Foreign Correspondents Job Description: Tasks, Required Skills, Education, Career Outlook and Salary
Submitted by: Cheska Davenport
Job Overview: Foreign correspondents are reporters assigned in countries outside the location of their newspapers, networks or wire services. They usually work for a particular news network, and are sent by their employers to cover events such as war and conflict, disasters and other events worth international coverage. These reporters are usually stationed at a particular city or location for a period of time.
Education, Knowledge and Training Required: College education is important in order to secure a job in this field, and courses which hold of great importance in this line of work include journalism, broadcast communication, history, political science as well as literature. Foreign correspondents should also have knowledge in at least one foreign language, particularly the language used in the city or country in which they would be dispatched.
Skills and Abilities: To become a successful foreign correspondent, one should have the knack for adventure. Reporters in this field are usually sent by their employers due to their curiosity about how people live, and how they struggle to live despite socio-political conflicts. Foreign correspondents should be diplomatic in interviewing people, respectful but at the same time courageous in opening certain topics which may place their interviewees in uncomfortable positions. They should also have leadership skills, and flexibility to adapt with varying work environments and cultures.
Tasks: The main job of foreign correspondents is to report the news going on the country in which they are assigned. Foreign news usually tackles on violence, cultural events, refugee situations, coups, wars, financial issues, as well as special events and international gatherings. Foreign correspondents usually report on a more comprehensive manner, as they are assigned to talk about everything happening on that particular country, as compared with domestic correspondents who are assigned in different regions or areas in their home area.
Some foreign correspondents are responsible for more than one country, and they usually act as one-person bands in gathering and working on stories. They are provided with their own tools and equipment, and are subject to work under pressure and strict deadlines. Among their tasks is to keep viewers or readers updated of the various cultures and practices in the country they are assigned in, and they are subject to doing research, investigating leads, interviewing people, setting up appointments, making on-site observations as well as taking photographs and shooting videos for their news reports.
Earnings and Job Outlook: Salaries of foreign correspondents vary based on their employer, as well as the cost of living in the places they are assigned in. Median salaries of people in this field range between $50,000 and $70,000, and this can go higher for more established reporters.
Cheska Davenport is a career search strategist who focuses on creating power resumes and providing job search advice that aim to help individuals achieve their target goals in the job market.
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