Developing talent in video production: what do young people look for in careers?

DO COMPANIES GIVE YOUNG PEOPLE OPPORTUNITIES TO START THEIR CAREER?

Developing young talent is central to our ethos at Zoomfilms, but there’s an exchange between employee and employer that is essential for career development within a working environment.

We ask the question: What do young people look for in a career?

And balance it with the expectations of the employee.

It’s no secret that finding a job is stressful, especially when you are fresh out of education and all the job adverts you see require 275,930 years of experience even though they’re for an entry level position!

Part of Zoomfilm’s philosophy is ‘Community’ – what that means is that we strive to develop people by creating opportunities for young professionals and graduates through internships, work experience placements and more. Giving them that much needed chance to break into a fast-paced and demanding industry.

But…what do young people look for in a career path? We asked a range of young people this exact question and this is what they had to say …

1. A point that frequently was raised was they wanted a career that would offer potential progression. Some people leave school and are fed up of being in the education system but this doesn’t mean that they don’t want to learn and grow. Young people are looking to work for a company that provides them with the opportunity for continuous learning and perhaps even offer training and development programs (and if they are paid for by the company, that’s an added bonus!) No one wants to feel they are just existing in their job – job progression is enticing to young people.

2. Something that is less spoken about, but was a reoccurring answer, was that there would be a mutualy earned respect. The chances of someone preforming at the best of their ability is increased by the way they are treated by the company. If management has earned respect and gained a good relationship with their staff, it’s more likely the staff will want to perform well for them and to further the success of the business.

3. A more obvious answer is that young people are looking for decent wages as well as potential benefits and incentives. Although money is not the be all and end all, it is essential to daily life and people want to be paid fairly.

4. Some young people even go to the extent of looking at what past employees have said about the business and relating to that, some people will do research into the reputation of the company and their employee retention. However, this is also something that perhaps can only be discovered after taking the job.

The main reason behind our desire to give these opportunities stems from Zoomfilms’ founder and Creative Director Ezio, who experienced difficulties of his own in this area.

In his own words:

I’m not a natural academic and learning was always easier for me if I performed the tasks or experienced the ‘lesson’. I’ve only been for one interview in my career – the one that got me started in video production. After my initial training and apprenticeship, I freelanced for much of my career, until I launched and build my own business which I managed to do based on a good reputation and a great network built over a few decades.

Whenever I employ staff (past or present) I consider a number of factors including, aptitude, will they fit the culture, do I see potential in them as well as their academic accreditation, but I place possibly the highest value on their attitude. So, if someone is less qualified in video production or a related field, or accasionally not qualified at all, but has a hunger and the aptitude I will recognise it and I will offer them a position and train them up to provide the level of work and service that the industry requires and that I expect from them.

Remuneration is important, employees need to feel valued and the exchange here needs to be fair. Employees should pay fair wages, but they also need to get a return on this investment, so constantly look for ways to improve what you do and always look to grow yourself and the business. There are a lot of books and resources available to you outside of the company to help with the less obvious aspects of personal development, seek them out.

People are the most valuable assets of my business, and those that are willing to work and learn are, in my experience, the most valuable of these assets.

My advice to young people looking for a way into this industry is ‘show up hungry’, show that you want to learn and contribute to the organisation, ask intelligent questions and show your desire to work hard.

Emma Robertson has recently begun her journey in video production with Zoomfilms and we hope that it will be fulfilling career with the company.

In her own words:

After studying Art and Design at college I had experienced a real taster into various art mediums such as, 3D, photography, fashion and textiles, video etc… I knew that I loved to work very hands on but struggled to identify in which creative field I could see myself settle. After 2-3 years of working multiple part-time jobs and completely various work experience the phrase ‘it’s who you know’ started to make a lot of sense, but the problem was I didn’t know anyone within the creative field. However, during these years I worked hard at every job I took on, and in the long term this massively paid off.

I was referred by a family member, who had expressed my longing to break into this industry, to the Creative Director of ZoomFilms, I was extremely nervous knowing I had very limited video knowledge but I made sure that my enthusiasm and willingness to learn was evident and luckily that was enough for Ezio to give me a chance as a Production Assistant. Since starting in this new job role, I am extremely happy to be learning new skills everyday and to feel myself slowly understanding more about the production process. If I had seen this job role advertised, I would not have applied as I knew I lacked the qualifications and experience assosicated with this career.

My advice to any young adult trying to break into the creative industry would be to give your all in everything you do, no matter how unrelated it seems at the time. Be humble and open to new opportunities, and most importantly show a willingness to learn.

Good luck!