Right, why can I do this job?
I have been asked by several people why now, why not after finishing university?
I realised at university that I only had 2D experience. A head full of theories, but little practical experience.
I always saw myself travelling abroad after graduation in order to learn a new language and learn more about the world through direct experience.
I realise the danger of discussing this in a blog, it runs the real risk of being a monologue full of self adulation.
Plus I hope to pepper this blog with my experience and not turn it into a ‘me’ fan club.
So, living in a foreign country like Japan, where you can only really live if you can communicate through the language, has taught me more than my degree did about the power of communication. Not just words, but actions, what is said and done and what is not said and done.
I came here with zero Japanese and built from scratch, so I learned a lot about cross cultural communication and an awful, awful lot about cross cultural miscommunication.
My university education and personal interests in psychology, economics and international relations did however provide me with a nice framework to make sense of it all.
Communicating through English speakers for whom the language is a second language is also a skill I am getting to grips with. Something I want to touch on later as I feel it’s a big selling point for me which won't necessarily be important just in Japan as the percentage of people who speak English as a second language around the world is enormous.
This leaves a huge potential for misunderstandings and communications. This is where I hope to fit in to the PR industry. Multinationals, corporations etc... do business with people all over the world, and communication can be the factor between profits and losses.
Unfortunately I lack experience and have been told by most I have contacted so far that I should get experience before coming back to them.
To sum up where I am with my search just now, I have identified many PR companies in Japan. (multi national and national) and contacted all by email in order to get contact names. I have also contacted any recruiting companies who deal with PR positions, but I hold little hope for them. I think it is a truism that the best jobs are not advertised. That said, to get the experience I would take any PR job at present.
I have also started to make contacts in the industry, in the hope of my CV being put on someone’s desk.
Lastly, I have started fishing for free work to do to get experience that way. An internship would be nice, but
A: It costs to live, I must eat and
B: I am concentrating very heavily on my Japanese studies. Within 2 years, my personal deadline for beginning my future career in PR, I aim to be fluent enough in Japanese to work in business here.
As they say, aim low, score low. Aim high, score high.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
What
Well, my aim is to post once a week. Over 2 years that can be quite a lot of information. I also have to be careful about this blogging lark and stick to the main aim.
Let's, over the next few months, look at the topics of:
Why I can do this job.
Culture and people. People are people, but if you ignore culture you will have many problems.
The power of language. Why Japanese English is not a bad thing and why it is NOT inferior to 'proper' correct English.
Thats enough to write a whole book on, but as with all good pieces of work, you should set out at the start what you intend to write about. I have always held social networking in a certain amount of doubt. How can you really tell who wrote what and who is who? You just have to trust what you read I suppose. But then thats something which can be held against almost any form of writing.
Any questions or comments are always welcome.
Let's, over the next few months, look at the topics of:
Why I can do this job.
Culture and people. People are people, but if you ignore culture you will have many problems.
The power of language. Why Japanese English is not a bad thing and why it is NOT inferior to 'proper' correct English.
Thats enough to write a whole book on, but as with all good pieces of work, you should set out at the start what you intend to write about. I have always held social networking in a certain amount of doubt. How can you really tell who wrote what and who is who? You just have to trust what you read I suppose. But then thats something which can be held against almost any form of writing.
Any questions or comments are always welcome.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Why????
Welcome to my blog.
I have set my self a task. My task is to start work in a PR company in Japan within the next 2 years from today’s date.
Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?
Well, I’m going to map out what I’ve done so far, and what I intend to do.
Along the way I want to shed some light on the PR industry in Japan and Japanese life in general.
Hopefully you’ll see, it’s not as easy as it sounds. But if it was easy, anyone could do it.
I invite anyone who reads this to comment with advice or to share their experiences with me.
As well as a self motivating tool and promotion of my cause, maybe this can help inspire anyone who is in the same boat as myself.
Enjoy.
I have set my self a task. My task is to start work in a PR company in Japan within the next 2 years from today’s date.
Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?
Well, I’m going to map out what I’ve done so far, and what I intend to do.
Along the way I want to shed some light on the PR industry in Japan and Japanese life in general.
Hopefully you’ll see, it’s not as easy as it sounds. But if it was easy, anyone could do it.
I invite anyone who reads this to comment with advice or to share their experiences with me.
As well as a self motivating tool and promotion of my cause, maybe this can help inspire anyone who is in the same boat as myself.
Enjoy.
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