Job roles in the media
Employment contracts
What is a full time job?
Full-time employment is employment in which means the person has to work a minimum of 35-40 hours in a week (this is for the uk). Full-time employment may have benefits such as sick leave, annual leave or health insurance in which people who work part time, temporary or flexible hours are not typically offered. The full-time shift usually consists of five eight hour days usually between 9:00am to 5:00pm or 10:00am to 6:00pm which gives a total of 40 hours per week. An example of a full-time job would be a website designer, this job shown below is placed in Bradford, West Yorkshire and has a salary of £18,000 to £20,000 per year. After you have gathered experience and have been positioned on higher branches of the job you could potentially be looking at the highest salary. This is a very well paid job, however when looking into the details you have to realise that you will be working all day every day and sometimes through your breaks, so that may be something to consider when approaching a practical job like this. Before being hired you would need plenty of experience in Wordpress, adobe software such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign before-hand.
Here is another example of a full-time job:
This job is a producer. You will need plenty of qualifications and skill with added experience, there are a lot of requirements such as you are required to work the certain amount of hours in a day with no exceptions and you may need to of had worked in the industry before.
Other examples may be an editor, cameraman, tv host and many more.
What is a Part time job?
A part-time job is a job in which does fewer hours in a day than a full-time job. people who have a part-time job often remain on call when there shift has finished incase there is no one to take there place and this can be the same through annual leave. Part-time shifts are often rotational to fit into every workers schedule. You are considered to have a part time job if you work less than 30 or 35 hours a week, if you were looking for a part-time job then you should always ensure your employer of your availability and commitments. Having a part-time job can be really helpful if you have other commitments you need to attend to regularly or are unable to work long hours throughout the day. This can also help you build up experience of the working environment and help you look for a full-time job as being part of your cv.
An example of a part-time job would be a visiting lecturer. I have chosen to use this job vacancy as an example as it is at Met Films school which is the university that I have been looking at for a while as it seems to really appeal to me. This part-time job is freelance which means there is no direct place or time to be, it ranges as you are not working for a particular employer but working more for yourself.
Other examples of part- jobs may be a retail advisor, communications assistant or in-house video manager/editor.
What is a freelanced job?
A freelancer is someone who is self-employed offering services, usually to multiple clients at a time. A freelancer operates as his own boss while he sets his own service price, menu and target market for clients. Not all freelancers work with hardly any wage, in actual fact it is becoming more common that freelancers are earning more than there employed counterparts. Freelance jobs are so flexible that it allows you to set your own hours whether you work full or part time on your projects that you want to do. Freelancers work very similar to independent contractors in which you decide which projects you are doing and how you do them.
Some advantages of a freelancer:
1. Getting started is a matter of finding your first client
2. Affordable, you can create your own free website and use whatever tools you wish
3. prick and choose clients, you could choose not to take on challenging clients
4. The need for freelancers is large which means its quick and easy to get started
5. do whatever projects and tasks you wish and work on them how you wish
Disadvantages: 1. can take time to build clientele
2. pay may be slow to start out
3. work can be irregular, you may not always be able to work if there are no clients
4. managing multiple clients at a time can be challenging
5. could get very challenging clients where you do not know how to work with them
Example of a freelance jobs:
freelance writer, virtual assistant or professional, desktop publishing provider, freelance bookkeeper. You may want to hire someone who works freelance to do certain jobs for the company such as selling or marketing your company or working first-hand out with the public, enticing the public to be a client, or you may need a freelancer to work with the clients and help them with their needs. Another example may be directors; directors only work when they have a project that needs to be complete, they work on their own back to find projects and movies that needs to be directed.
What is a temporary job?
Temporary work is work that is limited for a certain amount of time, depending on the employment situation. Temporary employees may be referred to as; contractual, seasonal, interim, casual staff, outsourcing or freelance. Temporary workers may have part time work or full time depending on the period of time they will be working for. Companies in need of short-term workers contact the temporary work agency to find a temporary worker to be employed by their company. You may want to be a temporary work if you have an emergency coming up such as an illness where you can only work for a certain period of time or you may already have a full time job lined up to start in a few weeks but you might need a temporary job to earn money before starting the new job. Examples of temporary work may be; civil engineering, remediation work such as residential, retail and industrial projects or even structural engineering such as design and building contracts.
This is also another example of a temporary job:
What is a Voluntary job?
Voluntary work is working by doing such activities that help others without such financial pay. This means you are doing work out of your choice to help people such as charities, people in need, Battersea dogs and cats home or many other organisations. You choose to work to help other people, organisations or groups, in some cases animals too. Some religions such as christians like to do voluntary work to give back to the community and improve the quality of life in the world. Voluntary work helps young people build upon their skills and communication with others by working in groups to do activities. A voluntary job may be; activity support such as arts and crafts which would be helping people by setting up the area of the activities and tasks. You may also want to be a animal carer, helper for make a wish foundation, children in need helper, someone who helps clean and revive the environment or even a computer supporter. There are so many voluntary jobs out there that you could do in order to gain experience, friends, get out your comfort zone and gain many more opportunities.
What is a Casual job?
A casual job is a job with no permanent hours of work, this means your days and hours are varied so nothing is guaranteed. Casual employees work the days and hours that employers require, this is usually seen on a list called the 'roster'. A roster is the list that shows your times and days that you are expected to work, it may also show how long each shift is going to be or whether it is due to change. This type of job is called a casual job as it is very relaxed and laid back as your shifts could be due to change at anytime, you are also only expected to do a couple of days a week. You may want a casual job if you are unable to get a full-time job or you only wanted a few hours a week. You may also need a little money while studying or want to gain experience and opportunities into different jobs or careers. Casual jobs may even get a higher pay than full-time jobs in the same area of work as casual jobs do not get the same benefits as a full-time job. This may be benefits such as sick leave, holidays or annual leave. An example of a casual job would be a casual sales assistant, a casual telemarketing fundraiser or a casual disability support worker.
What is an Hourly paid job?
An hourly employee is paid for how ever many hours they work in a week. They can work up to 40 hours a week at a determined rate and are entitled to overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours. An hourly employee is paid for the amount of hours that they have already worked during the week so like a casual job, the pay may fluctuate depending on the shifts and hours they have worked during that week or whether they have done overtime. Hourly employees must document their work by a card system or time sheet to be paid for their amount of hours, they also may have different benefits and pay rates. An example of an hourly paid job may be a sales representative, administrative assistant, auto technician, customer service and many more.
What is shift work?
Shift work is an employment practice that provides service 24 hours a day every week. The days are split up into shifts and times that the employee should be working, this could be shifts during the day or night depending on the employees rota. These shifts could be subject to change at anytime, the employer may ask you to switch shifts with other employees if there is shortage of work. An example of shift work could be a bar assistant, waiter or waitress, shops assistant and many more.
The concepts of networking and trade fairs
How is networking good for when you are job hunting?
1. Getting in early. Someone in the network may be able to give you information about a job opportunity that you wouldn't have otherwise found out about.
2. Assessing the market. A network could potentially give you information about seeking work and being employed
3. being known. getting your name out there for potentially companies to look through your work and employ you
4. switching career. finding new career opportunities that you may like better.
5. developing potential. keeping contacts of people you may know or get to know in the industry, the network may allow you to stay in touch with them and learn new things that they may have learnt which has allowed them to get to where they are now.
Networking shows importance in the media industry today as the network allows you to improve your chances of finding work by researching and presenting your skills to different employers that may be looking for employees. The network could also allow you to socialise, improve your communication skills for meetings and stay in touch with old employers, workmates and professionals.
Overall I think the network is a very vital part of the industry as it allows you to connect with other people and information that you may not otherwise be able to be a part of, it also allows you to understand different job opportunities and career pathways that you may be able to undertake. Especially when wanting to find a career in the media industry, it means that you can be all the more close with the industry within a tap of a button.
A trade fair is an exhibition that allows individual companies and organisations to show case their work to intrigue new clientele into their business in their particular industry. It allows the company to show their work, how well they may have done with other companies and projects, show their own products and customers they have, study activities of their rivals that the company may be competing against and finally examine recent market trends and opportunities. A trade fair also allows the public and press to be involved with your ideas and products to then promote your business or company to higher business's and clients around the world.
Trade fairs are one of the most important concepts of todays industry as trade fairs allows you and your business to take a step further in your career by advertising your business and products to increase the clientele you have which means your business will become very popular which also increases your wages. You will be able to work your way up in your business to a higher branch which may be more beneficial to you and the trade fair could increase your knowledge of other potential career pathways that you may want your business to go towards or change.
Investigating a particular job in the media industry
At this current moment, I am not sure what career path I would like to undertake in the media industry, I know that I would definitely like to be employed into the industry as this is where my passion lies, however I am not yet sure of what pathway I would like to undertake as I have not yet discovered all the pathways there are to do with media and videography. I would love to build upon my knowledge of the media industry and experience with all the different pathways there are that are available so I could get a better understanding of the industry but at this current moment these are the areas that interest me, that I have currently explored:
Editing, such as using different softwares to edit and put clips together. This area of employability could be in television, film or advertising. I am not sure, I only have a small understanding of editing but from the moment I discovered this branch I have loved it ever since. Here is some information that I have found on the internet about particular jobs to do with editing, and what I will need to do in order to get a career in this industry.
I have also discovered this career opportunity on the web. A graphic designer appeals to me as it is very creative and visual, it may not appeal to me as much as videography, filming and editing but it does sound interesting.
Gaming. Whether it is designing, creating or producing gaming products on mobile phones and mobile gaming application I am not sure but I know that I want a full-time career and I really do like the sound of idea generation and game development. I could even combine my love for editing and gaming and edit the graphics or adverts for gaming products.
Here are also top tips that I have found in order to be able to step into todays industry. This information benefits me as I do not yet know what exact career I would like to undertake but if I develop my understanding o all areas of the media industry then I know I will soon find my passion. I will also be able to develop my skills in the industry using many tips from the web while studying so when I finish my studies I should be ready to step into a career.
