A couple of you have been asking me about media work experience recently. Here is a blog post I created last year that I hope will inspire you.
Getting work in the media is hard…really hard. However, with creative thinking and a bit of nerve you can get a shoe in the door somewhere. You can’t avoid the fact that in the media more than maybe any other sector, it’s who you know that gets you access. So first stop is that family friend, brother, sister, aunt or uncle.. get them to put in a word for you as early as possible.
Getting work in the media is hard…really hard. However, with creative thinking and a bit of nerve you can get a shoe in the door somewhere. You can’t avoid the fact that in the media more than maybe any other sector, it’s who you know that gets you access. So first stop is that family friend, brother, sister, aunt or uncle.. get them to put in a word for you as early as possible.
I’m a teacher now but in another life I worked in the media and got there by seeking out as much work experience as possible, I was lucky enough to end up with a job at Radio 1 but it wasn’t easy to come by and involved a lot of working for free, a bit of being shouted at and many, many early morning starts (like 3am) The first bit of real work experience I got was during my A levels working for a publishing company in London that wrote magazines about insurance… they were the most boring magazines I have read, but it was invaluable; I knew from then on I could work in the media and I had my first by-line by the end of the fortnight ( first sentence “A night of a thousand insurance stars…” seriously!) .
One thing you need to be brave about is picking up the phone. You need to write down what you’re going to say before you call, be confident and keep trying until you get a lead.
I you want to get some work experience you will need to communicate via phone rather than email. Emails can be ignored, phone calls feel more formal. You could be really brave and tweet them in public with a good reason that they should hire you. Get creative but for the purposes of Year 12 work experience; get on the phone.
One thing I would say is that the whole industry thrives on developing, creating and keeping talented people – if you do well in your work experience, you may well get a job offer one day.
http://4talent.channel4.com/work-experience - channel 4 offer a lot of opportunities for young people including workshops and work experience. Check out the site and have a proper nose round
http://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/work-experience BBC offers work experience to under 18s – Radio1 and 1xtra both offer placements for 16-18 year olds - get ready for some fierce competition for those stations. However, look out for local work experience and experience in operations in tv, radio and factual in the BBC, these are really valuable but less flooded with applicants.
Channel5 doesn’t list work experience but here’s their careers page…looks like they need help so call them http://about.channel5.com/careers/vacancies
What about QVC, the Jewellery channel and all those off late night offerings? Get on the phone and see what they’ve got.
http://www.vertigofilms.com/contact.php - offer work experience as well.. nose around the website and see what you can find.
I trawled some online directories of small film production companies and ad agencies. Just google something like ‘list of ad agencies’ – there’s no special secret. Scroll past the jump and look for the words contact/vacancies/work/careers or any old phone number and call.
Like these guys http://www.burningreel.co.uk/
Look out for local companies – these guys run a local prod-co that does corporate films…you could do that.. call them! http://www.backlightproductions.co.uk/ Kent ad company.. call them! http://www.thinkzest.com/ this lot look cool.. events organisation and all that http://www.connectevents.co.uk/ call the Courier/Sevenoaks Chronicle what about http://www.twforum.co.uk/ ..that would be cool too!
Think about working for any company but asking to be in their social media department OR see if Buzzfeed or Vice or any of your other favourites websites offer work experience, what about http://www.stylist.co.uk/home/faq
Also what about BFI, IMAX, London Film Festival, Secret Cinema, National Theatre and other centres and organisations who run events, maybe they can help you out?
One more thing…if you want to make it in the industry then a week of work experience won’t be enough; eat, sleep, breathe media and the arts, say YES to opportunities, and go to lectures, events, workshops and enter competitions, start your own record label, club night or blog, use Social Media. The people who are sitting next to you at interview in 3 years’ time will have…
Ms P
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