[Aky786UK]

(Original post by Zurich)
Which area of journalism you're looking to get into should be a factor in deciding which way to go. If newspaper/magazine journalism interests you I don't think you're missing out on anything with the one-year NCTJ course. If you're looking at TV, radio, or some other specialised area then you might require more specific training.

Don't rely too heavily on what I'm saying, though. These are just my experiences and I'm sure you could find someone else that would give you advice to the contrary.

But during my journalism degree I felt that we were wasting a lot of time. And while it does cover more ground (history of the press, foreign and world media, the power & responsibility of the media, ethics etc etc) it didn't seem to me as though there was enough material to fill a whole degree, and we ended up studying a lot of irrelevant sociological and cultural rubbish as well.

You can make it work whichever way you go, so it might just come down to how much you want to go to uni. I didn't need to do a degree because I did the NCTJ straight from A-level. BUt I finished it at 18 and didn't want to start my working life just yet. So I had four more years of the student life, travelling and seeing the world. There's a lot more to uni than just the course you're doing. You meet hundreds of new people, get invovled in activities you would never have done anywhere else. You get the opportunity to study abroad and experience other cultures. And you get loads of free time each year to go and see the world.

My advice to anyone would be to a degree in any subject that interests you... History, English, Politics, French, Biochemistry, Juggling... or whatever. If you're going to be spending three years doing something it makes sense for it to be something you love. And then you can do the one year NCTJ afterwards to prepare you for, and probably get you into, the industry.

Thanks for your help, Ive just been waiting to get my thoughts on this. ATM, I am keen for a career in newspaper/magazine journalism but before, a career in TV, Radio was my option. I think newspaper work would be my fitting, I think Id like the office atmosphere and working with computers and Im good at completing deadlines.

I worry that if I decide not for Uni and I do the NCTJ course and I find myself unable to find work and not sure what to do. Also, my family are keen for me to do a degree but going to Uni is another dilemma and going afar.

Thanks for help and any incoming help.

[Decent_Jam]

My dilema is slightly simpler as I'm going to go to Uni and do an NCTJ accredited course, and therefore get the NCTJ qualification and a degree. I want to go into magazines though and the trouble is (which you may have gathered if you've read my thread) the Sunderland course means I can do NCTJ's in Newspaper AND Magazine, as they overlap quite a bit apparently. However I like Preston Uni better as it is bigger, more established, better facilities and everything, but I don't know details on the Magazine route of the course atm, I have emailed the Uni so hopefully they'll get back to me soon about that. God why do things have to be so complicated!
Oh and I've done work experience at my local Newspaper and had a few things published which I have cuttings of, though I want to get into movie/music reviewing magazines really (Empire/Uncut/DVD Review/NME).

[TROD]

Hi there, im currently in my second year at uni, hoping to possibly go on and do an NCTJ after uni.

Basically ive already done a bit of work experience, i work for various websites (5000 hits plus per article), and ive written for two magazines for a month each (Both 20,000+ circulation). However, im having problems finding any kind of newspaper placement, and im quite worried that this is what people are looking for rather than magazine experience.

Wondering what you thought of this? Also, while every man and his dog have probably already asked this, wondered if you knew of any magazines that might offer potential work placements around the Sheffield area?

Thanks for any help.

[Not a Lawyer]

Is anyone else shooting off to America for their postgraduate journalism course?

[Zurich]

(Original post by TROD)
Hi there, im currently in my second year at uni, hoping to possibly go on and do an NCTJ after uni.

Basically ive already done a bit of work experience, i work for various websites (5000 hits plus per article), and ive written for two magazines for a month each (Both 20,000+ circulation). However, im having problems finding any kind of newspaper placement, and im quite worried that this is what people are looking for rather than magazine experience.

Wondering what you thought of this? Also, while every man and his dog have probably already asked this, wondered if you knew of any magazines that might offer potential work placements around the Sheffield area?

Thanks for any help.

The Sheffield industry is completely foriegn to me, so I'm afraid I can't help there. The only thing I can suggest is doing some research into any mags that might be published there, or just buying copies of local mags and finding contact details inside.

Is it newspaper journalism you're looking to get into in the future, rather than magazine? If you're qualified and have loads of magazine experience, I don't imagine it will hold you back at all. But it will probably do you good anyway to get the experience of working in the newspaper environment as well. Given the experience you've managed so far, it shouldn't be too hard to get some time on a local paper, if you badger them persistently enough?

[Aky786UK]

Im in a dilemma.

If I was wanting a career in Broacast Journalism, would I have to go to Uni for it? NCTJ's more on newspaper/magazine journo isnt it I think?

Ive got a conditional from Hudders to do Media/Sports Journalism and are hoping to apply at Hallam as they've got a Journalism Studies course out.

[Cessie]

Brief reply... From what I've read:

Uni is not a necessity so to speak but it is kind of due to the competition. :P

Broadcast courses are BJTC accredited. You can do an undergraduate journalism degree but the postgraduate degrees are also very respected at certain unis eg. Cardiff, City...

You can start in newspapers and then go into broadcast.

All in all there's not one set route into Journalism but an accredited qualification and WORK EXPERIENCE are effectively a big help.

[Aky786UK]

I was wondering in the Rotherham/Sheffield area if you can do a HND course in Journalism or anything related to it. I was thinking of then topping it up by doing a BA or something like that...

Thanks

[Aky786UK]

If anyone could help with my query ^^^ then it would be greatly appreciated.

I was flicking through my local library and found a book called Sports Writing by Alison Kervin and TBH it was a really good insight on sports journalism and some cool tips.

Might be worth checking out.

[princess_tink]

Thank you so much for this thread! Just what I needed! I've got year 'til my GCSEs and really want to be a journalist or a broadcaster... My ideas about exactly what I want to do are a little vague right now. (I figure I've still got a few years to go before I have to make concrete decisions, right?) But my school is hopeless, I've no idea about A-Levels and AS-Levels... and from then - pfft! Do you think I should start looking for work experience yet? And what would you recommend? I pretty much know where I wanna be *has visions of Natasha Kaplinsky - lol* but not much clue how to get there! Your thread has really helped though...

[Cessie]

You've got ages yet definately, but it doesn't hurt to do work experience to see if you like it and stuff! As for AS/A2s you don't need to do a subject like media studies - uni's like traditional subjects like English, History, Languages and Sciences. But make sure you do ones you'll enjoy! You can do a degree in something like French/English/History/Politics and then do postgraduate journalism for a year which is what I'm planning on doing!

[lyrical_maze]

Work Experience
Do it, do it, do it, do it, and once more, do it. The vast majority of jobs in the industry are filled by word of mouth, and are often not advertised at all. It sucks when you don't know anyone, but it really is all about who you know. So get to know people.

yesss you've helped TONS!! however!! ive been looking for work experience since YEAR 10 and im starting year 13 in september!! no1 wants 2 give me the time of day!! wot do i do???

[HereFishyFishy]

(Original post by lyrical_maze)
yesss you've helped TONS!! however!! ive been looking for work experience since YEAR 10 and im starting year 13 in september!! no1 wants 2 give me the time of day!! wot do i do???

Well, where are you trying? Are you writing to all the 'big shot' newspapers (i.e. nationals and large regionals) or are you trying small local papers?
If it's the former, try the small papers. They are invaluable for work experience because they will probably let you DO something (i.e. they're more likely to advise you, let you have a go at writing a small story, take you to court) as opposed to sitting there and 'making tea' (such a cliche but so true).
Big papers are good, but they're unlikely to take you on unless you are:
over 18/ at university
already have some regional experience
have planned way in advance (i.e. 3/4 months...more with BBC)

Send a CV to your local, perhaps even attach a sample of writing (give it a try, it'll only impress them) and if you hear nothing, call them up in 3/4 days. Be persistant and polite, but not annoying.

You should get somewhere then.

[HereFishyFishy]

(Original post by princess_tink)
Thank you so much for this thread! Just what I needed! I've got year 'til my GCSEs and really want to be a journalist or a broadcaster... My ideas about exactly what I want to do are a little vague right now. (I figure I've still got a few years to go before I have to make concrete decisions, right?) But my school is hopeless, I've no idea about A-Levels and AS-Levels... and from then - pfft! Do you think I should start looking for work experience yet? And what would you recommend? I pretty much know where I wanna be *has visions of Natasha Kaplinsky - lol* but not much clue how to get there! Your thread has really helped though...

Yeah, don't bother with media studies. It isn't very highly regarded by most.
Going for arts subjects such as English Language, Literature, Sociology, History, Politics, Philosophy will be good though.
At uni, go for something you enjoy - seriously! If you can get to a decent uni and get a 2:1, you'll be on the right track. You can go for a post-grad course in journalism (usually a year...but you can go for short courses that are as few as 9 weeks) or get training with a newspaper straight off if you impress one enough.

[Forté]

I sort of aspire to be a sports journalist, but arent too sure whether waht has been said, accounts for this . Ive just finished my AS level exams, and am very likely to end up with an A in english lit. I just havent really done much sporting related. Ive had a look around, and none of the uni's seem to be offerring this course Any advice would be appreciated

[Cessie]

You don't have to do a journalism undergraduate degree.

But searching on UCAS brings up a few sports journalism courses.

[HereFishyFishy]

(Original post by domisakin)
I sort of aspire to be a sports journalist, but arent too sure whether waht has been said, accounts for this . Ive just finished my AS level exams, and am very likely to end up with an A in english lit. I just havent really done much sporting related. Ive had a look around, and none of the uni's seem to be offerring this course Any advice would be appreciated

If you really want to study journalism, you don't need (and many courses won't) be that specific.
You will probably study journalism in general and then decide on a specialist area (i.e. news, sport, features).
However, there are many different courses for newspaper, broadcast, magazine journalism - that's usually as specific as it gets.

In regards to the AS levels: just work as hard as you can. Don't worry if you don't get the A in English Literature.
You don't have to be amazing at English to be a good journo. (I realise how silly this sounds, but it is true!)

[lucky_jon]

Hey guys,

I'm really not too sure whether anyone can help me out here.

A year ago I finished a the post-grad NCTJ in magazine journalism, and not to brag, done pretty well. Before that I'd worked for a while, done my A levels and worked one day a week for a local paper, of which I received a lot of cuttings. I've also done work experience for a week at both The Daily Express and Hotdog movie magazine.

After finishing the course I applied to more jobs than I can count and never got an interview, so I decided to get a regular job, go travelling and come back to try again. So here I am, back from backpacking around Canada looking to get some work.

Basically, I think my CV must be poor or I'm not great at writing covering letters. Can anyone help? Does anyone have any examples of their CV or covering letters that have at least given them an interview that they could send to me? I don't mean to sound cheeky, but I'm at a loss and any advice would be welcome.


Also, as a side note, anyone considering doing the NCTJ go to Brighton. Not only is it a great place to spend a year, but the tutors are like mates and will do anything to help you Best year of my life!


Any help I can give I gladly will.

[Pink Lady]

Well done for the work experience, it probably is your CV, to be honest.
I'm not an authority by any means, but I was told that my CV was good by a recruitment company. Here's what I did, if that's any help:


Make sure that after contact info/education stuff you could have a brief statement about yourself like: I am a hardworking and reliable NCTJ qualified journalist able to quickly adapt to different situations.

Then stress your journalism credentials and skills related to that, by listing each work ex stint separately, most recent first, with brief notes on what you did.

Then have a section of 'key skills' ie Computer programmes, Communication, and say how you got them, ie my time at xxxxx helped me develop xxx skills.

Then a line or two on life experiences- ie your backpacking, and say something like I organised my travelling and went to xxx and xxxx where I xxx.

At the end list a line or two of hobbies etc briefly: ie as brief as this:
Hobbies: swimming, walking, music.

Delete all unneccessary things, ie 'I have been painting toy soldiers for 5 years' (well, not assuming anything, but you know what I mean by this- they don't care about waffle like this, just show them you can do the job.). The list of hobbies is definately all you need to say on that matter.

Also, try asking careers people to vet your CV as well.
Hope this helps.
Jaffa x

Try also:
More experience- local perhaps, to show you're still in the loop.
Also tailor your letters to each different application, and make sure your CV is relevant, for example if you were applying to a travel mag then your own travelling would be more important, and you may want to keep your own blog. Have a standard CV, but don't be afraid to adapt it (keep backup copies though) for each application.

[Pink Lady]

Oh, and employment history- missed that 1 in my post