If you REALLY want to be a journalist - you need the answers to these 10 questions

Usually on the Multimedia Journalism site we concentrate on how to do journalism

How to be a better reporter, video editor, podcaster or whatever

This time I want to look at something different.

Something that comes before all of the 'how to do it'.

It's the 'do you really want to do it?'

It's about the state of journalism today.

So I'm posing and answering 10 key questions.

The answers are designed to fully inform you about the state of the journalism trade today in the US and the UK.

I'll lay my cards on the table right now - I think we are at the start of a golden age of journalism.

I say that because it's never been easier to do journalism: to create and publish high-quality multimedia content.

Getting good at it is the hard part, and is what the MMJ course of learning is all about.

But there are also some stark facts that anyone considering spending a lot of time and money studying journalism ought to know about before they commit themselves.

For example: there are between 40,000 and 60,000 journalists working in the UK, depending on whose figures you believe (more on that here)

Yet, each year, around 15,000 students begin journalism degrees.

In the USA, the ratio of fresh graduates to working journalists is similarly scary.

So, no pressure there then.

This doesn't mean you'll never get a job in journalism, although in the UK, applications for journalism degrees plunged by 20 per cent in 2012, and only recovered by 1.4 per cent in 2013. 

What the tough employment market does mean is that you need to be really well trained, qualified and prepared if you are to stand a chance.

You need to be well-informed about where the jobs are, and how to equip yourself for a career in journalism.

So in this masterclass we look at these things:

• How many jobs there are and what percentage of journalism students get one
• Where those jobs are in the various branches of the media - newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, online and in brand journalism
• The qualifications and experience you need to be a serious candidate

and other key questions.

Along the way we'll link to further information and resources - so, for example, in the module on what experience you need we link to a rich resource of advice on getting work experience and internships and on building up an impressive portfolio of published and/or broadcast work.

Next: How many jobs are there? How hard is it to get one?

How to sell yourself, and your skills, with an online CV/resume/portfolio

Follow @andybull

Job hunting? Your best advert for you and your skills is the work that you are already doing

The content you create, and your activity on social platforms, will show potential employers just how well you can hack it as a multimedia journalist.

So you need to make everything you do online an advert for you; a selling point for your skills, experience and talents.

There are two sides to doing this:

• One is making sure you have great content on your websites or blogs, and that you are active on the most important social media.
• The other is creating an online hub – a CV, resume or portfolio that tells an employer everything they need to know to convince them you are worth serious consideration for a post.

That online CV should be an at-a-glance guide to everything that is great about you.
And, as much as possible, you need to ensure that any bit of work or social interaction an employer comes across links them to your online CV, so they can check you out.
You won't always have control over that side of things, but if you do, then buttons such as 'Follow me on Twitter', 'Share on LinkedIn' and others are very useful.

So what are the best ways to build your online CV or portfolio?

That’s what we’ll look at here.
What we won’t look at now, because we have already covered it extensively in a range of MMJ Masterclasses, is which social media you should use, and how to do them well.
For the low-down on that, if you are a subscriber to MMJ, you can check out these Masterclasses:
Masterclass 6: How to master Facebook and Twitter http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/441
Masterclass 8: Getting the most out of YouTube, flickr and LinkedIn http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/546
Masterclass14: Audioboo http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/1060
One area we haven’t yet covered is Google+. Its potential for journalism isn’t yet clear, but as soon as it’s possible to gauge its potential – and I’m cautious because of the failure of Google Buzz and Google Wave to live up to expectations – we’ll take an in-depth look at it.

So here’s what we will cover here

We’ll look at a range of ways of presenting your skills and experience online  including:

• How to create a simple one-page CV/resume/portfolio website on Wordpress, Blogger,  or any other platform you fancy
• How to create a more advanced CV on Wordpress using a bespoke theme
• How to put your CV on your Facebook page
• Other useful services such as Journalisted, e-byline, Findstringers and Retaggr

This is just a brief introduction to the subject of promoting yourself online, and we’ll return to it with a full Masterclass later. It forms just a small part of substantial careers content on the MMJ site

Want to know more about developing your career in journalism?

On MMJ we have an extensive range of Masterclasses covering most aspects of choosing, starting and developing your career in journalism.
There are links for subscribers below.
If you want to subscribe, just buy the textbook – in e-book or paper form – and you’ll get free access to the whole of this website

MMJ careers content in full

Sector guides

Masterclass3: What the B2B sector has to offer http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/356
Masterclass 7: What consumer journalism has to offer http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/472
Masterclass 9: What TV journalism has to offer http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/562
Masterclass 10: What local paper journalism has to offer http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/569

Freelancing and entrepreneurship

Masterclass 12: How to build your own job http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/569

General advice

Masterclass 13: How to get your first job http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/966

Journalistic specialisms profiled

Masterclass 26: International Journalism http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/1650
Masterclass 27: Political Journalism http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/1692
Masterclass 28: Sports journalism http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/1705
Masterclass 29: Celebrity, showbiz and arts reporting http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/1739
Masterclass 30: Business and Financial Journalism http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/1789
Masterclass 31: Travel Journalism http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/1812
Masterclass 32: Science, Health and Environment reporting http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/1821
Masterclass 33: Fashion Journalism http://www.multimedia-journalism.co.uk/node/1840

Next: How to make an online CV, resume or portfolio

The Sunday Times on how to get a job as a journalist

There’s a great piece in today’s Sunday Times Magazine by Ed Caeser on the prospects for the tens of thousands of journalism and media graduates now looking for increasingly rare jobs.

You’ll find the full article, Hold the front page I want to be on it, here http://bit.ly/9rXzmA  (quick, before it goes behind the paywall)

 

First some stats from the piece

There are:

• 8,095 students on undergraduate journalism courses.
• 1,870 on postgrad courses
• 25,335 undergraduates and 
• 2,905 postgrads on media studies courses.

The piece doesn’t say how many jobs they are chasing, but there are 1,200 newspapers and about 9,000 magazines.

So that’s the context, here are the key points Ed makes:

 “The most sensible path into print journalism now is through the postgraduate journalism diplomas, particularly at City University and Cardiff University — where there are three applicants for every place — but a qualification is no guarantee of a job.” 

However: “Journalism is, to a large degree, a business where qualifications are less important than skills. Editors rarely care where you went to school, or university, or what training you received, as long as you can do the business.”

“You’ll need luck, flair, an alternative source of income, endless patience, an optimistic disposition, sharp elbows and a place to stay in London. But the essential quality for success now is surely tenacity.”

“1,200 people ... applied in September for one reporter’s position on the new Sunday Times website. You’d shoot a horse with those odds.”

“No two career stories are the same… Many graduates simply turn up on work experience and refuse to leave. It worked for me.”

“Journalism remains a meritocracy only to those who can afford it. Because work experience is so important, almost all aspiring journalists need to work in London, for free, at some point in their careers. Not everyone has the wherewithal to do this.”