Beyond the media. Professional profiles and skills required of Jounalism graduates in job postings on employment portals

Abstract

The digitisation of journalism has changed how newsrooms operate and forced journalists to update their profiles and skills to meet the challenges imposed by the digital convergence in the media. This study examines the demands made by employers in job advertisements aimed at Journalism graduates on specialised internet portals. To this end, a sample of 619 advertisements published on LinkedIn and InfoJobs was analysed. The postings appeared for six months and were spread over a timeframe of just over a year. Contrary to expectations, the news media hardly ever use these platforms for advertising jobs, as nearly two-thirds of the advertisements come from companies in sectors unrelated to communication, and almost half of the jobs are linked to corporate communication. Even for job postings aimed exclusively at Journalism graduates, the listings examined require skills in content production and professional tasks related to strategy and planning of communication products and services. Such duties include content management, campaigns related to planning and communication, interaction with diverse audiences on social media, media outlets, and institutions, and research and analysis involving evaluation, forecasting, and web analytics. In the results section, the authors propose expanding university Journalism programmes to meet the demand for skills in the general labour market, which is non-specific because the job postings do not come exclusively from the media. However, this job market is also available to Journalism graduates beyond simply working in the media.