If you love sports and you love TV, then what could be better than a career as a TV sports presenter? Being known for your love of sports and being respected within the industry is something that you can achieve as a presenter. Of course, being a TV presenter requires you to have adequate knowledge and interest about an array of sports, as it involves more than simply turning up, reading off a script, and then going home. To be a successful sports TV presenter, you must live and breathe sport, and you must be focused on conveying your love and interest to your audience.
Jobs as TV sports presenters are highly coveted, and as such, you cannot just walk into a role or position; you need to have adequate knowledge and experience in place, and you need to have a unique selling point, something that you do or offer that nobody else offers, something that gets and retains interest. Of course, before you are looking at applying for paid jobs, you need to get suitably educated and qualified as there is lots to learn about.
Getting Qualified – Education Matters
Education is always beneficial, and there is often a misconception about TV sports presenters, and this misconception is that they are untrained and uneducated professionals, and this idea simply could not be further from the truth. To land a presenting position, you must have a degree that encompasses what you want to learn; a sports journalism degree online that highlights your knowledge and expertise within the field is a must. Presenting and talking about sports requires you to have a qualification that backs up what you are saying, and therefore it is so important to get qualified. A suitable degree will cover lots of areas, topics, and subjects that you will find beneficial and useful to getting your dream job.
Presenting requires a lot more than just reading off a script or cue cards, and when you study, you realize that a journalistic background is just as important as anything else. A good sports presenter will know and understand that asking questions, probing, and getting to the bottom of hot topics and issues is what they need to do and what the fans and viewers expect them to do. Learning on the job is important, and within the role of sports presenter, you will quickly realize that learning is constant and not just something that is done on an as and when basis. Lifelong learning and education will develop your skills and allow you to be a fantastic TV presenter who builds a solid reputation. A sports presenter’s role sometimes involves asking awkward questions, and therefore you need to develop a tough shell to be a success, and you will learn this when studying for a sports journalism degree online.
Why You Need a Suitable Degree
Competition for TV presenting jobs is extremely fierce and competitive, and if you do not have a suitable degree, you will struggle to get a look in, let alone afoot through the door. To stand out from other jobseekers, you must know what you are talking about, and you must have knowledge and awareness, knowledge and awareness that you have harnessed during your studies. When you study for a sports journalism degree online, you realize just what it takes to be a TV presenter. You understand that you need topic awareness, and you understand that you need credibility when trying to make a mark or dent. Your competition for that dream job as a TV presenter will have qualifications, so it is important that you rival what they have and what they are offering. If you do not have a suitable degree, your resume will not even get looked at, and you will not land the position that you deserve.
A sports journalism degree online shows potential employers that you are dedicated, driven, and focused on harnessing and spreading your love and enjoyment of sports.
Studying for Your Degree Online
Getting a degree online is possible, realistic, and achievable. Quite often, you may not have the time to attend a physical campus, and this is fine as there universities that provide you with the opportunity to get your sports journalism degree online. Studying online is a rewarding way to improve your subject knowledge and awareness. It is a flexible opportunity too as you can quite often study when you want and from the comfort of your home. A major advantage of studying for a sports journalism degree online is that you cut out all that commute time you would normally lose when going back and forth to campus. Studying a sports journalism degree online is ideal if you want to juggle existing commitments such as childcare, work, and social life. Of course, getting a balance when studying online is essential, especially as you will have to plan your own workload, prioritize projects, and reach deadlines. Having a balance when you are studying online is important as you want to enjoy learning and enjoy studying.
Studying Online and Working is it Possible?
Yes, you can combine working and studying for a sports journalism degree online, and you can succeed at balancing the two. Whether you are returning to study after a break, or you are back after having a family, it can be difficult to fit in everything you need to within your day, especially as you only have a set number of hours to complete everything in, but it is important to know that you can do it. When your time is stretched or limited, it is nice to know that you can fulfill your studies while paying bills and carrying on with life. As you will need to break up your time, remember that you cannot fit everything in. Compromises will need to be made along the way, but if you keep in mind what you are getting at the end, you will see that the compromises will be justified and worthwhile.
What Makes a Good TV Presenter – Personality and Traits?
To be a presenter who commands interest and attention, you need to focus on harnessing and improving your offering and why. TV presenters are people pleasers, and it is important to know that to succeed in the job, you must please and entertain your audiences, and to do so, you must come across clearly and accurately. A good presenter is someone that is relatable, easy to understand, easy to follow, and quite likable. As being a presenter is all about providing a whole package, it is vital that you hone and harness your skills and attributes to the best of your ability.
Good presenters often go above and beyond what is expected of them, and they create both an impression and mark on the lives of others. Presenters build passion and enthusiasm about sports, and it is important that you are enthusiastic and passionate about sport and the sporting industry. Quite often, TV presenters are quite outgoing, they love talking to people, and they love sharing their knowledge and awareness as well. Looking at what encompasses and makes up a TV presenter can leave you feeling overwhelmed, but there is honestly no reason to panic as skills, talents, and traits can be harnessed and improved no matter what your starting point is.
Work Experience – Getting a working knowledge.
While you are studying for a sports journalism degree online, it may be beneficial to seek out work experience. Most likely, work experience will be voluntary and unpaid, but it is not the money at this stage that is important; it is the potential knowledge and experience you will gain and the potential contacts you will make that can make work experience (even voluntary) beneficial to achieving your career goal. When seeking out opportunities, it is important that you keep your options open. For example, look for online-based opportunities, look at podcasts, and even look at background roles. A good presenter is one that can appreciate the work that goes on behind the scenes, and to truly appreciate this, why not learn about it and gain a better insight, understanding, and awareness.
Looking at Shadowing
A way to get into the presenting industry is to try and get an internship or position where you shadow a presenter. These positions are very hard to come by, but if you focus on networking and on building up your contacts while you study, you should be able to find a placement that you can undertake. Shadowing will allow you to see exactly what a TV presenter does day in day out, and it will also help you get insights into what you need to make yourself a successful presenter. For example, you may observe how friendly a presenter is to their colleagues and realize that you need to work on improving your people skills, or you might see that they take an interest in voluntary roles outside of presenting work which may lead you to look at volunteering opportunities too. Shadowing used to be just for people starting off in the world of work, but it is not there to help others get the right job and position for them and to allow them to see directly what a role entails.
Improving Your Resume
You do not have long to make a positive first impression, and you rarely get the opportunity to have a second chance, so it is important that your resume is looking and sounding as good as you. Quite often, a suitably trained and qualified job hunter can be overlooked based on the quality and quantity of their resume, so it is important that you do yourself justice and that you showcase who you are and what you can bring to the role. Even if you have no relevant experience, your resume will still be seen and viewed by production companies and potential employers, so it is important that you focus on highlighting your strengths and areas of development as opposed to your areas of weakness. As your resume is a key part of landing a job, it may be worth hiring a professional to write and reword your resume. Often, they can improve on how you have written your resume, and frequently they can sell you better than you can sell yourself.
Making Networking Work for You
As the competition is stiff for TV presenting positions, it is important that you build up your contacts and associations with influential people and groups. You never know who you will meet when you network, and it should be something that you start undertaking as soon as you know what job you want to land. When you get to know more people and more groups, you cast your net a little bit wider, and you reach more people, more than if you would not have taken part in networking at all. Online networking and offline networking both works, and you should try and dedicate at least 1 hour every week to networking and building up your profile. To make networking truly work for you, it is best to focus on what you want to achieve and why. For example, do you want to build a contacts list as you want to eventually go freelance, or do you want to build a contacts list with a view to finding a paid role somewhere down the line?
Finding and Landing a Role
Getting out there are landing a position can be tricky, but do not be put off as it is not impossible to achieve. To land that role that you deserve, you need to find where opportunities lie, and you must take advantage of them. Once you have a good education behind you, there is nothing stopping you from pushing forwards. To find roles, it is important that you utilize networking. Speaking with other professionals within the industry and raising your profile is important if you want to get seen and noticed.
