AN AMBITIOUS graduate has just completed a post-graduate journalism diploma and is now entering a career in journalism.
Tom Robinson, a graduate from Brighton, finished the NCTJ multi-media journalism diploma after studying for a BA (Hons) degree at the University of Chichester.
The aspiring journalist is now taking his first steps into securing his career. Reports have suggested that this will not be easy…
It’s Tuesday, on a sunny February afternoon, and two weeks ago I completed my journalism fast-track diploma. An NCTJ accredited course, aimed at preparing budding journalists for a career in the industry.
I’m currently jobless, sipping on a cup of coffee, scouring the web for any vacancies. And I’m loathing every minute of it. The coffee’s ok, but so far my journey has just been so daunting.
Rewind to November last year. Once a week a working journalist would visit university to explain how doomed we all were, and that a career in journalism would be extremely difficult. I’m now experiencing first hand that this statement may be true.
As my course was fast track, it meant that it was pretty much a one-year course crammed into four months. And oh boy,
that’s exactly what it felt like! I hardly had
any time to myself. If I wasn’t in class I was in the library. If I wasn’t in the library I was at home, doing what I would normally be doing, in the library.
The NCTJ course, which I studied in Brighton, was really tough. I spent many a night poring over law and public affairs textbooks. And shorthand, geez, do not even get me started on shorthand. A crazy language that even Lord Elrond of Rivendell wouldn’t be able to translate.
I didn’t really know what to expect once I had finished studying the course. I knew it would be hard out there, but I didn’t realise how hard. We were often told of the many changes currently facing journalism and how ultimately these changes will affect us.
Luckily for me though, I had something to keep me busy post-course. I travelled to London for a work placement with a well-known magazine – Reader’s Digest. Although it is one of the longest running magazines, Reader’s Digest is another publication struggling to adapt with the changes facing the industry. Many newspapers and magazines are becoming online-only. This is due to production costs and how anyone can obtain news for nothing from just about anywhere.
But it was a fantastic place to visit for the week – skipping through Westminster every morning on my way to work, high-fiving fellow commuters, and humming along to the Les Misérables soundtrack. Dodging the joggers and cyclists of
Hyde Park I thought to myself: “Hey, I could get used to this”, but the expensive commute from Brighton every morning and evening was not my idea of fun. In the end though, that commute could be my only way into journalism.
I think that work experience is vital when pursuing a career in journalism. I have learnt more from work placements with local news publications and magazines than I have anywhere else. I’ve been able to get stuck in and experience first-hand, working life in a newsroom.
Without my initiative of finding work experience and approaching online magazines to write for, I don’t think I would have had the confidence to study a journalism course. Even though the course did lack opportunity for creativity, it did give me an insight into the more business side of journalism.
I shouldn’t be so negative about my experience so far because there are jobs out there, and I have started applying... and it hasn’t even been a month since I finished my course, so all is not lost! I think, and hope, that eventually I will get to where I want to be and anyone wanting to do the same shouldn’t be put off. Work experience, a portfolio, and the NCTJ course (in my opinion the latter isn’t essential) are all important first steps in entering a career in journalism. I guess it just depends on what route your planning on taking.
So, I’ve finished my coffee, the sun is slowly setting and I’ve applied for yet more jobs. Reflecting on my journey so far, I’m sure that by the end, it will have all been worthwhile.
… Only time will tell if this graduate makes it. Tom wasn’t available for comment; he was last seen in Hyde Park busking for money.
Tom Robinson
graduated from Chichester
university last year and is now trying to make it as a freelance journalist. tomrobinsonblog
Photograph: Jess Brown