NCTJ training is key to becoming a journalist

Be warned! If you want to train to be a journalist and are looking around for a suitable UK training course in journalism, then make sure it's an NCTJ-accredited course.

I’m writing this after spotting yet another stream of short courses on the Internet claiming to give you ‘all the essential skills to be a journalist’ – once you hand-over a hefty fee that is!

But unless the course includes the industry-standard NCTJ qualifications (or is accredited to the Broadcast Journalism Training Council if you want to do the broadcast journalism equivalent) it’s likely to be useless in helping you get a foot in the door – even on a small weekly newspaper.

I’m not knocking the credibility of any non-NCTJ accredited course – there might be some great courses out there for all I know - but if you’re an un-trained wannabe journalist you need to get yourself on a proper industry-standard training course.

Sure, if you have spare cash lying around or just looking to brush up on your skills then you might not be bothered if it’s an NCTJ course or not but as with all privately run or independent courses, I’d always advise you still check out the course, tutors, their qualifications, experience, expertise etc before handing over any money.

But trust me, there’s no easy shortcut. Journalism apprenticeships are very thin on the ground these days. Gone are the days when you could be taken on at your local newspaper and train on-the-job.

Nowadays the industry expects you to have NCTJ training regardless of how many A-levels, degrees or diplomas you may or may not have in journalism.

So if you want to be a journalist make sure you get yourself on a proper NCTJ-accredited course that offers those vital qualifications. There are several at various locations across the UK including short courses or run as part of a degree, diploma or postgraduate course.