Newsflash: If you’re interested in a journalism career, that doesn’t mean you’re limited to traditional media jobs. Here are some careers you can get into:
1. Content Marketer
What you’d do: A journalism career will undoubtedly center around writing, and all industries need strong writers in many mediums. Content marketers create videos, articles, and images within an editorial calendar to create brand awareness, upsell products, participate in conversations about subjects related to the brand, and create a sense of community between customers and the brand. Additionally, content marketers target emails, content, social media posts, and other creative forms of communication to different points in a customer’s experience.
Median Salary: $46,718 per year
2. Copy Writer
What you’d do: Whenever you see an advertisement, a copywriter developed the message being delivered. If you’re naturally persuasive, super-creative, and can cram a lot of convincing information into a few words, this job should grab your attention.
Median Salary: $49,664 per year
3. Corporate Communications Specialist
What you’d do: Major corporations need to relay company-specific information to their many employees, as well as the press. This includes everything from benefits information to internal news stories to details of upcoming events. A corporate communications specialist is in charge of creating and distributing all this news, and often maintaining a company intranet.
Median Salary: $59,300 per year
4. Editor
What you’d do: A traditional but ever-changing journalism career choice, editors oversee every step of the publishing process, working with writers to plan and edit content for publication. Editors work at magazines, newspapers, online media outlets—basically anywhere there’s a story, there’s an editor.
Median Salary: $57,210 per year
5. Public Relations Specialist
What you’d do: Public relations specialists create and maintain a favorable public image for the organizations they represent and put together media releases to help shape public perception and increase brand awareness. Your journalism background makes you an excellent candidate for a public relations role, as they regularly interact with journalists to effectively communicate their organizations’ messages.
Median Salary: $59,300 per year
6. Reporter
What you’d do: Reporters inform the public about news and events, spending much of their time in the field, conducting interviews and investigating stories. They work on tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment, striving to be the first to publish the story.
Median Salary: $40,910 per year
7. Social Media Specialist
What you’d do: Tweet, share, like, post, etc. A social media specialist works for a brand or organization and communicates with the public through social media platforms to build a favorable reputation. They also review data and analytics to see how they can improve their company’s social shareability.
Median Salary: $42,097 per year
8. Technical writer
What you’d do: Any time instructions must be written, particularly for a technical product or service, these writers go to work. Technical writers prepare instruction manuals and how-to guides to explain how a product or service works.
Median Salary: $70,930 per year
9. Grant writer
What you’d do: Grant writers use their persuasive talents to demonstrate the importance of a nonprofit organization’s causes through written proposals to win the money necessary to promote them.
Median Salary: $45,788 per year
10. Sports information director
What you’d do: If you’re a sports junkie, how about getting paid to oversee a college athletics program’s ongoing communications needs? As a sports information director, you’ll help local, regional, and national sports journalists get the stories they need from your school’s coaches and athletes. You’ll also coordinate media coverage for various athletic events.
Median Salary: $36,212 per year
*Information source: Monster.com