Kent journalism students land reporting jobs before they graduate

Two University journalism students have got their careers off to a flying start by securing reporting jobs before they graduate.

Sara Malm has already started working for Mail Online while Dean Kilpatrick has begun his new role as a trainee reporter with Kent on Sunday. Both have just completed the final year of their BA in Journalism and the News Industry degrees at the University’s Centre for Journalism.

Sara, 21, of Wyles Street, Gillingham, came to study at Kent from her native Sweden and has been combining her degree with editing student magazine Medwire and contributing to the Independent’s compact edition. But she says her new role on Mail Online is very special.

‘Mail Online is probably the most popular newspaper website in the world with around 99 million unique hits, so it’s a fantastic opportunity for someone who hasn’t even graduated yet to work there,’ she said.

‘I’m very excited to be one of around 70 journalists producing stories for one of the most read news websites in the world,’

Dean, 20, of Birch Close, Broadstairs, and who attended the town’s Dane Court Grammar School, will be reporting on the whole of Kent and hopes the opportunity will help him to expand skills he has learned in the Centre and to supply a regular stream of exclusive stories for his paper.

He said: ‘The course has obviously pushed me in the right direction as the NCTJ preliminary certificates proved essential in getting the job.

‘I think it also benefited my application that I was able to suggest multimedia ideas and had carried out previous work experience.’

Professor Tim Luckhurst, Head of the Centre for Journalism, said: ‘These are superb achievements by Sara and Dean.

‘It is becoming something of a pattern in the Centre for Journalism that our most determined students secure jobs in journalism before they have graduated. Dean's and Sara's achievements continue a fine tradition.’

Contact: pressoffice@kent.ac.uk

Story published at 4:22pm 6 June 2012