Tips for Aspiring Journalists

This evening I've been speaking at an event at the University of Sheffield for students who are interested in a career in journalism.

Here are the tips I suggested to the aspiring journalists:

- Contact local radio stations to ask for job shadowing/work experience.

- Keep a contacts book; half of it should be made up of people you meet while reporting and gathering stories and the other half with journalists you meet at work.

- Find your own voice and reporting style. Avoid cliches. It's worth watching this amusing report by Charlie Brooker for what not to do!

- Tweet and blog about a subject you're interested in to show you can write for an online audience and are familiar with digital media.

- Keep a copy of all your journalism work.

- Make a radio/TV demo, upload them online and email them to the radio and TV stations you want to work for.

- Critically watch and listen to news programmes; which stories are they covering, how are they covering them and what would you do differently?

- Keep across media news e.g. subscribe to the BBC Radio 4 Media Show, the Guardian Media Talk and the Media Section of the Guardian website.

These are just some of my ideas, I'd be interested to hear other people's tips for up and coming journalists @MarkAnsell