I graduated last month from my BA in Journalism and Media Studies.

While I've left it a little too late to apply for a masters this year, I'm thinking of going for one Sept 2011. (MA Politics and Mass Media at University of Liverpool).

However, with a year to spare - what should I do in the meantime?

One plan is to gain the NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists) Diploma in Journalism (18 week course), but then I'm left with 8 months of doing pretty much nothing...well, of course I could get a job too ,)

Another plan is to work for a year, gain some experience, and then go for the masters. So far, though, opportunities have been lacking.

Also, a worry is being locked into university again and by the time I complete the MA I'll be almost 27 without any substantial work in my chosen field. The reason I want to do the MA is that it's always been part of my overall plan, and if not the MA mentioned above, certainly something else.

So, should I focus on work right now or go with the NCTJ and then MA plan?

Any advice or guidance would be most appreciated :)

Could you do some unpaid work at your local paper? At some point I was thinking about getting into journalism and I contacted the local paper maybe a months before the Easter break whether they had any unpaid positions during that time. They got back to me quite soon and offered me an unpaid position for 3 weeks. It was great, I had around 6 articles published (the first two heavily edited, but after that not so much) and definitely learned a lot. I think I contacted the editor, and then a senior reporter got back to me with the offer.

That would be a great way to gain some experience, you could get a couple of articles published and after that you could do an NCTJ, get some money together and do the MA.

I think in some ways it depends where you want to go as a journalist.

Back in the day, when I trained - around about the time of the ark, when there were no such things as degrees in journalism :-) you couldn't work as a newspaper journalist without the NCTJ cert - most newspapers took on trainees and you got to do the cert on block release over a year (or two). But that was before Wapping, the breaking of the unions, and the arrival of DTP - at lot has changed since then 8-)

I didn't want to be a newspaper hack, so I opted for the only other way in at the time, which was to do the euphemistically-named 'Pre-entry Course in Periodical Journalism' at the London College of Printing (now London College of Communication) and I became a magazine editor. That was a year's course, and I had originally intended to head off to Canterbury and do a BA in Politics after I'd finished, but the lure of money and a job was overwhelming, so I didn't go back to uni.

I think my point is - being able to demonstrate that you're a good reporter/writer/editor/whatever is more important (in my view) than academic qualifications. That's not to say don't do the MA, because it is a much more competitive world out there than it was when I started, and subject-specific knowledge may be important to you, depending on the kind of work you want to do - but I would say get some experience during the next year - and do the cert, if that's where you want to go. Get some work published any which way you can. When I was an editor, I worked for a small specialist publisher, and all our writers were freelance - we used to get articles sent in on spec all the time - the good ones got published (up)

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Thank you for your replies :)

I agree as I've already worked with some awful people when I did unpaid work who were highly qualified but lacked any true purpose. But for several jobs I've seen "Must be NCTJ qualified".

Though there was the option to actually do NCTJ while at university, I just didn't. The syllabus was linked to NCTJ and our module exams came first and then the option to do it for the NCTJ. In my second year, when a lot of people did theirs, I was away on Erasmus. By the third year, I was too busy with my two final projects.

I would say I'm a decent enough journalist, but certainly the NCTJ would 'refresh' and cement the skills I've already learnt. I've considered freelance but it's just knowing what to write for what type of publication. It seems whenever I get an idea, it's already been done!

I have tried this already but without any luck. I guess it's just perseverance!

With the NCTJ, the course costs £2,100 but because I'm currently claiming Jobseekers Allowance all of the fees are waived by the college. It seems an opportunity that I should not miss!

I think most jobs its 'who you know' so do you know anyone who knows someone who's a journalist? to get some work experience?

Alternatively try and get some work experience by going in stealthily i.e. getting a non-journalist job at the newspaper/website. I know for example that a very famous journalist sits on my hubbys football forum, so if you supported the same team he'd probably find you some experience (not actually saying you should do that, but its an example of how you could get 'in').

You could also start a blog - while they can be a bit lame, it also demonstrates your writing ability. I'll try and find the blog that I sometimes read, I know the lady that writes it has been offered paid writing work off the back of it.

here you go

http://maketrouble.wordpress.com/

The NCTJ qualification is more important than anything - you'll struggle getting a job interview without it. Had you thought of e-learning? You can start your NCTJ straight away with us - and complete it by April 2012 at a fraction of the price that you'll pay on a fast track course. Are students achieved 100% exam pass rates in 6 subjects in the last sitting and are getting jobs every day. See: http://www.ctjt.biz/distance_learning.html Cleland Thom, director, CTJT.

If you want to be a journalist you will really need the NCTJ qualification. I gave up journalism to go back to uni but when I was an editor of a local newspaper I wouldn't consider employing anyone without NCTJ training. It was the shorthand and law knowledge which was vital. Generally journalism degrees at the time didn't equip students to work in the real world of journalism but I don't know what the content is like now.

Be warned though that the newspaper industry is in a bad state. The company I worked for has closed down all its district offices and made a lot of people redundant. This is going on across the board.
I'd say do the NCTJ - if you can get it paid for then it's a no brainer. Try to get work experience as well and hope that by the time you have finished you will get a job. If not you could have the masters as a back-up. Good luck.

Masters.

It is relatively easy and it will bring you more money in the future.