Job search guide - Journalism and Mass Communication
Posted January 27th, 2016 -- 11:20 PM

As a new graduate from any of the schools/departments of Journalism and Mass Communications in Cameroon, with hundreds of hours of internship in the press (radio, TV, print, online etc), it is tempting to limit one's career options to the press. After all that's where one gained most of their practical experience.

Could there be other options for the graduate from the prestigious schools of Journalism and Mass Communications? Most definitely, there are. So many of them that we can hardly count. What are these options and how does one go about finding them?

While in school studying to get a degree, diploma or certification in Journalism and Mass Communication, one is taught a whole lot. These skills are applicable in other parts of the world, in functions not exactly the same like the traditional functions found in press houses - copyrighting, editing, content creation, news-casting etc.

As a trained professional in Journalism and Mass Communication, your skills are needed in the corporate world in the likes of public relations, communication departments, marketing departments, community management, social media marketing and a host of others. As such in searching for a job on platforms like akwajobs.com, do not limit the definition of your role only to press organs.

Likewise, in the non-profit, non-governmantal sectors - those trained in journalism and mass communications have been known to be very effecting in running and organization of advocacy groups. Thus in your search for jobs or internships, expand your view to include advocacy, NGO administration, project writing, fundraising and other such duties.

Finding the job vacancy though is the easy part, preparing oneself for such interviews and eventually the job is the much more difficult part. That's easy if you do a proper soul searching, aligning your training to the needs of these varied organizations and presenting yourself in the most convincing manner. Remember above everything else, motivation is the deciding element. If you have to prove your worth to the potential employer, you have to show beyond reasonable doubt that your training and motivation are in perfect alignment with what they are looking for. In short, you are the best candidate for the job at hand.

Use the search tool with expanded keywords such as public relations, press relations, communications, marketing, community management, social media, advocacy, human rights, sustainable development, environmental protection, children and women rights, project writing, fundraising. This will definitely give you much more options that traditional journalist(sm), mass communications, press, radio, TV, newspaper.

Please test and share your experiences, if possible, as comments below.

Team Akwajobs