Careers Research

I've come across this website called The Big Music Project which aims to help young people between the ages of 14-24 get in to the music industry. Although I had originally thought that I would like to go in to a career in film or television, I do have a keen interest in music and therefore wouldn't mind working in that industry. I made a music video for my A Level coursework and had a lot of fun doing so. The website had an article about becoming a music video editor (something I wasn't sure was a definitive job role until now).

http://www.thebigmusicproject.co.uk/how-to-become-a-music-video-editor/

• The person being interviewed, Darren Baldwin, stated that he started his career as a runner and worked his way up from there
• Baldwin has a degree in Film and Broadcast. However he was told that he got the job because of his part-time job as a waiter, gaining the skill of being able to deal with clients. This shows that all experiences can be useful in getting a job (I was worried that my CV was a bit too unrelevant as my only job thus far has been working in retail). However media degrees are also useful, especially the practical ones, as they give an understanding to the technology used in the career.
• He advises to get work experience as a runner in a post house. Also he suggests to "edit as much as you can" which is something I think I really need to work on. At the moment I don't have anything in my portfolio that wasn't produced for academic purposes.

The website also has some more general advice on getting a career in the media industry, for example being a social media rep. A lot of the advice given is transferable to a range of different careers.

http://www.thebigmusicproject.co.uk/work-social-media/

• A lot of people have said that you don't need a media degree to do a media career or that media degrees are worthless, so this article was reassuring to know that there are people out there who have actually used their degrees. The person interviewed in the article had a degree in Music Journalism.
• The interviewee also credits her work experience module to getting her a foot in the door to her career. She did a 2 week placement at Sugarscape which lead to a paid internship. This is again reassuring to know that the thing we're doing as part of our module are not a waste of time, and this module should hopefully be beneficial at giving me an advantage against my numerous competitors. "Obviously most people will tell you that work experience is an important part of the job hunt, but besides bulking up your CV, by doing different kinds of placements you actually realise what type of role you’d be best for."
• This article also stresses the importance of networking. When enduring work experience it's vital that I should remain in contact with the clients I meet, as this might help in securing a job.