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How to write for the internet

Tips from a fourth year New Media student:

• Use bullet points to make it easier for your reader.
• Keep your writing short and to the point.

From now on this is how I will blog :)

Student writers wanted

Earn money and more importantly, get experience through this online women's magazine.

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Job/196/39/112503.html

Bizcommunity.com

This is a daily media, marketing and advertising news site where many media companies advertise job openings. You can also get a daily newspaper which is very helpful.

http://www.bizcommunity.com/

The job search

This site has a nice, long list of sites to find job openings in the media industry: http://www.smartcape.org.za/careers/the-job-hunt.html

More hints on getting a job in journalism

http://www.capetownjobsearch.co.za/career-in-journalism/

A career in Journalism

This is an amazing site offering helpful tips on what to include in your CV and portfolio for the field of journalism and writing.

Check out the journalism page: http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin/journalism.htm

A portfolio is one of the most important things a journalist needs when applying. Here are some tips on what employers want: http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/portfolios.htm

A tip from the ed of Grocott's Mail

According to Steven Lang, the most irritating mistake job-seekers make when sending their applications to him is labelling their CV 'my CV' or just 'CV'. He has a list of hundreds of 'My CV's without any hope of every working out what belongs to who (he does not have the time or the inclination to search every one of them). Stand out by labelling your CV and email subject with your name.

It's so duh but I never would have thought of it...

Highbury Safika Media

I have just discovered Highbury Safika Media, and it is exactly what I'm interested in. I will post more information shortly.

Post Grad

I just watched Post Grad... It made it scarily real how close I am to leaving Uni. It was a good watch.

An awesome online job recruitment agency:

www.jobcrystal.co.za/invite/TS9FDVFS/

Find Jobs in Africa on Twitter

This is a great one to follow: http://twitter.com/jobsinsafrica 

They send you all sorts of openings.

I (might be) hired

I got back to the womyn who replied to my ad and she wants to test me out 'to see if I'm as smart as I think I am' before she hires me. Oh dear. If I do get the job I'll have quality control a minimum of 240 reports in a month. That's not too bad because they only take about 15 minutes to a half an hour to do each. Still waiting to hear back from her for my try-out.

The add that did it all

Here's the link to the winning advert:

http://capetown.gumtree.co.za/c-ViewAd?AdId=196949054&Guid=127d8ef5-fd40-a20b-2785-9745fffed396

Someone sees me!

I got a reply to my advert!! Yay! Not the one I posted yesterday but one I posted three or so days ago on gumtree. The one that I couldn't find again afterwards... Oh well. This was the reply:

We are looking for a peron to quality control Mystery Customer reports online. You need an eye for detail, superb English skills, intelligence (congruence), an editing eye and to be able to connect the dots. Access to the Internet and a printer are further requirements. The payment is per Report that is quality controlled.


Yay :) Now it just depends how much it takes... But I'm sure I'll be able to fit it in.

Advertised: tick

I've finally managed to get this right... I think. Here's my advert: http://1freeadvertising.com/9087/sub-editor-proof-reader-transcriber/

Register as a job seeker!

On Junk Mail you can register as a job seeker and potential employers can find you! How cool?
Check it out: http://www.jobmail.co.za/register-your-profile-cv

Advertising

Posting ads online is complicated! Such a process and then when you look for them, you can't find them! Perhaps I should stick to handwritten signs on Pick n' Pay's bulletin board.

Sending out your CV

Something to keep in mind...

According to the University of Kent's career advisory service:
* For every one interview gained graduates send out 25 applications.
* The average graduate sends out 70 applications. The average number of responses is seven, with three or four being polite rejections.
* The more CV's you send out the more responses you will get.
* Including a covering letter increases your chances of getting a response by 10%.
* 60% of CV's are mailed to the wrong person (usually the managing director). Mailing your CV to the right person will give 15% more chance of getting a response, and 5% more chance of getting an interview.
* Applications with NO SPELLING MISTAKES are 61% more likely to get a reply and 26% more likely to get an interview.
* The biggest hiring turn-offs: misspelling the name of the company or addressee, not having a reply address on the CV or trying to be amusing.

For more helpful tips check it out: http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/cvexamples.htm

POA

What I need is a Plan Of Action. A step by step, a timeline, a flow chart, a list! Yay my favourite. Let's start with the basics: my aims.

Aims:
To get a job at a magazine.
To have it secured before I leave university.
To know what my salary will be so that I can start looking for a flat and a pension plan. It's good to look ahead.

Now the finer details:
I want to work in Cape Town.
I want to earn enough to be able to live comfortably.
I want to work at a magazine that I actually like.

So. To do this I need to:
Apply.

To apply I need to perfect my CV and portfolio. I would like to have some more work experience in my CV so I'm putting an advert online offering my services at editing and transcribing.

So it's decided then. The first step is putting my CV and portfolio together.

Yay I have a plan!

The Beginning of the End

Time is running out. I'm sure I'm not the first to feel this way. I'm in my last year of study and I'm beginning to feel the pressure of impending adulthood. Real life is coming at me faster than the Manson asteroid. (Google it, crazy story) Some or other internal organ is being crushed in the vice-like grip of my anxiety and every day I attempt complicated sums in my head (that I'm sure I'm not actually capable of doing) to work out exactly what living will cost me next year. I don't even know what sort of salary I'll have so I don't even know what to work with because I DON'T YET HAVE A JOB! Ok, I shouldn't panic. It's only April. Which means I have nine months to convince someone to hire me.

I can do this.