Getting into journalism
The basic academic requirements
How do you get your qualifications?
What you need to know about Direct Entry
What you need to know about Pre-entry College Courses
What you need to know about Pre-entry Distance Learning
Sorting out your finances
Before you go any further...
Are you sure you want to do this? Journalism is often seen as glamorous and exciting, but, like most jobs, success only comes after much hard work and routine activity. You face about two years of training, a raft of tough exams, grueling hours learning shorthand, irregular working hours, and all of it on a pretty low salary.
You need to be fit, optimistic, full of curiosity, quick-witted, determined and persistent. You should be fascinated by the world about you and bright enough to understand at least some of it, up-to-date on current affairs, interested in people and good at getting on with them, able to work under pressure to deadlines, thick-skinned enough to take plenty of criticism, willing to work all times of the day and week, and capable of writing clear, attractive and correct English about anything that's thrown at you.
It helps if you can handle a keyboard, add up, possess enough idealism to get indignant about the unjust but still see both sides of an argument, have a healthy distrust of officialdom, are skeptical but not cynical when people tell you they're being absolutely truthful and can hold your drink.
If all that hasn't put you off, and you still want a career that for all its demands and drawbacks is a constant challenge, never the same from one day to the next, can lead you just about anywhere and occasionally gives you a massive sense of achievement, read on.
TO join the NCTJ training scheme you need a minimum of five GCSEs (grades A-C and including English) or the equivalent, and two A Levels. Equivalents to GCSEs include Intermediate GNVQ (= 4/5 GCSEs grades A-C), AVCE (= two A-levels), and BTEC National awards (= two A-levels). AS level is equivalent to half an A-level.
There have been applicants, with exceptional talent but lacking the minimum academic qualifications, who have been allowed to waive these requirements, but these are rare.
Mature applicants are welcome and some papers like to employ these people because of their considerable local knowledge and settled life-style. Training for people over 30 is by arrangement with the editor.
Some training courses are for graduates only. It doesn't matter a great deal what your degree subject is, and it certainly doesn't have to be in Journalism or Media Studies (some of which offer excellent academic qualifications but very little that will prepare you for life as a working journalist: check whether what you'll be studying includes practical subjects and whether they're NCTJ-accredited). Some editors prefer applicants with degrees in non-journalistic subjects, demonstrating a breadth of interest and specialized knowledge.
THERE are two NCTJ routes into the world of newspapers or magazines as a writer or photographer:
1. Direct entry: You persuade an editor to give you a job and he then organizes your training, either sending you to study at college on day or block release, or training you in-house using the NCTJ's distance learning programme. The cost of this is usually met by the newspaper.
2. Pre-entry: You do your basic training at a college or by distance learning, and then find a publication to take you on as a trainee. If you enter the industry by this route you will probably have to pay for your initial training yourself.
Many editors understandably prefer to take on people who have followed the pre-entry route, because they know such recruits have already got the basic training, which not only ensures that they're employing someone who knows what they're doing but also saves them the training costs. Others like to offer jobs to raw recruits, especially if they can tailor the training to their own requirements. It's worth trying both routes: apply for a college place, but while you're waiting for it contact as many papers as you can asking if they've got a vacancy.
IF you want to try getting a job on the paper that will then pay for you to be trained, apply directly to as many editors as you can. You can find their names and addresses in various media guides, try the local library, or look them up on the internet.
If you're lucky enough to be offered an interview, make sure you're up-do-date with the local and national news. Get copies of the paper, read it thoroughly and be prepared to discuss its contents. Be ready to explain why you deserve a job and why you particularly want to work on this paper. Go armed with suggestions for a news story, picture or a feature from the area. Take any cuttings you have, however small.
If you are offered a place, you'll probably be expected to enter into a two-year training contract, the first six months of which will be a probationary period during which both sides decide if you've got what it takes to become a journalist. Once it's been agreed that you do, the paper should register you with the NCTJ for the preliminary examinations and make arrangements to get you trained.
Some companies run in-house training schemes and will guide you through the NCTJ's distance learning course.
The rest will send you for a day release or block release course at an NCTJ-accredited training centre to study for the preliminary examinations.
Once you've passed those, you spend another 12 months or so training on the job before sitting the National Certificate Examination, the final NCTJ qualification.
THE majority of entrants are recruited after attending vocational courses at colleges, universities and training centre's accredited by the NCTJ. Some last a full academic year; others fast-track you through in 20 weeks or less. Some are for graduates only, others accept non-graduates with at least five GCSE's, including English, and two A Levels.
As well as studying for the preliminary exams on these courses, you will do a lot of practical news-gathering and writing, visit courts and council meetings, listen to guest speakers, and learn about the everyday life as a working journalist. In addition you may visit news-gathering organizations, learn how to use the internet for research, get an insight into handling cameras, and dabble with desktop publishing.
A list of pre-entry courses currently available can be found on the NCTJ website (www.nctj.com)
Apply for university courses through UCAS and for post-graduate courses direct to the university.
For all other courses, send for an application form to the NCTJ, enclosing a stamped addressed A4 envelope. The application form asks for details about yourself, why you want to become a journalist, and which course you are interested in. You will also have to supply a reference from someone backing your application. You should return the form to the NCTJ as soon as possible and at least six weeks before your chosen course starts.
You will then be asked to take a written test (called the Stage One Test) and attend for interview, probably at the college of your choice. Some colleges will arrange for you to do the test and interview on the same day to cut down your traveling and speed up the decision-making process.
The test is fairly straightforward. The one for news reporting courses lasts two hours and checks your use of English, whether you have some idea what makes a news story, your general knowledge and your awareness of current affairs. The photography test is an hour and a quarter long, and includes a spelling test, a check of candidates' basic knowledge of photography, and some current affairs and general knowledge questions.
The interview will be fairly informal, probably with a working journalist and a trainer from the college. They will want to find out what sort of person you are, check that you know what the course is all about, and ask what you've done to prepare yourself for a career in journalism. Would-be photographers will be expected to take along a portfolio of pictures and evidence that they have a genuine interest in the subject.
Most colleges will expect you to have had a taste of life on a newspaper by doing at least a week of work experience. Write to a number of local editors well before the interview, explaining why you'd make a good reporter or photographer and asking if you can spend some time on their paper. Try to pick a time other than in June or July, when pressure on work experience places is at its greatest. Try submitting articles or pictures to newspapers and magazines: even if they're rejected, it shows you're keen to get in. If you haven't got any work experience, colleges may offer you a provisional place, perhaps on a future course, conditional upon you getting some.
You should be told at the end of the interview or soon afterwards whether you've been given a place.
At college you will take the NCTJ's preliminary examinations and then look for a job as a trainee on a paper. Editors know when courses near their end and notify colleges of vacancies but it is worth approaching as many papers as you can asking if there are any jobs going (see the advice above for direct entrants on how to approach an interview when you get one).
When you get taken on you'll probably enter into an 18-month training contract, with the first three months a probationary period during which either side can decide it's been a mistake. After that you should be registered with the NCTJ and begin working towards the final qualification, the NCTJ's National Certificate.
IF you can't get a place on a college course, can't afford it, or prefer to study on your own while you are working, you can do the NCTJ's distance learning self-study programme and then enter yourself for the preliminary examinations.
How long it takes to do this depends very much on your determination and the amount of time you can spare each day for studying. Some candidates have managed it in less than six months, but the average is probably nearer two years. It isn't easy, demanding a lot of self-discipline and requiring you to learn almost everything from books and tapes, much tougher than having a college tutor explaining things to you face-to-face. But scores of candidates do this every year, not least because it's often cheaper and certainly more flexible than attending college.
The NCTJ may be able to organize an on-line tutor for you, someone who (for a fee, of course) will be available by email or telephone to give you advice, mark some of your work, and discuss your problems.
Distance learning candidates can sit their preliminary exam dates on two days a year, in May and November.
Contact the NCTJ for details of the distance learning programme and the fees.
BEFORE you accept a place on a pre-entry course, make sure you can afford it. The college will advise you about course fees, the cost of entering for the exams and what you can expect to spend on textbooks and other materials. Courses are fulltime and you will need to consider how you will pay for accommodation, travel and subsistence for the duration. A few educational authorities may offer grants towards part of the cost, but these are rare. Career development loans may be available: contact your bank, local careers office or job centre. A handful of newspapers offer bursaries, mostly aimed at people with special needs or from minority groups.
The chances are, though, that you're going to have to pay your own way through this initial training. If you don't think you can afford this immediately, you can ask to defer your college place until you've sorted out the finances. Better to do that than have to pack it in halfway through or fail everything because you've been up every night stacking shelves instead of studying.
Journalism Diversity Fund supports people from diverse backgrounds to train as Journalists. Bursaries are on offer for those with the potential to succeed in one of the most exciting and rewarding careers around. There will be at least 6 bursaries awarded
to individuals completing NCTJ accredited courses.
It is aimed at people without the financial means to attend NCTJ training courses applicants will need to demonstrate a genuine commitment to journalism and the potential to be successful. For further information on application and selection process
please visit www.journalismdiversityfund.com.
