by Rachelle de Bretagne

Created on: July 29, 2009   Last Updated: November 15, 2011

Many journalists miss the boat when looking for a new job simply because they are not forward-thinking enough to be prepared. It's a safe bet that another applicant will be. When entering the job market, in such a competitive market, being prepared is the best way to give yourself an edge in the journalism job hunt.

This article is written to give journalists a little information about what is involved with the interviewing process for candidates for those editorial companies who hire journalists, whether this is a newspaper, magazine or publishing house. The tips given within this article are universal and make sense for any approach to a new career in journalism.

Getting together information.

Journalism is taking a huge turn. Not only are the articles which you write published in standard publications, but you may be expected to participate in link or collaborative journalism. To prepare for your interview, a lot of footwork is required. Try to have examples of your work available for the interview. It is also a good idea to have articles published to the Internet to show how you can present work in a modern way. What you do by preparing all this information is to show the potential employer the scope of your skills.

Collaborations are common in journalism these days, and what these mean is working together with other journalists to produce web based content or articles. If you can get another journalist you know to collaborate with you on the preparation of a web page which you can show to a prospective employer, this will show them that you have what it takes to collaborate with others.

Providing a neat package.

Make sure that you show the scope of your work in your portfolio. At the interview, you will be expected to show different kinds of reporting and if you have plenty of areas to show a potential employer, you never know what may cross their mind. Although you may be applying for a set job, they may have others coming up where you can fit the bill. By providing your work in a neat package, you show forethought and good judgment.

Keeping something up your sleeve.

Apart from those items within your portfolio, are you prepared to show them that you can succeed in another area of reporting. Keep something up your sleeve so that you can spontaneously show them something which follows on from the interview. This may be a link to a website which they can peruse after the interview is over. Have all kinds of content, on all different topics, because they

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