Yesterday I purchased the ‘Hurriyet’ (‘Freedom’), one of Turkey’s leading newspapers. I bought the paper to:
a) practice and improve my Turkish
b) keep up to date with what’s happening in Turkey; and,
c) have a preliminary look at the job ads in case I need to find another job in the future
The top story concerned a whirlwind in Ankara province tossing cars in the air and killing 3 people. If my understanding of the headline is correct, this was Turkey’s first fatality-causing whirlwind.
Other stories concerned yesterday’s OSS exam and the upcoming NATO summit in Istanbul. One of the NATO stories profiled two people who will be protesting at the event. They were holding “BUSH GELME” (‘Bush don’t come’) signs. For those fluent in Turkish, a quick Google search of this phrase brings up almost 500 results.
Although tabloid in content, the Hurriyet is of better quality than most other Turkish newspapers. It is broadsheet in size and probably would be regarded as broadsheet quality in this country of low media standards. Perhaps the only non-tabloid content newspaper is the “Cumhuriyet” (‘Republic’).
The Turkish job ads are different to the Australian ads in many ways:
*Age and gender preferences are often explicitly requested. ‘Must be between 28 and 35’. Most ads requesting ages, requested young people. I guess they could then pay a lower salary.
*Many requested for male applicants to have completed their military service obligation. For males with an outstanding military obligation, it is almost impossible to be even considered for a professional position. Employers do not want someone who may be called up and taken away at any moment by the military.
*‘Be able to move freely’ is a requirement for some ads. In some conservative Turkish families, certain female members (for example: those divorced) are restricted in their movements by their families. These restrictions may encompass living in another town or staying overnight somewhere else.
*More jobs require fluency in another language (generally English) besides Turkish. Several of these ads were written in Turkish and 1 was in German.
*Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan were listed as job vacancy destinations. The last two were in the classified section of the ‘Cukurova’ regional supplement. This supplement covers the Mersin, Adana, Gaziantep, Antakya and Sanliurfa areas and contains region-specific news.
*No salary ranges were mentioned.
*There were no government job ads.
If I ever look for another job in Turkey, my Turkish CV will be very different to my Australian resume. Besides the work experience and references tailored to each country or job position, the following will change: