Executive Director of Media Career Development Network (MCDN), Mr Lekan Otufodunrin has urged journalists to be deliberate about developing their careers and positioning themselves for new opportunities through acquiring modern skills.
Otufodunrin, who was a guest on Television Continental (TVC) on the station’s breakfast programme on Thursday which focused on Understanding Media Career Focus: Trends, Skills and Entrepreneurship, said, journalists must be ready for the disruptive changes in the media industry and should not be caught unawares.
“Nowadays people are also learning new skills in terms of digital skills. There are now fact-checking skills, solution journalism and a lot of changes are coming in. If you subscribe to organisations like ijnet.com, they share opportunities every week,” he said.
Regarding journalists who think the organisations they work for should be responsible for providing training opportunities for them, Otufodunrin, Managing Editor, Online and Special Publications at The Nation Newspaper, said it is necessary for every professional to take personal responsibility for their career growth.
“I think your career is your career. You owe yourself that responsibility to develop yourself because whatever you have when you leave that organisation, you are going to take it away.
“The organisation owe you the responsibility of providing an enabling environment and I think the media also need to prioritise training. We need to factor that in. The same way we invest in facilities, we need to invest in training our staff because their productivity will be better when that is done,” he explained.
According to him, some organisations offering media training that journalists can maximise include the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development and many others whose training should be well utilised.
The media career specialist enjoined media managers to prioritise the training of their staff and allow them to attend training and use the skills acquired when they return to the newsrooms
He enjoined journalists to be conscious of their career development, have a road map, set realistic goals and beware of being carried away with work.
“You should know when you need to get additional certificates or qualifications because at some point you may need them. These days there are certifications and there are different kinds of things that can help enhance your qualifications, so it becomes easier when you need to cross over.
“One of the things I have realised again is that people have personal mission statements or visions. What do you want to accomplish? This is because if you don’t know where you are going, you may not know when you get there or when you are far from there.
“Set targets for yourself, you may not be able to meet them, but you will know in your mind five years into this job this is what you want to accomplish. You can even exceed it, but if you don’t have that, anything will just be good for you and you will not know when your contemporaries are progressing more than you.
“It is important to set a target for yourself like saying in ten years, this is what I want to accomplish in this profession or I want to have this additional skill so that you will know when to make adjustments or when your plan is not working out.”
He also told journalists not to limit media training opportunities to foreign training but should also look inwards into the local training opportunities that can be of benefit to their media career.
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