Online College Club

Have you ever considered Careers in journalism? Perhaps you have thought about what qualifications would be required of you if you were to switch Careers and move into journalism. Or, perhaps you are browsing for New careers you could try, and one of the Career ideas you have came up with is journalism, and you would like some more information on this particular career. Here we have some information on what it takes to start out as a journalist, and how you can set about becoming one. This information will be of use for anyone thinking about New careers, or just looking for some Career ideas, whether you’re a school leaver, graduate or someone looking to change Careers.

Journalists can work in lots of different areas – there are a lot of Careers within journalism you can choose from. You can be writing for a magazine, a newspaper, online publication, or a radio or television broadcaster. Your main task will be to gather information on recent happenings and issues. At the start you will more than likely be writing for a small, local broadcaster or newspaper, so the news you report on will commonly reflect this. You will be writing stories and issues that have an effect on the local community. As you develop in your career however, you can sometimes end up travelling the world to report on occurrences outside of the U.K. that may have an effect on us.

As a journalist you will be required to work to tight deadlines, but your work will also be expected to be accurate, and well written. If you are working for a magazine you will probably get more time to work on feature articles that will be printed in the magazine. As a journalist you will more than likely end up working with another professional such as a photographer or TV crew, then again a lot of journalists will take their own photos to go with the articles that they are working on.

In order to be accepted as a journalist, the bare minimum entry requirements are 5 G.C.S.E.s, including English. However, just possessing these is usually not enough to get a job in journalism – rivalry for this job can be quite fierce. In order to give yourself the greatest possible chance, you can take higher education courses, including journalism at degree level, in order to better your chances of becoming a journalist. Though at times even having a degree will not be adequate to give you an edge over other prospective candidates – if possible you need to acquire as much work experience as you can. Put together a portfolio of any work that you manage to get published. Try volunteering to work for places like hospital radio, student radio or small local newspapers. The greater the experience you have, the more appealing you will appear to potential employers.

So as you have probably realised, gaining entry into Careers in journalism can be quite challenging, however it can be a very dynamic and worthwhile career for people. You will be required to work irregular hours, but once you get yourself an established career with say a national newspaper, you can look forward to a salary of around ?40,000 per annum.