Join Us

Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio

Join Us

Networking to Your Next Position

My job has taken me to many different places lately, where I’ve met many types of people and worked with many various organizations and labor groups.  Often, I encounter people who would like to break out of their current role to work for the businesses or tours they’ve met along the way. Frequently there are questions of how to take the next steps to reach their goals.  Here’s some advice.

Be eager and helpful

This will make a huge impact. You will leave a lasting impression; I guarantee it. This is your first step into new opportunities. Leave a positive impact by jumping in on any task. Help with the ‘bad’ jobs like feeder, decking, and barricade. Keep volunteering for tasks all day and when completed, ask what’s next; even better if 2 or 3 tasks can be passed to you at one time and you complete them all well the first time.

Listen and Respond

Listen to the directions given and respond, letting them know you understand what you are being asked. This is super simple to do.  Statements such as “I got it, no problem, or anything else I should do?” provide responses that let the leader know you are listening and jumping on the tasks at hand. Of course, make sure, you are completing these tasks to the best of your ability and if you are not sure exactly what’s being requested, ask questions. Then follow through letting the leader know that the project is done.

Follow-through

Contact them, submit your resume, if possible, stop by the office to talk outside of a job site, seek them out separately from an event.  We are going to be respectful of those we partner with. Sometimes you have to actively engage, question, and work your way toward the crews you want to be a part of. You will need to step out and ask for a meeting. Find an appropriate time to ask some initial questions onsite and follow up later.  Get the person’s name, role, and ask a bit about their company and if time allows to tactfully ask about their hiring process. Then when you’re not in the middle of a show, ask for a meeting or employment opportunity. You’ve already made your impression. They’ve already experienced your work ethic, and you’ve proved you follow through. This has a considerable impact on the decision-making process and could give you better chances.

If they don’t hire you, ask for constructive feedback. Be prepared to hear what you don’t want to hear but take that feedback to improve and move forward. Also, be prepared for the company to have concerns about poaching you from their partner and burning a relational bridge with a group they rely on. This is a hard thing for companies to navigate.  In the end, it is your choice who you work for, but companies and groups may need to tread lightly sometimes. Help them by tactfully making your intentions and plans know to all parties involved to not burn any relational bridges yourself.

 

Moving to London to Pursue Media

On the 1st of July, I moved from Newcastle to London to pursue the media dream. I had been applying for multiple different jobs in many locations, including Barcelona, Edinburgh, Bristol, and Brighton. I had no real desire or desperate need to move to London as I had never lived there before. It can often seem at UK universities that the obvious thing to do straight after graduation is to move to London to start a grad job on Sep 1st. I had only ever traveled through busy airports and train stations in London to transfer elsewhere or had been there and back in a day for interviews and assessment centres. I visited London for the first time at age 18, which can be seen to be rare for someone UK based.

It all happened relatively quickly; I’ll give a short break-down of my application process below:

I am working in an exciting industry in a company I have been aware of for around eight years. It is not directly associated with audio, but there will be elements for me to learn more about podcasting and music production hopefully. I am five weeks in, and I love it. I learn something new each day and have a great team around me that have such a vast range of knowledge and skills regarding TV, advertising, social media, film, music, theatre, podcasts, radio, law – and so much more!

The physical move down to London, however, was quite stressful. I thought finding somewhere to live for my year abroad in Bordeaux, France was difficult, but this may have been worse, or more disheartening at least. I used SpareRoom.co.uk to start looking for properties a few weeks before I was planning to move down. I was met with many responses stating that I was too early to be getting in touch. I contacted 64 people on the website, got around 30 replies, and visited 20 properties. The way I did it was staying in an Airbnb for four days in London to find a place. I went to seven viewings on my first day and was at the point of moving back home at the end of the day. I had never experienced so many out of date or misleading advertisements. I realised how lucky I was to have had a relatively easy university experience in terms of first-year halls and second and fourth year housing. This was next level.

I spent every evening contacting different people, scouring search results for something in my budget, with as short a commute to work as possible. I also wanted to live with other people and preferably those that spoke French and/or Spanish to keep up my language skills (I’m aware I was probably asking for too much!). I then resorted to Facebook pages to enquire about renting rooms. I kept notes about every property in my red notebook so that I could analyse and make decisions at the end of the day. I rated each place out of 10.

 

 

In the end, I got lucky. I found a nice big room in a 3-floor house with two other really nice girls. We have a garden and I have a direct tube route to work. It’s all going so well so far! I would recommend anyone moving to London, or any other city that is known for it’s “housing crisis” to not take the first thing you see. I know I had the privilege of being able to stay in an Airbnb for a few days, but I can’t imagine if I had felt pressured to take the first property I saw. I understand now why there is such an issue in large urban cities with landlords that take advantage of tenants and tenants feeling unable to do anything about it.

I am settled into my new house and job now, enjoying London life each day and trying not to get too busy or become too overwhelmed by it all. It feels like such a great time for me to have moved to London. I could never have done it when I was 18, or even last year straight out of uni.

 

 

I wish everyone else that is making big moves the best of luck!

X