Heather Davies

This week I was invited to participate on a panel as part of Media Week at King’s University, London. The session was arranged by one of the members of Young Women in Media who is a student at King’s herself, and the subject of the session was ostensibly about being female in a predominantly male media, but really it was simply about how to get a job in “the media”.

A couple of the questions got me thinking. At The Radio Academy, I was the person tasked with giving advice out to new entrants, and sat through a lot of sessions about how to get noticed. Answering the questions in last week’s panel made me realise how much of the oft-quoted advice is hugely valuable.

What would you say were some of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned during your career so far?

• Be nice. Answer emails, be polite, be friendly, make friends. People are far more likely to help a considerate, friendly person than they are anyone else. Everyone you meet is a potential colleague, whether that’s in one year or ten years from now.
• Specialise. There is nothing more frustrating than someone with talent who doesn’t know what they want to do with it.  Listen / watch / read as much as you can to work out exactly where it is you’d like to work and then immerse yourself in that area.  Come up with ideas for features or new directions and keep a note of them.  People will find it far easier to help you if you can be specific.
• Engage with your industry. Follow key accounts on twitter, read the associated blogs and news sites, keep an eye on press releases – if you meet someone from an industry like radio, you’ll find that they are very engaged with what’s happening across the spectrum and will expect you to be too.
• Do your research. Never, ever, ever send an email or a letter to “dear sirs”.  Particularly if the office you’re writing to is predominantly female (it has happened!).  A quick phone-call, asking to whom the letter or email should be addressed is perfectly acceptible, but misinformation from an out-of-date website is not.
• Always go above and beyond. Volunteer your services at related events (like The Radio Academy’s events), swot up on speakers before you get there, make sure you follow up on contacts that you make.  Work out ways of being useful and be on hand.  Never say no to something you think could be interesting or useful, you’ll find that spare hour somewhere.

If you had to give one piece of advice to audience members looking to pursue a career in the media, what would it be?

• Do work experience! If it’s radio you want to work in, find out who your local community, hospital or student station is, and really get involved. Don’t just show-and-go. Engage with their music policy, learn about the studio, help with licensing documents, suggest features for other shows, think about ways to develop the reach and scope of the station. In my experience, stations expect at least a year’s worth of this before you apply for any formal work experience, it really is that crucial.