Advice from Erin Millar
Seek out opportunities to get your work published. So many journalism students I met when I was an editor had learned all the skills and passed the right courses, but had no practical experience or published clippings. Don’t underestimate the value of a strong clipping from a student publication or small regional newspaper. The quality of your writing is much more important than where it was published, and editors take the student press seriously if they see a promising student journalist. So make sure you’re getting hands-on experience outside the classroom.
Learn how to work in different platforms, especially online. Journalists are increasingly expected to file their story in different formats. (Reporters for CBC need to file both online and radio stories, for instance.) It’s difficult to carve out a place for yourself as a specialist. If your favourite medium is print, fine, but also be proficient with a camera, willing to live blog and able to record for radio.
About Erin
Erin Millar
[...] Erin Millar, on the other hand, hates the idea of working 9-5 hours. She’s a musician, a bit of a hippy, loves to travel and has more ideas pouring out of her brilliant mind that anyone could collect. Her drive to become one of Canada’s top young professional freelancers is an evolution from these personal traits. Her desire to make her name, to achieve the highest professional standard, drove her to write her book and write for magazines most journalists don’t breach until they’re 15 years older than she. [...]