Working in India for 3 months, Media? Where...

Hi,

I have a problem thats been driving me nuts for the last few months. I've managed to wangle 3 months off my 9-5 job and want to use it to go to India to work with the possibility to relocate out there.

I made this decision a couple of months back but have been getting trouble thinking about where in India I want to go and how I can get hold of contacts out there.

I've looked at schemes from places like I to I and quite frankly am not too enthusiastic the stuff I've heard.

I would ideally like to experience some media work as this is the field I graduated in, does anyone know where I could apply?

I really want the 3 months to turn into forever and dont just want to come back with memories!

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp...e=journo&sid=1

It will have to be illegal work since you don't have a working visa. Hit all the websites such as naukri, etc. beforehand. The big cities are your best bet. Do you speak any Indic languages or have a favorite region.?

Yes; to add, one can't go there on a tourist visa and then find (legal) employment. An employment visa has to be arranged from home, on the basis of having a work contract (one could find work and then go home to arrange the visa of course). Any type of Indian visa is not normally convertible to any other type of visa.

btw Mazha, Outlook is one of many ideas, but that's just a sign-up page to their site, not a job application page or anything. I wonder if they'd be clamoring for foreign journalists or other media workers, or if so, if they wouldn't be inundated with applications by more experienced folks already. It's worth a try though, sure, why not. You could try all of these for that matter: http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/india.htm . The chances of success I can't comment on.

Note that technically you can only fulfil a job position there that can reasonably be proven to be impossible to fulfil by a local employee. This is a technical stipulation that exists in most countries and is obviously often by-passed and with not all that much difficulty, but it's worth noting all the same.

ps On rereading, I do wonder how attractive it would be for any employer to take on someone for three months and then see what transpires though. Are you eligible for any sort of follow-up internship or master's studies (post-grad thingumajig or whatever it may be called where you live, assistant something whatever) or something following your studies? This might prove a lot more feasible.

Hi Slimkid,
I'm interested in your predicament because mine is similar. I am also a journalism graduate and I'd love to go and work in India ( I have previously studied the country and language as well), but I'm not sure if I should simply head over there and try my luck despite the visa regulations or not. I have friends over there, not in the media though, who seem to think it would be better to try and find a job once in India despite the working visa issue, I suppose potentially you could always fly to Nepal or somewhere once you had a job. Finding someone to sponsor you is the problem.
Anyway I'd be really interested in how you go and if you want I'll let you know of any new information which comes my way.

Cheers,
Annabel

To the best of my knowledge (I'll be happy to hear I'm wrong), an employment visa must be applied for from your home country. You can't just hop over the border for it, or again, not to my knowledge (and not according to those official sites I check from time to time).

Again, if available to you, why not look for an internship or so? Student exchange, blah, whatever? Or, an actual work contract, for that matter? Maybe a foreign position for a local paper (India and the wider region I'm very sure is newsworthy to Australia, no?)

Would an employer where you live be looking to take on someone for a few months, with all the hassle that entails and no predictable results to speak of, let alone a foreigner, with all the extra hassle that entails?

Your friends may well tell you that's what to do, but they're unlikely to have ever applied for an employment visa in their own country. That is to say: Nationals anywhere may not know all that much about immigration rules to their own country, it doesn't affect them, after all. Like I said before, one could conceivably look for a job there, then return home to sort out the details before finally taking on that job, of course.

Moreover, if walking into an office and become a star reporter was ever feasible, I don't think it is anymore today, and it won't be in India either. These are not the 1950s. You'll more likely be expected to go through the regular channels of sending a decent application letter and having some provable experience and so perhaps start from the bottom up and etc. etc.

Well that is good to know about having to apply for a work visa from your home country, if that is true. So thanks for that information. But my friends are actually foreign nationals working in India, so yes they have had to go through the same process themselves. None of my Indian friends have a clue about visas so forth. The advantage of being in India is that people can meet you see your skills, you can prove yourself.
I'm not sure why you feel the need to be so patronizing, when all you read was a four line post. Yes I have considered and am considering internships, which I have done in the past and yes anyone who is at all involved in the media is aware that times have changed since the 1950's and you are not going to work in to a job being a star reporter. who said anything about that except you?
This is about looking for entrance positions that allow someone who is both a journalist and an admirer of india to combine two passions and hopefully move forward along the way.

Yes, I thought you might consider me patronizing.

Let's put it this way: You seem to be looking for a job there, I am not. Good luck with it. In the meantime, you seemed to have some of your very basic assumptions wrong. And which I'd already touched on before (where to get your employment visa), or you could easily find by reading around this site some.

(And I can't help but wonder still if being an admirer of my own country would make me any more eligible for employment as a journalist or anything much else here. People just seem to have some funny or romantic expectations about this when going to the "third world" or something, and that's probably what I was reacting to. You're right about your four lines, but similar questions naturally pop up from time to time. One gets a "nose" for their level of preparedness if you will, and undoubtedly sometimes mistakenly so. If you feel slightly obstructed or misunderstood just here, imagine what it will be like in the professional field.

The Indian press has quite the international reputation btw, no matter what complaints it may naturally attract, don't imagine this would be an easy field to work your way into. If you're good at what you do, then, yes, why not try, of course. A cranky and highly critical editor you have to meet on a daily basis will likely be a lot harder to deal with than some anonymous entity such as me.)

I suppose people can tell us their hopes and ambitions without detailing all the problems of which they are aware --- but I too wonder how anyone can think that an industry which is very hard to break into in one's own country, due to its image and popularity, is going to be any easier in another country, especially a country in which they may understand little of the culture and less of the languages (most of the world has to cope with only one), and a country that has little or no welfare, leaving everyone desperate for a job.

Having said all that, difficult does not mean impossible, and these guys may find a way.

For three months, though --- whilst some sort of internship might be a possibility, the income is going to negligible, so why not just take a tour, or even stay in one area to get depth of experience, without spending what is likely to be far more than three months trying to sort out a work thing?

Here is a person to talk to:

http://schneeberger.rediffiland.com/...neeberger.html

Not sure how he got the job, but Rediff having a US publication may have helped. Look for publications with foreign tie-ups, such as Business Standard, Mint etc. Not easy to get into, but if your grammar is good, you may have a chance. Most Indian publications are high on reporting and low on desk work.

im off to live in mumbai in a few weeks.
going to hopefully work for a production company (film). have had a lot of stress about this, and have been offered contracts outside of mumbai, but i have turned them down to be in mumbai.

so lots of people seem interested to give me work, but only want to offer me a contract once i am in mumbai. i can understand that its too much of a risk for them hiring a foreigner who could easily not like the country or style of work... so... ive bought a tourist visa, am going to go out there, hopefully get work, come back to england and use the documents to get an employment visa.

employment visa in england: £300!!! (about 24,000 rupees!) i dont mind too much paying this as i get free flights anyway.

question: if when i come back to england with the required contract and documents for employment visa, am i likely to get the visa? is it often that they say no? i.e. do you have to be mainly in a certain industry?

Hi,

Sorry to reply so late i didnt expect people to start replying so quickly thanks!

Have to read the replies in detail but just to add I am of indian origin and can speak a couple of languages, im also in the process of taking out a PIO card that allows people such as myself to earn money in india...

hi all,

thanks for the links ill check into those.

^^the production company, how did you find them?

Annabel, why not just get your teeth into your chosen profession and write once you are there.. you'd be mad to go there without at least enough money to subsist for 3 months...

You will see stories everywhere - write them, polish them and submit them in the good old fashioned way.,, if they come back, send them somewhere else..... You have more likelihood of selling good freelance stuff in today's market than you have of getting a job (think about what's just happened at Fairfax).. remember you can submit to mags and papers and online mags all around the English speaking world...Anything from travel to human interest - who knows, you might find something big! Make contact with everyone you can before you go - they might treat you as just another wannabe, but you can prove them wrong when you send in something fantastic and they will know your name at least.. go armed with a list of editors, and journos and places you'd like to publish..

Find a freelance writer to talk to first to explain how selling the story works, so you don't end up selling a story twice and getting into trouble.

Also try and make contact with the overseas bureau guys once you are there - they might brush you off, but they might also find time to have a drink with you if they are having a quiet day... get the papers, ABC, TV, Radio and find out who files the stories from India and from where -(for example I notice that the Herald stories from India are by Matt Wade in Delhi) try and get contact details - which shouldn't be hard, and just be a bit of a pain once you are there... Use anyone who knows anyone, be pushy, be friendly, be keen...

If you really want to be a journo you will need to develop a very thick skin, a knack for making and using contacts and friends, and the ability to seize on a story and write it then and there! What better time to start practising..

Yeah, everything kristinm said. My niece is a features journalist for the Indian Express and talk about thick skin, foot in door and most amazing of all, I've listened to the piteous calls she takes from people featured in prior stories who want to go and on about their story, its continuation, add additional color, whereas for her, that was yesterday's, or last week's 200 word column - she just politely but firmly brushes them off - she's focused on today's 200 words.

Talk about callous - and nope she didn't get it from me !

And o yeah, its all pretty competitive in India you know; 1.2 Billion people, 300 million highly educated people, probably 1 job for 1000 graduates, umpteen graduates with first class degrees - your UK degree ( you have one right ?), and UK, or "foreen" background is an advantage but also has some disadvantages...

But good luck.. if you've got it in you, India will bring it out !

-skk