Aussie journalism student wanting to move to Jo'burg

[marissa]

Hi everyone!

First of all, I must say I am so glad to have found this forum

I would like to know if I have a good chance of finding and landing a job in the media industry in and around Jo'burg. I am studying journalism (finishing next year) and really want to be involved in feature writing.

I currently live in Sydney (born and raised) but my boyfriend lives in Jo'burg. I was thinking of living in SA for a while after I graduate to work in anything in the media industry, just so I can work my way up and gain experience and eventually land a stable job. I have been searching online (e.g. bizcommunity, gumtree) and compared to Sydney listings, they have extensive search results for media jobs, which surprised me. You would never get that in an Australian job search engine, and never would you get so many results for jobs targeted directly at students.

From that, I assumed that it would be reasonably easier to get into the industry in SA than Australia. Is the media industry in SA competitive to get into? Would it be hard to land an internship or casual/part-time job in media just with a journalism degree and a portfolio of a few published works? (I have just started writing for an online magazine).

I do not speak Afrikaans, so would that be a major setback for me? Or is fluent English good enough?

Thanks for your time,
Marissa

[mman]

Hi marissa

I knew a lady from England that came here and worked in the same field after she had just finished her studys. She had no problem finding a job however she did stay in Cape Town. Jhb shouldnt be too much of a difference. With regards to Afrikaans i think it would be a big bonus but probably not necessary. Dont quote me on that however. My English friend obviously couldnt speak Afrikaans however Cape Town is more of an English speaking city compared to Jhb which is much more Afrikaans. My advice to you would be to try and organise a job before you go to S.A ( which can be very difficult ) but is the safest bet.

Hope everything works out for you

[Cnf]

I don't believe that speaking Afrikaans is critical - although it is helpful if you are working in the Cape or Pretoria. English is fairly ubiquitous especially in the cities.

Junior positions can be quite tough for foreigners to get considering the emphasis on transforming the workforce i.e. giving the previously disadvantaged preference, which is understandable.

However I believe that skilled, enthusiastic and hard-working people will find work as evidenced by the number of ex-pats working in SA.

[Thatch22]

[


In Johannesurg the people speak meanly Zulu and English. No Afrikaans is spoken overthere. In Capetown and Preoria Afrikaans is widly spoken.

Good luck


QUOTE=mman;315964]Hi marissa

I knew a lady from England that came here and worked in the same field after she had just finished her studys. She had no problem finding a job however she did stay in Cape Town. Jhb shouldnt be too much of a difference. With regards to Afrikaans i think it would be a big bonus but probably not necessary. Dont quote me on that however. My English friend obviously couldnt speak Afrikaans however Cape Town is more of an English speaking city compared to Jhb which is much more Afrikaans. My advice to you would be to try and organise a job before you go to S.A ( which can be very difficult ) but is the safest bet.

Hope everything works out for you [/QUOTE]

[Weebie]

You can take otu a Working Holiday Visa to South Africa upto 12 months after you complete your study in Australia.

[zambezi.king]

[QUOTE=Thatch22;360880][


In Johannesurg the people speak meanly Zulu and English. No Afrikaans is spoken overthere. In Capetown and Preoria Afrikaans is widly spoken.

Good luck


Bit of an odd statement... Zulu is spoken by the black communites in general in Gauteng along with other black languages. This is of little consequence if you are working, or planning to work, for an english paper. Zulu papers (zulu media in general)are very small when compared with others. Afrikaans is spoken widely in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town and most other cities but is on the decrease and will not hold you back too much.

In general business is either conducted in english or to a lesser extent afrikaans and as a rule alomst everyone is able to speak english.

Good luck.