To convince an editor you have the skills needed to work effectively as a reporter you will need to be able to demonstrate an interest in current affairs, ability to write quickly and accurately, a hard-working attitude and, most importantly, determination and persistence.
There are two main routes into the newspaper journalism industry – direct entry or pre-entry via university, college or commercial course provider.
The majority of trainees are now recruited into the industry after attending full-time vocational training courses for both post A-level students and graduates. NCTJ-accredited courses are held at colleges, universities and commercial course providers. Some of these courses are for graduates only; others require five GCSEs including English and two A-levels. This route is known as pre-entry.
Training courses lead to a variety of qualifications. All NCTJ-accredited courses cover those aspects of media law, public affairs and news writing necessary to enable a journalist to perform competently by the end of the training period. As well as demonstrating competence in these and other practical areas, trainees are expected to achieve 100wpm shorthand. If you have attended a full-time journalism course before obtaining employment, you will probably enter into an 18-month training contract - the first three months is likely to be a probationary period. At the end of the 18-month period you will be expected to sit the NCTJ’s senior qualification, the National Qualification in Journalism (NQJ).
Trainee reporters are sometimes recruited directly by regional or local newspapers and carry out NCTJ preliminary training under the terms of a training contract. There are also those who may have secured employment with a newspaper group which runs its own training scheme. Although this route is still available with some newspaper groups it is getting rarer all the time. To find out if a newspaper group has a direct entry scheme contact the editor of the newspaper.
The entry requirement for reporters is a minimum of five GCSE passes (grades A-C) or equivalent - one of these must be in English. However, in recent years it has become rare for a trainee to come into the industry at this level. The majority of new entrants to journalism are graduates. There are exceptions, but they are rare.
