I’m actually writing a post at the minute on the skills and tools the journo student should be graduating with to evolve in sync with the industry. Here’s a snippet:

“In the quest for employment, utilisation of the web is seen as all-important. It is somewhat dauntingly referred to as self-marketing. This self-marketing refers to the optimising of micro-blogging sites such as Twitter and social-networking sites like Facebook to get the greatest possible exposure of your work and skills.”

There are some great people out there to follow who regularly post on all things relevant to the journo student and soon to be graduate. Here are just a few:

Reportr.net – great post just today on ‘what journalism students can learn from blogging’. Useful site to get your head round all sorts of technological issues increasingly featuring in discussions of journalism.

Suzanne Yada – a fellow student delivering useful and honest advice all relevant to the journo trainee.

Greg Linch – easily the most progressive, networked and multimedia journo student I’ve come across on the web. Definitely worth following.

Dave Lee – recent journo graduate made big in the industry. Paved a path any journo student would do well to tread.

Tomorrows News, Tomorrows Journalists – great discussion forum for student journalists. ‘Get involved and join the conversation’. Or just admire and absorb from afar.

Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list. That can be found on the right hand side of my blog along with a directory of what I’m reading – always relevant to fellow journo students . I’ll finish with the words of Trinity Mirror’s ‘Online Journalism Student of the Year’, Azeem Ahmad:

“Blog as often as possible; subscribe to and read the key influencers/speakers in your chosen field – and comment too. Let the author know you’ve read what they’ve written and agreed or disagreed with it; start and get involved in the discussions, engage with the community online and create one around yourself; join Twitter, and become a networked journalist. Engage, engage, engage – I can’t stress that enough.”

P.S. You can get to my blog by clicking ‘Josh’ at the top (or bottom) of this comment.