Media work is more precarious now than at any time in recent history. This means next-generation media professionals need to prepare themselves for challenging working lives. Taking the Australian job market as an example, this chapter points out three important developments regarding media work and elaborates on the new skills needed to find employment in the dynamic field of media.

‘Lily’ was laid-off after her media company centralized news operations and cut staff. The dismissal notice stung her pride. She had not anticipated her busy job reporting daily breaking news for the online desk was at risk. It also broke her confidence. She had landed the work after graduating from her journalism degree, only to find herself back in the labour market within two years. ‘You do have the view that you are disposable’, she says, ‘no matter how good or bad or how you are at your job’. Despite her youth and digital know-how, she found it hard to restart her career. There were many, many more PR and corporate communication jobs on offer than newsroom work, but Lily hesitated. She had watched her classmates take jobs in teaching and fashion design rather than cross-over to what they all jokingly referred to as the ‘dark side’. Eventually, Lily got full-time work in an insurance company media unit, as the social media editor. She believes many next generation media professionals will end up creating content for corporate newsrooms. ‘I used to do a lot of stories on fires, crashes, that sort of stuff’, she says.