Things in Australia are up and down at the moment.
On the good side the marketing and design industry seems to be improving job wise, and there are more and more jobs being advertised. As well as my 9-5 job I have picked up some freelance work which is all helping and giving me a good range of experience.
On the down side, you may be aware that Borders and Angus & Robertson have gone into liquidation (as well as the US) which is a blow for the industry here. In saying that though, the one thing I noticed when I first arrived into Australia was the cost of books.
I can actually order books from England and get them a lot cheaper (like $10-$15+) even with postage than paying the Australian book shop price – so it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise to me that Aussies don’t want to pay the high street book shop prices anymore.
Bookdepository.co.uk has a very strong presence here and they don’t charge for postage to Australia so I’ve been telling anyone and everyone to use them. Amazon.co.uk recently pushed themselves onto the scene too offering free postage on purchases over $50 – so interesting times for the book market, but I am hoping definitely for the better so I can buy my books at a fair and reasonable price.
Speaking of books, I just finished a great book that as a marketer you might be interested in, by Paul Arden called It’s not how good you are but how good you want to be. Sounds like a self help book but it’s a small book full of interesting work soundbites from a marketing and advertising point of view.
Anyway bye for now.
Zoe
January 13, 2011
by zoemichelle
in Careers
Hello from down under
I hope you all had a festive Christmas and New Year, I just got back from skiing in Japan which was amazing.
I’d like to say that things have been good here in Australia since I last wrote but as I write Queensland is being ravaged by severe floods. According to the latest news reports ten people have been killed and at least 80 are still missing. These floods are the worst since devastating floods that swept through Queensland in 1974.
The rain and floods started a week or so ago devastating Northern Queensland city – Rockhampton and more recently they moved onto Toowoomba and its surrounding regions, which ironically has suffered for many years with droughts.
Yesterday Queensland Premier Anna Bligh made many emotional speeches talking about the devastation and the toughness and spirit of Queenslanders, and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard confirmed she would give whatever resources necessary to Anna Bligh in order to help our state.
Brisbane is next on the list. Thankfully the area in Brisbane that I live does not seem to be on the flood list, we have just had heavy rain. But for those that are, their areas have been evacuated and for those that have nowhere to go, centres have been set up in order to keep them safe. The Brisbane CBD has closed as it is heavily flooded and the banks of the river is due to peak today which could have devastating consequences.
24/7
It’s amazing in terms of the way that we now use the internet and social media that now literally we can get a blow by blow account of what is going on in real time. People are tweeting under hash tags #bnefloods and photos are constantly being uploaded of new flood areas and warnings.
Facebook groups have been set up and the Council websites are the central point for information about the floods and people trying to find out about missing people.
The next two days are critical for Brisbane and by Friday the worst of the flooding will be over.
I hope that next time I write I will have better news for you. For the Aussies out there or anyone that wants to help you can do so by going to http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html
Bye for now
Zoe
