TV Watercooler

If you are finding it difficult to write your CV for the TV/Film production industry - here are some starting tips of what to include pasted below. Downloadable pdf for your reference attached.

Feel free to contribute your own tips.

TV CV WRITING TIPS

This list is designed as some pointers to get you started and is in no way exhaustive.

Before you start – it is worth considering it more useful to have a number of CVs for different job roles. Each one must be consistent in style but make easy reading for an employer in whichever industry you are working. E.g. have one as a TV Runner and another as a web designer (although in that specific instance it would be useful to list your html skills in your TV CV).

* Call your CV filename ' YOUR NAME - YOUR JOB TITLE - YEAR' so that employers can easily find you if they save it in a folder.

* Put your full name, no nicknames. Address, email, mobile (ensure your email address is appropriate and NOT sexgod69@btinternet.com or similar) at the top

* Put your job title at the top near your name. Employers want to know what you do very quickly and will spot it straight away.

* A personal statement should be a short paragraph. 2 or 3 lines on who you are, what you do and your current skills. Genre experience is also helpful. (Learn the difference between what is a genre and what is a technical format…)

* Next do some bullet points of your key skills e.g.
• Fluent French and German language skills
• Confident Z1 shooter
• Basic FCP / digitizing
• Live Studio & O.B experience
• Archive clearance

* Now list your credits. Each one should have the same format and should detail the following in bold to be easily scanned by an employer:

Your job Name of production company Name of production
One line is sufficient to describe the programme and include the broadcaster. 2 lines description max.


* If you are relatively junior, you could briefly mention tasks that were delegated to you by a more senior person.

* Keep all your TV work together and list anything else you think could be useful in an 'other employment' section after your TV work if you feel this is supportive.

* If you have credits on adverts or promos - list the brands or bands

* Briefly list your education. Bullet points are best.

* Any relevant training should go last right at the bottom and you should list exactly which course you completed and the date. So find out the name and governing body of the course. First Aid, Health & Safety, Hostile Environment courses are as important as technical equipment training.

* You can list your references if you want to. Be sure to ask the person whose details you will be including BEFORE you do this. Also, if you provide them as a reference in an interview, be sure to tell them before the potential employer actually calls them!

* Your CV should be around 2 pages long. One page if you are a Runner and no more!

Every word should fight to get on the page. Never use two words where one would do. Short and sweet should be the motif. Don't use flowery meaningless phrases or long words if a short one will suffice. Brevity is all.

And never repeat yourself.

Or use "passionate about a career in television/film/street cleaning". (I realise this is possibly a personal POV)

Anyone here got any comments about 'Media' degrees?






*stands well back*

Not necessarily a disadvantage I would say, any practical experience with kit always useful and worth mentioning but I would avoid referring to any graduation films in any depth.

Always use active tense rather than passive.

Unless you're 18 and have just completed them, don't put what subjects you gained your A levels/GCSEs in. With degrees, institution, year, subject and class is sufficient. Any specialist knowledge gained through a dissertation etc should be referred to in "Skills" at the top of page 1.

Non-paid (by that I mean voluntary) work can be included in other employment if relevant.

Remember you face different challenges depending on the size of the company that is hiring.

Large companies will likely have some kind of filtering system, possibly being done by someone with no experience of the role. This can be a problem - I have seen an HR department reject someone with 20 years experience and exactly the skills we were looking for because they didn't have a degree. The initial job spec was "ideally you will be educated to degree level" which HR took to mean "must have a degree".

Smaller companies you are probably going to be filtered by the person doing the hiring. In this case you may only get a few seconds to go in the "possible" pile. As AP says keep it concise. If I am looking for an editor with at least 5 years experience in sport, I need to to see that quickly. I have sometimes rejected people that, on a second look, were suitable but it wasn't clear from the CV!

I know it is a pain, but tailor your CV to the application, if applicable. Yes it takes time, but if you are seriously looking for a job (especially the first few steps on and up the ladder) then you need to treat the job search as a full time job! Employers are, for the most part, not stupid and can spot a cut and paste application a mile off.

TE

I have been advised numerous times to omit my Northern address from my CV if I am applying for anything below York! so It might be worth considering this if you will have to travel fro the job

To be honest, unless you think your address is a positive bonus (you live in Soho, for instance) I would leave it off a CV: some employers will jump to conclusions and favour those who are very local. I'd also only include your mobile number, for the same reason. Do put a note about being able to base yourself in different cities (assuming that you are, of course!), so something like "London and Manchester" is fine.

I was recently advised by a 'careers advisor' at the bbc free train thing to write cvs in the 3rd person. I've tried this before and it doesn't sit well with me. I've also asked about and most people think it's a weird idea. What does anyone else think?

Also I've been including testimonials in mine for a while - extracts from thank you letters/ emails, using the company name rather than the individual. I've had some really good responses to these, but the same advisor said they weren't appropriate.

She claimed her information was based on extensive research with 'industry employers'. But it seems quite wide of the mark to me and I worry that there are 'experts' out there handing out misguided advice. Bloody minefield.

The advice at the top of this thread is all spot-on by the way.