Newspaper Journalist - Anna Day
What's your job?
I'm a journalist on the Personal Finance section of the Sunday
Mirror.
How did you get started?
I did work experience at the Sunday Times when I was 18. I ended
up staying for four and a half years. I got my current job through
work experience too. It's definitely worth doing and it looks good
on your CV.
Do you need special skills,
qualifications or experience to get your job?
Being good at English is a pretty standard requirement. You also
need to be outgoing, nosy and pretty hard faced.
What does your job involve?
Writing about financial matters - pensions, mortgages etc - every
week. I also write features and that involves chasing celebrities,
going to fashion shoots and interviewing people.
What do you like best about your
job?
I like the fact that every day is different and there is never a
dull moment. I also talk to hundreds of different people every
week.
What is the worst thing about your
job?
Finance can be a very dry subject. It can be difficult to get a
new angle on another story about mortgages.
What should I do if I want to do what you
do?
Get as much work experience on local papers as possible. Many
papers offer trainee schemes, so apply for all of them. If you want
to work in financial journalism, most people start on 'trade'
papers, which specialise in areas of finance - such as 'What
Mortgage' - and then move on to a national paper.
