Good Journalism Career Skills
Here we share with you the to-do list to become a successful media person:
1. A Degree Gives You the Competitive Advantage
Journalism degree will equip you with the three key ingredients- zeal to take initiatives, the precise way to write stories aligning to legal and ethical media guidelines and the fluent way to use social media. A course will give you the glimpse to the media world providing you with practical training and know-how. Media is one of the busy industries where you have to take the self-initiative to learn. People will be there to help you, but no one will pamper you. You have to be on your toes to learn and deliver. Thus having the knowledge of the fundamentals will help you give an edge in the workplace.
2. Develop Experience
Involve in seminars, programs, enroll for internships or take up small projects and tag along with your local radio, television or publishing house to build your experience before you enter the actual journo world. Having an experience even before opting for the degree builds your credibility that shown on your resume. It increases the weight of your resume creating a promising future. Employers hunt for the one who can deliver and the little experiences will convey the message to the employer that you can. To shine in the field of journalism, you need to grind yourself in the initial days. So grab the opportunities as it comes your way as it is futile to expect that you will land up in your dream job at first go.
3. Update Your Skills
With the technology progressing at a faster rate, the job market has become dynamic demanding latest skills and technology. Journalism has evolved a lot over the past years. For instance, we are now ditching the age-old newspaper and depending on e-papers for the everyday information. Hence, it is crucial to modernizing your skills and technological knowledge. The core skills of journalism that include content creation and executing the processed information are the highly valued skills and will be crucial to the role. However, media people also need skills such as movie making, video editing, work on related software and detailed knowledge of the online skills. When you are working in this sector, you cannot restrict yourself to only one form of media such as television, radio or print, especially in your initial days. Hence, you need to get yourself trained for the all the required skills.
4. Cultivate the Proper Mindset
Media industry demands you to stay focus and inexorably curious. You need to have the patience and self-motivation to etch your own path as you are expected to encounter obstacles your way. Only self-drive can help you to rise above in the growth trajectory boosting your career opportunities. You need to have a broad mindset and flexible as the job demands working in stringent conditions without any fix working hours. Widening your horizon will help you through. Culture the art of researching as extensive research is crucial in this sector. You also need to market and promote your skills well. You can try blogging as this gives an idea to the employer that you are already into a comprehensive research and is aware of copy editing, search engine optimization, and content management system.
5. Study the Future Trends
Journalism is still and will be about people crafting stories based on facts and information. It is only the mode through which the whole process is done is changing. Journalism has bifurcated and now branched out into many forms of journalism based on the subject matter which requires you to be a specialist. This has roped in new skills and knowledge. Already there existed sports journalism, crime journalism, entertainment and fashion journalism. With the sector being more specialized, has opened avenues in local, niche and hyperlocal journalism. Hyperlocal journalism helps you to develop and understand areas of brand management, promotion, and advertising. Content management and curation have also become a popular area with companies resorting to the idea of growth hacking for success. Hence keep yourself abreast with the competencies that are going to rule this sector soon. This industry sees a fierce competition. To fight it in the most efficient and effortless way you need to keep in mind the mentioned pointers. So set yourself in motion to grab your most preferred journalism job.
