LO4 workbook

BTEC ExtendedDiplomainCreativeMediaProduction
Unit 7: Understanding the Creative
Media Sector
Learning outcome 4:
Know about employment opportunities
and job roles in the media sector
Name: Sophie Baker

Employment opportunities and job roles in the media sector
The purpose of this workbook is to get you to understand different job roles, different
ways of working and opportunities for professional development. You will have to
explain different terms, give opinions and source relevant additional information in
order to help you comprehensively explain employment opportunities and job roles in
the media sector with reference to elucidated examples.
This first section considers different ways of working. You should use information from
the lecture, your own experiences and further research to help you answer each
question. Wherever possible, you should use specific and detailed examples. This will
help you achieve a higher grade and also give you a deeper understanding of the
subject.
Describe the following different types of employment and some of their advantages and
disadvantages:
Full time is described often as 40hs per week (in the UK). This works out to about 8hs a
day for 5 days a week. Other jobs vary e.g. 6hs for 6 days (36hs overall). The
advantages of full time work are that it’s permanent work and that there is usually a
guarantied pay monthly. The disadvantages to full time work are that if you are a carer
(child or other) your commitments will be hindered due to the long hours you work. As
well as taking up a lot of your own free time and time to get other employment. And
because you are a full time worker you will be tied to the company which, as well as the
hours, makes it difficult to get another job. The company may also expect overtime from
you and won’t pay you for said overtime (this isn’t for all companies but some may do
this because you do full time employment).
Part time employment is where you, as an employer, work from 1 hour per week and up.
The days vary depending on when the employer is available to work, such as students
who will most likely only be able to work on the weekends. The advantages of working
as a part time worker is that you get to earn money without having to work all week in
said job which allows you more free time (in terms of hours) in comparison to full time
workers. However the disadvantages are that during holiday times the place of your
employment can have you work during that time with short notice leaving you with less
time. Another disadvantage is that you will earn less money in comparison to someone
working full time.
Freelance is when you are working with a basis for a range of clients. An advantage to
freelance work is that you will get paid well for your hours of work. However the
disadvantage to freelance work is that you may get fussy clients and if you’re not always
guarantied work from said clients which makes your work more complicated and less of
a system to follow from when you work there.
Voluntary work is where you work effectively for free to gain experience (or charity work
for moral and/ or ethical work and it makes you happy). An advantage to this type of
work is that you can gain experience to put on your CV, it can be used for future
experiences and it can potentially get you a foot in the door for the company you’ve
dedicated time to when volunteering. However the disadvantage to this type of work is
that it is unpaid work.

Describe shift work. What does it entail and what types of media job might require it?
Shift work is something that happens in many industries and involves a place of work
staffed/ run by employers working up to 24hs a day. Shifts tend to be broken up in 8 to
12hr blocks of work with 2 to 3 shifts per day. Employers for morning shifts wake up a 5,
6, 7 am and finish mid afternoon. Afternoon, evening and night shifts. That means that
there is always an employer there to work, there is always someone working at the
company and for the business, especially if the work is on going. This is why shift work
was so popular with the print industry due to print jobs requiring so many hours to
complete.
A permanent contract is one where: it involves working for/ paid from a single company.
So it’s not a guaranty for life with this work but a continues workflow from you. Until you
decide to move on or take up another position.
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of such a contract?
Advantages: Job security, if you go to a bank and you want a loan then they will often
check to see your last three months of pay to see whether or not you are able to pay
back the loan and if your have a permanent contract for work the bank is more likely to
trust you will pay them back.
Disadvantages: You’re stuck with them; you have little free time, a long time of notice
before leaving.
A temporary contract is one where:
Lacks the job security of a permanent contract but gives the flexibility that a permanent
contract doesn’t (for holidays and other work, if you were permanent you would need to
prove that you were working away from your permanent or go through your manager to
get time off).
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of such a contract?
Advantages: For people who freelance or want to work on projects they have the time to
do that, you are going to be paid regardless.
Disadvantages: You can’t source a form of income, you can’t guaranty it (unlike
permanent contracts where the bank are more likely to give loans some banks won’t do
that for people on temporary contracts because of the lack of ‘reliability’),
What is multiskilling and which skills could you combine together?
A very good thing for employers, this is why colleges do multiple rotations courses so
you have multiple skills and expectance/ knowledge. So this is an employer trained with
a range of skills/ knowledge for working on several projects. E.g. journalists who can
also take photographs to cut down on budget costs.
Advantages: Increases productivity and helps the company find people to work on things
other can’t do and saves the company money.
Disadvantages: Can put pressure on jobs because are trying to cut back on the amount
of employers they have because of costs and they’ll want people with multi skills
(Journalism/ photography, web design/ web coding, photography/ videography,
marketing/ graphic design, etc.)

What is casual work? Who does it benefit the most? What are some of the arguments
against casual work?
You will have zero hour contract, you fill in hours that others can’t do, you can take out
time, someone who fills out time, you’re not contracted to do a certain amount of hours a
week, the company will train you but the company will ring you and ask you to come in
for a few hours.
Advantages: Good for someone to earn extra money
Disadvantages: Unreliable, lack of notice before hand, they might not give you that many
hours (sometimes just to fill in shifts here and there)
Explain hourly paid work. Find a job, which pays by the hour to help you with your
explanation.
Instead of having a yearly salary an employer can get an hourly rate instead. This is
usually with casual work/ short time employment contracts. A job that pays hourly is the
job of a care assistant. The job requirement for this kind of job is someone who will work
to take care of people that are unwell in their homes. The going rate for a care assistant
is about £15 per hour.
What is Piecework? What do employers need to be careful about when employing
someone this way?
Piecework is where an individual is paid purely for a single piece of work e.g. someone
who makes t-shirts, so they are paid per t-shirt they make. If you are particularly quick
and can make multiple quickly you can make fast work. However, if employers are slow,
inefficient and are poor with the quality they make with it can effect pay overall. In the
media piecework can be in the form of a free-lance editor (per episode) or a journalist
(per article).
This section is concerned with finding work. You will have an idea of the sort of job you
might like to do in the future. Keeping a specific job role or industry in mind when
completing these questions will help you provide more detailed and focussed answers.
Starting to think about a specific area of employment at this stage will help you in later
sections of the workbook.
Why would you use careers guidance? Provide the names of at least 2 organisations,
which can help people to plan their careers.
Careers guidance can be useful about information about the job sector you are
interested in working in. What qualifications, skills, are needed to get into that sector,
etc.? E.g. senior editor – you will look for what skills, qualification and route to take to get
there. What responsibilities are there with the job, day to day expectations pay, hourly or
Daily or monthly, and the opportunities to take after that job, related jobs when wanting
to change your current job/ sector. – Websites like ‘National Careers Service’, the Job
Centre at college, creativeskillsset.org, are used for careers guidance.

What is a trade fair?
A trade fair is where multiple businesses within the same industry/ background come
together and showcase what they have and provide. Such as their latest products,
services, etc. Trade fairs work in the same ways conventions, such as Comic-Con, work.
They’re good because you can find out businesses that you want to work for, networking
opportunities, sell yourself with your own business card. If you are a business it gives
you an opportunity to see what other business are doing which are similar to yours to
know where you stand.
Which trade fairs could you attend to help you with your career? How could they help
you? Be specific here to help you comprehensively explain.
You can attended trade fairs such as the ‘Publishing and Media Expo’ in London. That
would allow a small business to distribute their business card and showcase their work
to the public. You contact the event organizers in advance and book a space (such as
booking out a small table out) to have the opportunities to showcase you business cards
and work.
What could some advantages and disadvantages be to using the national press to look
for work?
The Guardian advertises a lot of high paid jobs. With NPP they’re often seeking really
highly qualified people to be paid at a high rate (people willing to move and work hard),
the jobs are often advertised as higher paid for this, they offer a greater variety of
positions at offer. The ad. For a business is that they are looking for the highest
qualified/ best talent. The dis. Is that there is going to be a larger pool of applicants and
it’s going to be harder to get the job (and possibly move to where is needed e.g.
London).
What trade press publications could you use to help you find work? Would this be a
better option than using the national press? Explain your answer using detailed
examples.
Most trades/ sectors have there own specific form of press (e.g. a magazine). Some
examples of magazines are ‘The Total Film Magazine’ (reviews, gossip, etc. Coeloms
advertising positions needed in the media sector). ‘Handy Mag’, pretty much all the
traders in the area and it’s distributed to the rural areas has lots of information about
local trades (plumbers, gardeners, etc.) When it comes to finding a job within the media
industry using trade press publications because they are more likely to specialise in
finding jobs fitting to that sector. However, the National Press shows more of a variety of
jobs, local or not. For instance ‘The Guardian’s’ job sector online is very resourceful,
more so than the newspaper because you can search ‘media’ into the search bar and
jobs such as ‘Series Story Producer, Emmerdale’ comes up with details of location
(Leeds, West Yorkshire), salary (Competitive Salary) and date of which the placement
was posted and will close (Posted: 14th April, 2016 – Closes: 28th April, 2016).

What would be a good way of keeping track of and in touch with your personal contacts?
How could this help you when looking for work?
A good way of keeping in contact with personal contacts is through social media.
Platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. You can ensure that you have a
good online persona by posting occasional posts. Using websites on LinkedIn
recommend using the website for about 15 minutes a day and asking how your contacts
are (how’s their day, their business), sending birthday cards or on special occasions and
they might reply and keep in contact with you that way.
What is networking and how could it be useful to you?
Networking is when people get together to discus opportunities. It could be as simple as
giving someone an ad or a business card. It’s good to build up a network of contacts
because I you know someone who is professional and good at what they do you can
make a link with them if you need them. Say if you have a skill someone else has, visa
versa, and you can contact him or her to help you with your work (visa versa).
Explain word of mouth as a way of getting work. Is this a reliable method for obtaining
work?
Word of mouth is probably one of the most reliable ways to get work. It’s efficient and
people can pass your name/ business title around to other individuals through
recommendation. Talking to others in the industry or past clients is a good way to know
what’s going on and to keep in contact with them for different opportunities. Send them a
thank you card to give them a nice gesture.
This next section requires you to do further research in to your chosen career.
Creativeskillset.org is fantastic resources, which will help you learn about the
qualifications, skills and experience you need to gain to work in industry. It also gives
detailed overviews and case studies, to help you understand what each job really
involves.
It will help you find other useful sources of information from details on unions, trade
websites and a publication to job adverts. You should investigate your chosen job
role or sector and sum up the skills and qualifications you need to do that job as well
as fully investigating what it involves.
What job role would you like? Explain your reasons? What kind of job is it (creative,
technical, editorial etc.)?
(http://www.creativeskillset.org is a great place to start)
The job role that I would like to pursue as a career is the creative job of journalism.
Reason being because I have always enjoyed writing and I am fascinated with how you
can use the art of writing to have vast discussions from the latest news stories to a
review on a new book. Journalism in all media sectors includes Radio Reporter, Radio
Producer, Radio News Editor, Radio Broadcast Journalist, TV Broadcast Journalist, TV

Presenter, Corporate Photographer, Staff Photographer, Publicist, Journalist and Web
Content Manager.
What skills will you need for that job?
The skills that are required to be a journalist is to be very organised, from how you store/
keep track of the pieces you write as well as organising time management because you
will need to be prepared to work to a deadline (usually when the deadlines have been
given at short notice). You will need to be an excellent researcher for each piece you
write, the information gathered for an article needs to be precise and relevant to the topic
of said article. If there is an interview or event-taking place, which you need to record,
you need to be able to be writing in shorthand and record quickly to gather as much
information as possible. When it comes to the finished product that you have to write you
will need to be able to proofread your own work. A good journalist will also have an
established list of contacts from within the industry that you can rely on for quotes,
interview and stories.
Summarise what is involved when doing this job.
Journalists write content for magazine, newspapers and news websites with passion and
a knowledgeable understanding of what they are writing about. The job involves working
to tight deadlines and involves doing a great amount of research for each piece that you
will write. Journalists will often work freelance or for a publication. However, freelance
journalism can be difficult in terms of writing pieces on current events taking place due to
publications sending out their journalists to do the researching and recording on those
events for the newspapers.
What qualifications are required for that job?
Many journalists can become journalists without a university qualification it would be
better to have a qualification in journalism because writing is now such a competitive
market in terms of employment. Having a degree in journalism and English (or whatever
specialist subject) will help improve your chances of employment.
Find at least 2 courses you could do to help you get in to the industry. You should state
the name of the course, the level of qualification (level 2, level 3, Degree etc.), the
institution that you would attend and their entry requirements)
There is a media journalism course at the York St John University, which is a three-year
(full time) course that will assess me on my work through essays, presentations, reports
and building a portfolio for practical work. As well as a media law exam. Entry
requirements include 3 GCSE’s at the grade C or above including English Language
along with a personal statement. At the end of the three years you will leave with a BA
(Hons) in Media Production: Journalism.
There is also a Journalism course at the University of Arts in London for a two-year
course, which offers a BA (Hons) at the end of those two years. Entry requirements
include at least 200 UCAS points gained at GCE Advanced level (grade B or above) plus
5 other GCSE’s at grade C or above.

Where could you find out more information? (Investigate at least 2 other sources of
information and give a brief summary of why this resource is useful)
One way to find more information about course and the job itself is the ‘National Careers
Service’. Reason being it tells you the work requirement/ activities that will come with the
job, average income/ hours, the skills and qualities to have for a job like this and the
entry requirements to get a job in journalism.
Another source is the ‘Creative Skills Set’. Reason being because it shows you what the
job that you have search requires you to do. Such as the skills needed and the
qualifications needed to get a job like this. Whether it is qualifications from a university or
practical experience from jobs done outside of education (or both). The ‘Creative Skills
Set’ also gives links to other websites to further explain the job and reviews (true stories)
from people who work in journalism (magazine, newspaper, etc.).
This section requires you to do some job hunting, so you can see what is required
from the perspective of employers in the industry. You should think about the
different places you could look for work. It is good to see what jobs are available,
what they pay, and what you need to do to get them.
Use at least 2 different sources to find a job that you would like to do.
Job: News Editor (Bromsgrove, Worcestershire)
Source:
http://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/news-editor/29215299#/jobs/journalist
Summarise the skills required:
Some of the skills required to partake in a job like a news editor requires experience in
writing news articles, excellent research, writing and analytical skill, the ability to work to
tight deadlines, a high level of computer literacy (including social media), accuracy and
good numeracy.
Is this job full time/part time/freelance?
The job is permanent, fulltime
What do you need to do to apply?
To apply requires the applicant to have experience and portfolio to showcase said
experience to the possible employer as well as the skills and qualities requires such as
being excellent in numeracy and the experience in writing in news articles.
Job: (paste brief description of job here)
Report Writer (London, South East London)
Source:
http://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/report-writer/29324067#/jobs/writer

Summarise the skills required:
Proofread master English materials, working with the copywriting team to ensure high
quality work, proofreading plus rewriting work that has been submitted so it meets the
brands style and conducting research.
Is this job full time/part time/freelance?
Permanent, fulltime
What do you need to do to apply?
Preferably having a degree level and the proven ability that you can write creative
reports and you can demonstrate knowledge of literature research
Work experience can be a good way to test out working in industry and can be a way
to get a foot in the door. If you perform well during your work experience or
internship, you will put yourself in a good position if a bigger role becomes available.
There are lots of media organisations that have work experience and intern
programs as well as other companies who specialise in getting placements for their
clients. Be specific when answering the questions below. Give website addresses
and discuss what you have found. The more detail, the better your grade.
Work experience:
What are some of the benefits of work experience?
Work experience allows you to get a better understanding the job requirements of what
the job you want to be apart of. It also gives you a way to learn new skills to prepare you
for future work within this sector, which can be showcased to a possible future employer
nearby when you are doing work experience.
Where could you look for work experience?
Somewhere you can look for work experience is https://www.prospects.ac.uk/ because it
allows you to be specific to what kind of work you are wanting to be in and take a quiz to
see what job/ work experience you would be better at.
Another source is the ‘National Careers Service’ because you can research the job you
are looking into and at the bottom of an article instructing you on the job requirements
and skills there is a list of web links to on more information to do with the job. Either for
work or training.
Where would you like to do work experience? How would you go about applying?
The way that I would look for work experience is through ‘Prospects’ because they have
a more direct link to what you are looking for. I would look through searching ‘journalism’
but I would also take the quiz out of curiosity to what other experience would suit for
abilities and interests. They also give articles on how to write a good CV for your work
experience and an insight into different job sectors.

As well as looking at your industry skills, employers want people who are able to
work efficiently and communicate effectively. In this section, you should evaluate
your own functional skills level and consider what action, if any; you need to take to
improve your skills in this area.
What grades do employers normally like to see people have for GCSE Maths and English?
The grades that employers normally like to see of people that they employ when it comes to
GCSE Maths and English are both to be of a grade C or above. Employers will most likely want
you to have at least a grade C for each, however for going into journalism they would expect
usually a higher grade in English (particularly English Language).
Why is it important to have good functional skills?
Because they are practical skills, which are usually taught at a young age in English, Maths, ICT,
applying knowledge to everyday life, etc. Having these good functional skills shows that you are
capable of using the basic facilities at your work such as a computer, doing basic numeracy and
proofreading/ spelling. These functional skills provide people from a young age with the
knowledge and understanding to succeed in education, work and everyday life. This makes it
easy for you and the employer because you will need less training on those sectors and it shows
the employer that you can be more independent knowing those skills.
Are there any areas of Maths, English or basic I.T skills that you need to work on?
I need to work on my mathematic skills due to the fact that I still haven’t achieved a grade C in
GCSE Maths. In terms of I.T I’m not very skilled at using certain software’s such as Microsoft
Excel which many work placements in offices require you to know.
This final section requires you to think about your own skills for employment. You will
be assessed on this as you progress throughout the course. This helps formalise
your ideas on these key skills. Some questions are very similar to those you might
see on a detailed job application or are questions you may be asked in an interview.
Thinking of examples of when you have used these key skills before an interview is a
good way to prepare.
How reliable, committed and efficient are you? Give examples when you have
demonstrated some of these qualities. Do you need to improve any of these areas?
I tend to be reliable, committed and efficient when it comes to work. This has always
been a factor when doing schoolwork because I used to study with the IB curriculum,
which taught me to work with a heavy workload and keep organised while doing it. Now
doing a BTEC course, which has a heavy workload I need to keep on top of everything
so that I have time to do the work well. However with the work that I do have to do I tend
to write too much which isn’t always needed. Writing too much which can be irrelevant
can make me spend more time on one piece of work rather than other pieces of work.

Attendance and punctuality are very important. What was your attendance and
punctuality like at school? If your figures were good, how will you maintain them? If your
figures need to improve, what steps do you need to take to improve those figures? Be
specific in your answers.
My attendance and punctuality at school was reasonably well, it wasn’t often that I
needed to be late for a class and if I couldn’t attend it was either with future absence or I
called/ emailed the office to inform them of my absence. Keeping my attendance and
punctuality maintained requires me to be aware of what time my classes are and if there
is anything such as an appointment that I need to inform my teachers of that prior to the
day.
How important do you think self-presentation is during an interview?
I think that self-presentation during an interview is highly important because it shows
your possible future employer that you are willing to make the effort and understand the
professionalism of an interview and the workplace. Even if the workplace may be more
laid back and casual wearing a work suit to the interview shows that you don’t have any
assumptions and that it’s more respectful to show professionalism to a future employer.
Can you think of a time when you contributed to a group project? What was the project?
What role did you take and how successful do you think you were?
Through out high school I was needed to work in different group projects, either for class
or as team building exercise. I was needed to take part in the CCF/ RAF which had use
take part in many group projects which had role allocated to us differently each time.
One time we needed to build a model of cart in a group. There wasn’t a leader but we all
needed to contribute to find out the shape and piece it together. There were a few
people who didn’t take part and it did show how it could hinder our performance in terms
of time. But with those of us that did work we managed to build the model well because
we were focused on the task at hand.
Give an example of when you have had to manage your time carefully and how you
went about it?
Around exam time of my AS year I needed to manage my time to fit around when I was
going to study for the exams and keep on top of my course work. I kept a weekly planner
and a calendar to know when exams were and work was due. I also made sure to be
aware of work was needed to be done when for up coming exams. Having free periods
helped to get more work done and organise my time. During those periods I would make
a list of what work needed to be finished and would gradually work my way down the list
to get my work finished for the end of the year.
Give an example of when you had to take personal responsibility for something. What
was the scenario and what was the outcome?
I’ve had to take personal responsibility for independent work and keeping to deadlines
for said work throughout the majority of my education. To overcome these situations I
needed to keep organised and understand time management well to meet these
deadlines. Keeping organised involved making and keeping to a schedule that revolved
around the work that needed to be done as well as keeping checklists to know what
work was needed to done and what work had been completed.

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