Our Program Officer Freddie Moffat finished his journalism degree last year. For new (and not-so-new) journalism students, here's his top tips to getting immersed in journalism:
- Become an MPC Student member for just $40 per year and attend our Edit events (duh). They're the perfect environment to network with your peers and gain valuable skills. Sign up to our Edit mailing list here.
- Start building a website portfolio now so you can upload your work throughout the year! Some website builders offer student discounts too. Bonus points for getting a custom website domain too (yourname.com looks a lot better than yourname.wordpress.com, and domains are included in some annual website builder subscriptions)
- Get involved in student radio and television. It's a great way to build material for a portfolio and meet people!
- Practice cold calling. It's a lot more effective than emailing for interviews, especially as a student where it's a lot harder to get the attention of potential interviewees!
- If you haven't already, figure out how you'll stay in the news loop. Download news apps and set up alerts, sign up to email newsletters (and actually read them), follow some news podcasts etc. (if you want to sign up to some news subscriptions, many publications offer student discounts)
- Get your tech sorted out now. Build up some experience on the Adobe suite (if your uni provides it to you), figure out your Zoom/phone interview recording setup, these are things you don't want to be scrambling for when you actually need them!