EMILY HENNESSY

I recently graduated from my Journalism/Chinese degree at Curtin and landed my first job … in China.

In a few short weeks I will be jumping on a plane and moving from sleepy Perth to bustling Beijing to start my career in the media.

Since being offered this amazing opportunity at China Radio International, everyone’s been asking – “how did you get the job?”

Well, It started with the decision to move to China.

I’ve been travelling and learning languages for a few years now and believe the only way to master a language is to immerse yourself in it.

Once I’d made that decision, I just had to find a job – shouldn’t be too hard right?

Surprisingly it wasn’t.

I started researching English-speaking media in China and came across CRI.

I sent off my CV and a couple of demos and landed myself a phone interview.

At the end of the interview, I was offered the job.

Sounds easy.

But I had to make some hard decisions before taking the job.

First, the money is not great (enough to pay my rent and feed myself, hopefully).

But that was easy enough to get over as entry-level radio jobs in Australia don’t pay much better.

Second, the job is editing and presenting when I’d rather be writing my own stories – but hey, I’ve got my foot in the door.

The third, and biggest, conundrum was whether or not to work for State-owned media in China which is going to be very different from anything I’ve experienced in Australia.

But learning how the media works in another country will be an interesting adventure. So I took the job.

I’m waiting for some paperwork to be finalised and I’ll be on the plane!

I’ll be working on a program called Beijing Hour.

– For many Curtin graduates, a journalism degree is the passport to working in newsrooms around the world. Emily is a 23-year-old Perth woman who completed her studies this year and is now working in China. Emily will send updates on life in Beijing and you can follow her adventures here on Inkwire.