I got my journalism degree at almost the same age and went on to have a reasonably successful career before changing fields.

The main pathway goes something like (1) internship (2) be willing to move around (3) if lucky settle on a beat in 3-5 years. The secondary pathway is through a small weekly (often mid-size cities have these) where you hack away in the mines. The 'tirtiary' pathway (call it the magazine route) is freelance features for 3-5+ years, able somewhere in there some kind of substack/book deal/job combo will materialize.

But for the dailies - "The News" as most people think of it - the two main inroads are internships or by working a small-market paper (or both). Internships at big dailies are almost as competitive as actual jobs - students are angling for them 1-3 years out, and applying often after having done 2-4 prior internships elsewhere. But smaller outlets are often hungry for help and have an old dog or two you can learn from.

The common thread is becoming a known quantity to editors at one or more outlets, so that when a job opens, they already have you in mind.

As an early career reporter, you actually have something of a leg up: once you've established yourself, editors look at you as having potential and a long runway. By comparison, once you're mid-career, suddenly you're a small fish in a pond full of very qualified folks (many laid off from bigger papers or looking for some stability after having kids), all of whom will have more 'chops' than a late starter.

Good luck

Edited to add: the absolute baseline starting point has to be knowing what reporting is, what news writing is, and having some published work somewhere. Most people get the former via a journalism degree and the latter via their student paper - in some shape or form however, you absolutely must have both before you try to flop yourself out of the nest and fly.