London Metropolitan University hosted a recent day-long session on careers in journalism. Speakers included executives from Bloomberg, BSkyB and the National Union of Journalists.
The resulting tips are useful for new journalism grads as well as more seasoned journalism professionals looking for job opportunities in journalism.
Though all of the execs on the panel made a number of points about how people get hired in the increasingly-competitive journalism job market, they agreed on one thing: practical experience in a range of media and an online presence are essential.
Rob Kirk, Editorial Development Manager, BSkyB, said his company is looking for journalists who are: multi-skilled, those who can work for papers, on-line, TV, people do a bit of everything and an online presence – an online portfolio is expected such as a blog; there is always a social media check (of potential employees)...
Chris Wheal, chair of the National Union of Journalists’ (NUJ’s) Professional Training Committee says that today's journalists must have digital skills and are "expected to use Twitter, audio podcasting, Photoshop, video editing software" and suggests setting up a Youtube account in your name to demonstrate your skills.
For Paul Addison of Bloomberg, candidates should be "multi-skilled – able to use a range of media" and multi-taskers "able to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. Most people work 12 hour days, five days a week," adding that "you can be sent on assignments with very little notice."
You can read a .PDF summary of the event here.