Building a career in journalism doesn’t happen overnight.

After completing her undergraduate arts degree with the business administration option at Wilfrid Laurier University, April Robinson became the editor-in-chief of Laurier’s weekly student publication.  The following year, she entered the masters of journalism program at Western.

April, who is now a reporter at the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, can confidently say, “I love this work. It’s the best; I can’t imagine doing anything else right now.”

Here April offers some tips and advice for aspiring journalists.

Q. Is is necessary for aspiring journalists to get a degree or diploma in journalism?

A. I think it helps a lot. For me, it helped me to get the connections I needed to get into the industry.

Doing  internships (usually a requirement for a journalism degree) gets you a foot in the door and it also helps to have extra skills and background because the teachers have worked in the industry before.

Doing a masters program opens more doors for down the road if you ever wanted to get into teaching.

Q. Do you find working in journalism to be challenging?

A. It’s definitely challenging. It’s different everyday so it’s both fun and challenging.

Q. What is the most stressful part about working in journalism?

A. Deadlines.  A lot of the time it is unpredictable. Often you’ll come to work and you thought you had your day planned out, but it totally changes. Sometimes it is a little overwhelming; there are times when you think ‘I don’t know how I am going to get this story done.’

Q. What is the best part about working in journalism?

A. All the different people you get to meet and all their stories and the struggles they have been through and being able to tell and share that story with other people.

Q. What type of person do you think is best suited to work in this field?

A. Someone who is hard-working, doesn’t give up and perseveres. You have to be able to handle pressure and take criticism, juggle priorities and love to write. You have to do your time in internships; you can’t just get a job right away. They are really competitive.