Personal skills needed to be a journalist

If you are determined to have a career in journalism then there are several personal skills and abilities that you will need to have or be prepared to master.

There is a lot of competition for jobs in journalism and even on a small weekly newspaper, you will need more than great exam results or brilliant writing skills to convince an editor that you are the best person for the job.

Below I've put together a shopping list of personal skills and abilities that are particularly important when considering journalism as a career.

It is by no means an exhaustive list, nor written in any particular order, just as they came to me!

Personal skills and abilities include:

• An interest for news and current affairs - it stands to reason that if you want to report the news then you should at least be interested in it!

• An interest in people, places and events - let's face it, most news stories deal with people, places and/or events so if none of these 'float your boat' then perhaps journalism is the wrong career for you 

• A curious nature - journalists are generally not shy by nature, have a natural flair to be nosey and possess a healthy dose of scepticism 

• An ability to think outside the box - having the ability to spot a good story when it isn't handed to you on a plate is a great skill to possess and can often lead to exclusive news stories  

• Being a good communicator on all levels - not only do you have to be comfortable at speaking to people on the phone as well as face-to-face but you also need to be able to adapt your communication style to suit all. You could be giving the CEO of a major company some tough questioning one minute and taking a call from an elderly lady who has lost her dog the next. While both demand the same level of courtesy and respect, both demand different communication approaches too

• To be a good listener and speaker - having the ability to talk clearly, in a concise manner and to be understood is a vital part of the job, as is the ability to listen and avoid the temptation to jump in and fill every pause with comment or another question. Being both a good speaker and listener will ensure that you understand the topic you're writing about and are armed with a good selection of quotes to use in the final story 

• The ability to work to deadlines - all journalists have deadlines to meet so you need to be able to work fast and under pressure while staying calm and focused enough to get the job done accurately and within legal boundaries

• The ability to work under pressure to changing priorities - as well as working to deadlines journalists have to be able to multitask. You might be in the middle of writing a front page world exclusive when the phone rings and it's that quote you've been waiting for to complete another story on page 22. It's up to you to decide what to do and how much time to devote to both tasks while remembering that the clock is still ticking! 

• Determination and Persistence - the ability to be like a dog with a juicy bone in order to nail that great story!

• Broad shoulders - people are happy to give journalists praise and thanks when the news is welcoming but are often quick to verbally accost them or slam the phone down when a reporter is researching a story they'd prefer not to have reported. You just have to develop a thick skin and try not to take it personally. If a story is in the public interest and you are legally entitled to research and/or cover it, then you owe it to your readers to do so

• A good command of English, spelling and grammar - aside from understanding English and having good writing skills, a journalist needs to be able to write quickly, accurately and with good grammar

• The ability to know your audience - each newspaper has its own set of readers offline and a whole new set of readers on the Internet. It is the journalist's job to know what stories would be of interest to their readers and how to write appealing articles across all mediums

• A willingness to work irregular hours, weekends and public holidays - journalism is not your typical 9-5 job and often includes weekend shifts (highly likely if you are a sports reporter) and working on public holidays