time management skills
- You’re ambitious, yet humble.
What you will learn during The Recursive Academy
"I still remember the day of the “Basics of Journalism” workshop, and how nervous I felt when picking up the phone to make my first interview. Now, I know that learning-by-doing is the best way to take up a new challenge and find out whether you like it or not for real. I found that I love it - the dynamics, the constant learning process, the social element, and the team. To me, it is not only about writing, it’s about networking, broadening your horizons, understanding what really goes into developing an innovation ecosystem, how your favorite new tech solutions work and especially about getting inspired by the stories you hear about every day."
Elena Ivanova
Elena Ivanova, who started as an intern with us and has grown to a senior content production role
The Recursive Academy courses will be led by experienced journalists, video and marketing experts, but also venture capital investors, communication experts and founders of successful tech companies who will share real-life experiences and up-to-date knowledge on the various disciplines. Explore more details below.
Everything you need to know on how to write great stories, but also distribute and market them successfully
- Digital news writing
- How to write feature stories and analysis
- Successful interviews tips & tricks
- How to make research and find usable data
- Web and social media analytics
- SEO: how to maximize story reach
- Digital tools to help on the job
- Fact-checking and Journalism Ethics
This course will help you acquire both technical and creative skills on how to engage audiences with video and audio
- Video storytelling and editing for the web
- Social media and short form videos
- Podcasting
- Digital photo and video tools
- Basic motion graphics
- Video SEO
This course explores the different implications of digital products, services and business models in the way we live, work, pay and communicate, but also the way it transforms industries and how business is conducted.
What does digital transformation mean? What are the effects of the new ways of doing business in the economy? What are the benefits of different technologies and the societal risks associated with some of them? How are they disrupting different industries? What does Venture Capital mean and what is its role in supporting innovation? These are some of the questions this course aims to answer.
- Digital Transformation: overview, trends and challenges
- Emerging technologies Introduction(ex. AI, ML, Blockchain)
- Basics of venture capital and key stakeholders
- Innovative business models
- Sustainability and ESG
- Startup terminology
This course will help students become effective communicators. It will prepare them to speak and write convincingly and be clear in their messages, whether they will be writing stories or solving problems for clients.
- Effective written communication techniques
- Presentation skills
- Negotiation skills
- Feedback management
- Offline and online networking
This course will guide students into creating quality and compelling content and campaigns for businesses, understand data analytics and marketing fundamentals
- Brand identity
- Branded content (and how is it different from advertising)
- Social media algorithms and techniques
- Campaign targeting and audiences
- Marketing campaign planning
Last but not least, participants will develop networking skills and create valuable connections to the leaders in innovation communities in Southeast Europe and beyond. Further, they will gain insights into project management and what it is to be part of an ambitious, tech-savvy, independent media.
