How to Start A Career in Journalism

Journalism is a fascinating profession with a wide variety of specialized fields. It is, statistically, a very competitive job market, making credentials paramount to successfully establishing a career in the field.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Understanding of aspects and specialties in journalism
• College degree and/or job-related skills
• An aggressive, professional resume

1. Journalism is a field that finds, validates, and delivers information to the public through a wide variety of methods. Some of these methods include newspapers(print, broadcast (TV/Radio), photography (photojournalism), and other sources of media. Journalism also plays an important role in the private sector, creating and delivering product or services information to their customer base via the media.

2. A college degree will almost certainly be required. A Bachelor's degree would be the minimum requirement and may be sufficient if you have strong work experience in the field. However, a Master's is more often required and would certainly widen your prospects. It is important to gather journalistic skills while working on your degree. Working for the college newspaper or a local newspaper, interning at radio or TV stations, building a strong portfolio of journalism-quality photographs, are but a few of the ways you can strengthen your job opportunities after graduation. You will be in a constant building process for a strong post-graduate resume.

3. In deciding if journalism is the field for you, there are several important skills you must possess. At the very basic level, you will need a strong understanding of quality researching, as well as strong interviewing and writing skills. Your oral and narrative skills must also be sharp. You should have a keen interest in news, current events, law, people and cultures, trends and the flow of information.

4. Some of the jobs that a journalism degree can be used toward include, reporter, newscaster, editing, photo journalist and writer. Contact the career placement office at a local university for detailed information on the current job market, available degree programs, and other career information.

Tips & Warnings

• In all highly-competitive markets, you will need to be focused and aggressive
• Look for any opportunity, no matter how small, to exercise your skills as a journalism student. Everything related can be used to strengthen your resume.
• If you cannot pursue a college degree, consistently look for entry-level job openings with newspapers, broadcast companies and magazine publishers.
• Consider registering with a job placement service who has a client base relative to journalism.
• Job requirements and statistics are ever-changing. You should verify any information or job outlook statistics with a job or education professional.