Magazine Journalist Job Description
There is no feeling comparable to seeing your name as a featured writer in a magazine for the first time. It's the moment you realize that, as a writer, you have become immortal. Then, there is the opportunity to meet interesting people, report important events and share your opinion with readers. Your career as a magazine journalist starts with a pen and a pad and a little direction.
Other People Are Reading
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Role in the Workplace
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Magazine journalists can work nearly anywhere on the globe. The major role of a magazine journalist is to provide content. The UK's Prospects website says that journalist daily duties include researching a subject and story, interviewing people and generating new ideas for a story. Magazine journalists can be hired to perform a combination of tasks that may include fact checking, writing news stories, writing features and editing content.
Salary
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According to Prospects website, UK journalist can expect to earn a starting salary of 18,500 to 26,000 pounds. PayScale reports the average U.S. magazine journalist salary to range between $26,000 to $40,000. The US Census bureau reports that the average median salary for journalist in any print publication in 2008 was $33,400.
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Education
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Most journalists get their feet wet in high school or college working for school newspapers. A bachelor's degree in journalism or mass communication is required to be competitive in the market. Internships at popular publications will help you get a leg up on the competition. Magazines also look for specialists who have degrees in fields they are most likely to write about, such as an economics analyst would have either an MBA or an economics degree.
Career Opportunities
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects a six percent or more decline in the job prospects of journalist through the year 2018 because of consolidation and dwindling sales or print media, but predicts there will be openings in digital publications and specialty publications. Unlike corporate jobs, there is no set career path in journalism. You can pursue an editor job or move onto other forms of media such as television or radio. You can be employed in any market in the world as long as you can write in the national language of that country. In some cases, you don't even have to live in that country.
Finding Jobs
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There are three main ways to get a job as a magazine journalist. First, get your foot in the door as an intern, learn everything you can about the publication and ask for opportunities to work on small stories. Second, apply for magazine jobs by finding career listings on magazine websites. Kim Kavin suggests following the most pursued method and submit queries to magazines of story ideas you have. Queries are one-page sales pitches in which you convince a magazine editor that the story would be great for their magazine and that you are the writer to write it.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit magazine image by Angelika Bentin from Fotolia.com
