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Media Blog: Now’s a Great Time To Improve Your CV!
By Julian Dismore: TV Series Producer and Media Skills Trainer
You should always be looking to improve your CV! Don’t delay - work on it right now – and then focus on making it even better during the rest of 2022.
When it comes to CVs for jobs in the media, it’s easy to make critical mistakes which can result in yours ending up in the ‘round filing cabinet’ (ie the office bin) as soon as it’s printed out…
So here are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to media CVs
1. Give your CV a professional name. Call it ‘Your Name, Runner, Date’. I get many CVs called ‘My CV’ – which isn’t helpful when you have lots of roles to fill in a team, not just runners.
2. A media CV is not like a CV for a vacation job in retail or catering. It isn’t like most of the CV templates you get from the internet. Look at other media CVs online on ‘Linked In’ or ‘Talent Manager’ for guidance. Or e mail me at juliandismore@gmail.com and I will send you a template.
3. ‘What’s well begun is half done’ – so format your CV correctly at the top… your name, your job title underneath (probably Runner if you’re entry level) your mobile phone number with a break in the middle to make it easier to read, and your e mail address (personal not academic e mail!)
4. The rest of your CV needs to be in order of importance to the job you’re going for, which in this case is in the media. So think Relevance! Your educational qualifications need to be right at the bottom and subbed right down because they don’t really matter apart from your degree.
5. After your contact info at the top have a paragraph about yourself (skills, work ex etc) This is not a ‘Personal Statement’ and shouldn’t be labelled as such because it reeks of education. It needs to convince the reader you are going to be productive from day one.
6. After your intro para, the rest of your CV needs to contain paid work you have done (ideally in the media world but that can be hard when you are starting out) work ex you’ve done (ditto) skills you have, relevant experience you have etc. All this should be dated in reverse chronological order.
7. At the bottom have your referees and their contact details, assuming you’ve checked they are okay with that. It is very important you get media industry referees as soon as possible.
8. These days you need this phrase at the bottom of your CV ‘I consent to you keeping my CV on file and distributing for employment purposes’ due to data protection regulations.
9. And just one more tip, because space is limited… check, double check and triple check your spelling! Media is about detail. If your CV is riddled with errors, then off to the round filing cabinet it goes!
For more media career tips, come on my online zoom “How to Get into the Media and How to Get On Once You’re In!” course on Tuesday February 1st. 1pm – 5pm
This four hour zoom workshop includes: generating contacts in the media industry, what to say in your introductory e mail, CV finessing for media jobs, interview skills, TV runner skills, TV research skills, insider's tips and career strategy.
If you’d like more information, e mail me at juliandismore@gmail.com or go to https://www.directproductions.co.uk/training-courses where you will find testimonials.
If you can’t make the workshop next week let me know and I can send you a video of a previous workshop and the course handout.
Good luck!
Julian
TV Series Producer and Media Trainer
Direct Productions UK
Mob +44 (0) 77177 44321
For blogs, tips and work ex opportunities, follow us on social media!
Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Tumblr: @DirectProductionsUK
Twitter: @DirectProdUK
Media Blog: How to use the Xmas Vacation Effectively!
By Julian Dismore: TV Series Producer and Media Skills Trainer
Soon it will be the Christmas hols – a time for family, fun and festivities – and also an opportunity for you to take stock and prepare for what could be a brilliant career in the creative industries if you play your cards right. So what can you be doing during the Xmas Vac to boost your chances of getting into the media?
Gain relevant skills
While you’re at home use your time productively by acquiring media skills online. There are some excellent editing and shooting tutorials on the internet. My son Adam, who is a highly regarded sports videographer, learned his trade through helpful vimeo and youtube sites. When you begin your career you won’t be editing or shooting, you’re more likely to be doing admin, but it still looks great on your CV that you can do it!
Produce content in your downtime
If you have a video camera (or use your phone), shoot some content about a subject or hobby you’re passionate about, edit it and upload it to YouTube. You never know, you might make some money out of it! Either way, it will be something you can talk about in job interviews. How can you expect someone to employ you when the world gets back to normal if you’ve done nothing productive at all in your own time? Potential employers will be looking for creative, ideas types, so be imaginative!
Use this breathing space to acquire contacts
Over the Xmas Vac generate some contacts and start a database with potential employers’ details, e mail addresses and phone numbers. Look at the credits of programmes you like and note down the credits at the end (they are the most important people on the production in terms of hiring teams). Straightforward detective work should lead you to their e mail address. Then drop them a line and introduce yourself. The more seeds you sow, the more chance you have of making it. And don’t be scared to follow up with a phone call – they won’t bite!
For more tips check out the blogs on my website https://www.directproductions.co.uk/blogs and follow me on social media @directproductionsuk
Good luck!
Julian
Media Blog – It’s all about portfolio careers these days!
By Julian Dismore: TV Series Producer and Media Skills Trainer
This is my last blog for a while because I have so much on with the various elements of my portfolio career. As well as being a TV Producer, I’m a media skills trainer, a public speaking coach and believe it or not, a cruise ship entertainer!
I’ve been booked to give a series of talks about my TV career on a couple of cruises, one to the Canary Islands and another to Scandinavia. With those commitments and my training courses busier than ever, my diary is choc a bloc. That isn’t what I expected when the global apocalypse struck and ruled me out of going filming – which was a hammer blow to my TV career.
But as Charles Darwin states, any species needs to adapt to survive. As I had to put TV directing on hold for a while, I started doing media skills courses from home via zoom and really enjoyed it. I could also edit TV programmes on my Avid suite to keep the money coming in.
If you want to make it in the media industries you also might need to consider a portfolio career. As well as any TV work you get, you should consider different roles to keep you going between contracts, even in what seem like unrelated industries like retail or hospitality. Anything which helps you finesse your people skills is helpful to working in the media.
I love it when I see bar work or retail on a CV – it shows the candidate knows what it’s like in the real world, plus if they can deal with difficult customers they should be able to handle demanding producers like me!
Another media CV tip - does your CV pass the ‘Ten Second Challenge’? ie does the reader see enough in the first ten seconds to bother reading the rest? And does it clearly and succinctly tell your potential employer what they need to know?
1. A media CV needs your name at the top, your job title underneath (probably ‘Runner’ if you’re entry level) your mobile phone number and your e mail address (personal not academic e mail!)
2. After this essential contact info write a ‘selling’ paragraph about yourself (relevant skills, experience etc) This needs to convince the potential employer you’re going to be productive from day one – ie able to do an entry level job brilliantly, not direct or edit their programme! A driving license is more important than edit skills…
3. The rest of your CV needs to be in order of importance to the job you’re going for - so think relevance. Your educational qualifications need to be right at the bottom and only your degree matters, not your GCSE’s or A’levels which are ancient history!
For more media advice blogs go to https://www.directproductions.co.uk/blogs
For job hunting advice videos go to this playlist on my YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlXkfw89WpLz_JZMMJGwc_U76rnhWquVE
If you have found my blogs useful, please drop me a line at juliandismore@gmail.com. If you haven’t, let’s pretend they never happened!
Toodle pip! Hope to see you on the other side…
Julian
Media Blog: What your intro e mail should say…
Despite doing economics at Uni, when I graduated in 1987, I decided I wanted a career in the media rather than the world of finance. I get bored very easily…
Job hunting was very different back in the day. I had to write applications to TV companies on a typewriter and post them! It was a very slow process. Nowadays it’s much easier to contact potential leads in the media industry via e mail – but many more students are competing to get precious jobs and work ex positions, so what should your introductory e mail say?
Here are the headlines…
· Put yourself in your contact’s shoes! They are busy and quite possibly stressed trying to hit a deadline. So be politely succinct – focus on “what and why”!
· What do you want (ie work experience / a runner position)
· Why should they give it to you? They are not a teaching institution, they’re going to want you to be productive from day one, so what skills and experience do you have that will convince them you can help their team?
More tips…
· Avoid spelling errors and grammatic mistakes. The Media industry is all about detail, facts in scripts, postcodes, phone numbers etc have to be correct – if you can’t even spell your intro e mail correctly that’s a bad sign. It will probably get deleted.
· Avoid clichés – “I’m a keen and enthusiastic individual”
· Write professionally - avoid 16 year old fan mail terms like “I love your show”
· By all means mention your YouTube videos – it shows you’ve learnt how to direct and edit, which demonstrates your enthusiasm, but your videos probably won’t get looked at and those skills won’t be employed in entry level positions!
· Boost your chances of success by asking the person you’re e mailing to forward your message to any of their contacts who might have work ex openings.
· At the end of your e mail say “Please can I come and see you for advice?” If you meet them face to face and charm them, a work ex opening might suddenly crop up!
· You are not the centre of their world! They are so busy they might not even open your e mail. Follow up with a phone call – don’t be shy!
· Send out hundreds of e mails – the more seeds you sow the more chance you have of flourishing!
· But if you do have time to personalise some of them to specific individuals and companies that will boost your chances even further.
Good luck!
Julian
Julian Dismore
TV Producer and Media Trainer
MEDIA BLOG: ‘Be sociable if you want to advance your career!’
By Julian Dismore: TV Series Producer and Media Skills Trainer
Today is my birthday – and in normal circumstances it would be an opportunity to go for a team lunch with colleagues and then celebratory (or at my age commiseratory) drinks after work. I’d always feel a bit disappointed if a runner or researcher said they couldn’t make either get together – not disappointed for me, disappointed for them!
It’s always a good idea (covid permitting) to go for drinks after work, attend wrap parties, meet colleagues for lunch etc – be sociable! If you make an effort to go out and chat to people, you find out where the job openings are and hear about potential career advancement opportunities. “That researcher is leaving – you should ask the production manager if you could fill her role for a few weeks” etc. You are much more likely to hear helpful work gossip in a more relaxed environment.
Socialising also enables you to build a friendly relationship with your boss outside the stresses and strains of work. If you get on well outside the office – and do a good job for them within the world of work - that boss might become a mentor. Mentors are gold dust when it comes to boosting your career prospects.
Over the last three decades I’ve helped many talented and hard working youngsters get to the next level. It helps if there is a natural chemistry of course, but the main thing is that if someone works hard for me, keeps cheerful on location and very importantly doesn’t moan when the going gets tough, as is often the case in TV, then I will bust a gut to help them do well. And I’m more likely to spot their potential if they aren’t antisocial!
For more media advice blogs go to https://www.directproductions.co.uk/blogs
Good luck!
Julian
Julian Dismore
TV Series Producer and Media Trainer
Socials: @directproductionsuk
Media Blog – The Unpredictable World of TV!
By Julian Dismore: TV Series Producer and Media Skills Trainer
There’s been some serious political controversy over the weekend with a Labour politician calling senior Tories “Scum”. I’m no fan of right wingers, but I probably wouldn’t use such language these days – I guess I’ve mellowed in my old age. However as a young man I was a bit of a political firebrand and may well have used terms which were quite direct to describe people whose opinions I didn’t agree with.
In fact I originally went into TV back in 1988 with the intention of making hard hitting documentaries and bringing down controversial Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. However, it turned out my first job was working on a quiz show!
But it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I got into TV after ages trying, made some great contacts (and life long friends) I boosted my CV, learned valuable skills and was on the road to a career in the media industry.
And that’s advice you should take on board. Don’t be too choosy. You may be desperate to work on wildlife programmes, but if you get a chance to work on a talk show for example, grasp it with both hands. Once you are inside the industry you have more chance of working your way towards the genre you aspire to.
In the end Mrs Thatcher brought herself down with no help from me – and the closest I got to Number 10 was making a documentary about her downfall 25 years later – but it’s still been a rewarding and fascinating career – and who knows, maybe I will help bring down Boris!
If you want to work in the media industries and need advice on how to get in and how to get on once you have your foot on the ladder, you should check out the advice videos on my YouTube Channel…
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlXkfw89WpLz_JZMMJGwc_U76rnhWquVE
Good luck!
Julian
TV Series Producer and Media Trainer
Media Blog: Thanks Mum!
By Julian Dismore: TV Series Producer and Media Skills Trainer
Last Friday I travelled to my home town of Bridlington in Yorkshire for a tribute event to my mum Brenda who was Chairman of Tourism and Mayor there in the 1970’s. Sadly mum passed away last year, but partly thanks to her contribution to a golden era of entertainment, Bridlington’s theatres are still thriving. She helped put Bridlington on the showbiz map by persuading lots of famous stars to appear there for summer seasons when it wasn’t a fashionable holiday hot spot.
A number of people at the event on Friday asked me if I went into TV because of my mum. As a youngster I remember her taking me behind the scenes and meeting many all time greats – and I’m sure it did give me a taste for the world on entertainment, even though I ended up in documentaries rather than shiny floor studio shows.
During my media career I’ve been lucky enough to have had some amazing life experiences; falling off a volcano, being bitten by a King Cobra, playing Captain Hook on screen, being abducted in the South African jungle by an ex British spy and almost being attacked by crocodiles, hippos and a very strange man on the Australian Gold Coast. I’ve also met lots more famous people!
If you want a steady 9 to 5 job with holiday pay, job security and proper lunch breaks then I don’t think TV is for you. If however you want a job where no two days are the same and you can have amazing experiences, then maybe it is.
It’s not always exciting and you can end up on a formulaic programme which doesn’t involve flying around the world having adventures – but whatever the show it’s normally great fun and you get a real buzz working on something hundreds of thousands of people will watch.
But because a media career is so attractive, demand for jobs far exceeds supply. To get into the industry you need a cracking CV, excellent job interview technique and resilient perseverance.
For media job hunting advice, check out the videos on Direct Productions TV…
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlXkfw89WpLz_JZMMJGwc_U76rnhWquVE
For more media advice blogs go to https://www.directproductions.co.uk/blogs
Good luck!
Julian