Career Information for Journalism Majors

It is important to understand that employers hire people, not degrees. The skills and knowledge you develop as a result of your education, as well as in your work and community activities, have the greatest impact on hiring decisions. Listed below are some key skills and knowledge you will acquire as a result of your university education and your focus on Journalism.

Specific Knowledge Skills
Valuable Transerable Skills
Some Career Options in Journalism
Potential Employers
Additional Study
Websites
 

Specific Knowledge Skills

• Skills to effectively synthesize a volume of information to create a story or message that is understandable, concise, comprehensive and accurate
• Excellent observational skills enabling the clear interpretation of events and situations with the ability to communicate this information accurately and fairly
• Perspective required to place information, situations, people in context and communicate a story which includes context and reflects different perspectives and interpretations
• Ability to grab the attention of a listener/reader and convey information effectively and informatively via different media to different types of audiences
• Layout and design skills allowing the creation of attractive and effective stories and information
• Skills in listening, clarifying, questioning, reasoning and responding so as to produce quality information/interviews and gather the most effective and insightful information
• Awareness of the appropriate use and understanding of language to communicate ideas and information to others who have different levels of literacy and different contextual perspectives
• Skills to conduct detailed and comprehensive research and select key information to support research and ideas and to ensure consistency and comprehensiveness of information
• The ability to write/edit documents ensuring grammatical accuracy and well crafted ideas
• Able to critically analyze and navigate knowledge of contemporary issues and how they relate to journalism including world issues, politics, culture and others and ability to consider these issues during research and writing
• Recognition of the legal/ethical implications of journalism practice and responsibilities

Regardless of your major, a university education enables you to develop a wide range of valuable ‘transferable skills’. It is often because of these ‘transferable skills’ that employers seek university graduates.

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Valuable Transferable Skills

Thinking, Planning and Organizational Skills

• The ability to learn, understand and interpret information and apply knowledge to new situations
• The ability to set priorities, meet deadlines and effectively plan/manage time, data and resources
• Problem-solving skills and the ability to make well-reasoned decisions, think creatively and search for, identify and consider all sides of an issue
• Skills to effectively analyze and interpret a wide range of information and data to discuss, support and/or reject ideas, opinions, reports, theories and proposals 

• Skills enabling you to work effectively as part of a team by identifying your role and contributing, through leading, teaching, motivating and/or encouraging others, to the success of the team
• An understanding of how to successfully identify, plan and contribute to the goals of a project
• The ability to oversee, supervise and/or contribute to a project from beginning to end including determining outcomes, planning details, making decisions, assigning roles and completing tasks   
  

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Some Career Options for Journalism Majors

For more career options and job descriptions, visit the following sites:

Career Cruising - www.careercruising.com. Please contact the Career Centre at 519.884.0710 ext. 4495 or careercentre@wlu.ca for the username and password.
Career Insider (Vault) - Access through the library website at www.wlu.ca/library. Click ’Find Articles and More’, click ’Databases by Title (A-Z)’ and then ’C’ - Career Insider (Vault). You need to access this resource from a Laurier computer or through the library’s remote access service.
National Occupational Classification - www.hrsdc.gc.ca/noc  

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Potential Employers

Additional Study

Websites