Pure Potential

All About Careers - Journalism

Are you a veritable wordsmith of sorts? Can you produce good quality written pieces in a limited time frame? You might just have the makings of a great journalist. Journalists seek out news, opinion and comment and present it in an arresting and engaging style. They don’t just work for national and local newspapers and magazines, but also for the new wave of online publications that are springing up left, right and centre.

The beauty of journalism is that you can specialise in a particular area of interest: be it sports, business, fashion, beauty, current affairs or science. There are also plenty of different roles in journalism to suit different skills. Publications depend on editors to commission and plan the content and reporters and writers research, chase stories and tap away at articles. Sub-editors, sticklers for dotting their ‘i’s and crossing their ‘t’s, are there to proofread the content, organise the page layout and fact check.

To become a journalist, you’ll need to develop excellent writing skills, top notch grammar and time management skills. Look at any successful journalist and you will find their main qualities are persistence and determination.  A knack for recognising new trends and sniffing out hot news stories is needed, as you will be working hard to attract and retain readers.

It’s a tough industry to crack. A degree certainly helps, although it is by no means mandatory. It doesn’t have to be in humanities either; in fact specialist publications will welcome those with relevant degrees.  You’ll need to practice your writing and be able to prove your skills before that landing that first job. That means writing for your student newspaper, setting up an online magazine or creating your own successful blog and, most important of all, getting plenty of work experience.

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