Benefits of work experience or an internship in journalism

Despite being a very demanding job that often includes long and unsociable hours and a salary that isn't huge compared to other professions, there are usually a lot of applicants for jobs in journalism.

So if you want to be a journalist you're not only going to have to work hard for good exam grades and brush up on your technical and personal skills, but you're also going to have to get some work experience under your belt.

As I've said, being a journalist is something many people want to do, so an editor can afford to be picky and recruit the crème de la crème for journalism jobs, especially those at trainee or junior level.

Therefore, doing a stint of work experience or an internship with your local newspaper or even a national newspaper or a broadcast media that particularly interests you, will give you some real industry experience to add to your CV or resume when applying for jobs in journalism.

Although it's unlikely that you will be paid for your internship or work experience as a journalist, the experience you will get out of it has a number of key benefits:

• It will give you a taste of the industry and the job so that you can decide if you are really cut out to be a journalist and if the career is really the right one for you

• You will get relevant work experience in a real life setting so that you can see what being a journalist is going to be like when you enter the career

• It is a good way to put into practise all of your personal and technical skills and allows you to see which ones you might need to improve or gain in order to be a good journalist

• It will give you a chance to observe the key roles other professionals play in the media such as photographers, sub editors and advertising sales reps for instance. The sort of professionals you will be working alongside throughout your career as a journalist

• If you show that they are very good, keen and determined to be a journalist, it is very likely that you will be remembered by editors and could even be offered a job as a journalist for that media once you have completed your journalism qualifications

• Your period of work experience will give you a chance to gain real and valuable contacts both inside and outside of the newsroom

Therefore rather than seeing work experience or an internship as 'free labour', as many do, see it as a good way of gaining some real life experience doing a job that you want to do.

Journalism as a career is what you make of it, so view work experience in this way - the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it.

Also remember that your work experience or internship in journalism is not only a good learning curve but it will stand you in good stead when you are applying for jobs in journalism and could put you ahead of the competition.