What does "It takes a certain kind of person to become" mean in the following sentence? Is it a accpected phrase "it take a... kind of person to do sth."?
It takes a certain kind of person to become a journalist, and there are specific qualities that are essential for a successful career in journalism.
Yep, it's a common expression. It means that the task or job in question requires specific innate or at least preexisting talent or abilities that are not typically found in the general population. This may or may not be true in practice - the intent is usually to increase the prestige of the job by making it sound like having that job makes you part of a special elite few who are capable of performing it.
Less often, it can be used in the opposite way to emphasise that the thing in question requires uncommon levels of ignorance, stupidity, selfishness or malice, e.g. it takes a certain kind of person to defraud a retirement home.
