Journalism can be a competitive field, that’s why as an aspiring journalist its important to be building up that resume to be a stand out applicant. Here are my five ways to build your resume as an aspiring journalist.
Most journalism job offers would prefer a communications degree or some kind of journalistic qualification. Because a journalism qualification is highly regarded in the journalism field, if you want to build up your resume in advance, having a journalistic qualification is a great way to kick start your career as a journalist. Along with this receiving a tertiary education as a journalist will allow you to gain knowledge of the industry and build up personal skills through classes and projects, which can be acknowledged in the industry skills section on your resume.
Running your own blog or personal website is honestly something I suggest you do quite early as an aspiring journalist, as getting a head start will allow you time to keep updating it with better content for your potential employee to see. Okay, so you’ve submitted a resume, but employers are always looking for samples of work and that’s why it’s a great idea to put a link to your blog or website on your resume; maintaining a blog or website will give you a platform to showcase your work and self and let a potential employer see what you have to bring to the table as a journalist. Like they say a journalist is as good as the stories they produce.
Volunteering your time as an aspiring journalist looks amazing on the resume and its a fantastic way to build it up too, whilst doing something your passionate about. Through donating your time as a volunteer journalist you get to have a taste of your chosen journalistic career, and as well as this you get to improve your journalistic skills which can also be added to the resume. Also, journalistic volunteer work is a great platform to get your work published and get your name out there as a journalist, which looks super great on the resume.
Today’s journalism field is super broad and with the rise of social media, multimedia journalism is gaining popularity in storytelling. Taking this into condisideration as an aspiring journalist, you may be trying to gain a wider range of skills to pop on the resume to be a standout applicant. Therefore, choosing an intern that covers a wide range of skills is a fantastic idea when building up that resume. If you are struggling to find an internship that is super broad in acquiring skills, don’t be afraid to apply yourself to a number of internships. The more skills and experience on that resume the better.
When building your resume you should always be adding industry related referees as a person of contact. If you’ve interned in a number of places and formed relationships with some work experience managers and other work colleagues you worked with in the journalism field. My tip to you would be to ask that former work colleague for some feedback regarding your performance and work ethics during your time interning. If you’re happy with their feedback, why not ask them to be your chosen referee. However, make sure you always tell them you’ve put them on your resume as a referee, as there’s nothing worse than a potential employee giving them an unexpected phone call.
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