Recently, this post went up on my personal blog: Four People You Should Not Take Entertainment Career Advice From.
It’s about not taking entertainment career advice from people who are personally invested, such as friends who don’t want to lose you or those around you with their own unfulfilled entertainment career dreams. But a couple of readers contacted me about my inclusion of concerned parents in the list. Here’s one response I got via LinkedIn:
“You mention in the post that there are instances when people, mainly your parents, question you about your choice to pursue an entertainment career because they know how unstable it can be. This is a fear that I have developed over the past year, mainly because I don’t want to rely on my parents for financial needs for too long. Could you give me a few examples of jobs in the entertainment industry that tend to be more stable than others? Also, because this fear has lingered with me for a while, do you think it might be worth me considering a different, more stable career?”
These days, the phrase "stable career" referring to any possible vocational path is more likely to be met with a derisive snort than anything else. Banking used to be considered a stable career path. That tells you everything you need to know right there.
Stability is hard to come by in any field. But in entertainment, as in many fields, there are more and less riskier paths to pursue. And with hundreds of jobs in the industry to choose from, you have more flexibility than you might think.
Of course, when you talk about uncertainty of success in entertainment, leading the pack job-wise is performer. Whether that means being an actor, a musician, or a stand-up comedian, pursuing any of these careers means your chance of making a living, much less being a star, is extremely low.
Right behind those pursuits are these long shots: film/television director, film/television/music producer, film/television writer, and songwriter. These are called “dream careers” for a reason and success usually involve lots of years of hard work and a heaping helping of luck, and even then, the long haul is very uncertain.
Working on film and television crews is also hit and miss. Competition in every position, especially department heads such as Director of Photography and Production Designer, is fierce. Everyone on a crew is freelance and the work can dry up without warning. If you get on a hit television show, that can provide you with several years of stable employment, but after that, you are out looking again.
That’s the bad news.
The more stable careers are to be found within large corporate entities – major studios, television networks and cable channels, large production companies and event promotion companies, and the like. Think Paramount Studios, NBC, Discovery Communications, AEG, etc. This can mean work in any department: Marketing, Programming, Post Production, Human Resources, etc.
The competition for jobs is stiffer in the creative departments, such as Development and Production, and it is less stiff in the jobs that require advanced degrees and other special training, such as Finance and Business Affairs. So if you want to have the best chance for stability in entertainment, stay away from the “sexier” departments or come to the biz armed with a degree in finance or a JD.
But what do you do if you want a dream career, if all you want to do with your life is be onstage or behind the camera? Do you have to listen to your parents (or your own more cautious voice within) and go into something else, abandoning all those years of training and envisioning what you feel you are meant to do?
If you really want it – and I mean enough to deal with years of hard work and sacrifice and rejection and more hard work and sacrifice and rejection – there is a way to mitigate the risk that I would recommend to anyone, no matter how confident they are in their talents. I call it pursuing parallel careers.
This strategy involves finding something relatively stable – not just a day job, but something you treat as a career track – that you can do alongside going for your dream career. I know an actress who is an awesome bookkeeper. She is freelance to allow herself the freedom to audition and do parts, but she could go within a company at any point she felt she needed to. I also know a singer who is a paralegal, an aspiring costume designer who works in ultra high-end retail, an indie producer who is a film sales agent, and several lawyers who write screenplays on the side.
These are not day jobs. They are parallel career paths. It’s trickier to pull off having two careers side-by-side than single-mindedly pursuing the dream while doing low-level administrative work or waiting tables on the side, but it’s a way to hedge your bet when you are betting on something with long odds. And that is something even your dear old mom and dad can get behind.
Jenny Yerrick Martin, founder of YourIndustryInsider.com, has amassed 20+ years as an entertainment industry professional including almost 15 as a hiring executive and five as a career consultant. She's become an indispensable resource for people who want to break into entertainment, as well as those in entertainment looking to reach the next level or course-correct in their already-established careers.Career stability chart image from Shutterstock
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
Recently, this post went up on my personal blog: Four People You Should Not Take Entertainment Career Advice From.
It’s about not taking entertainment career advice from people who are personally invested, such as friends who don’t want to lose you or those around you with their own unfulfilled entertainment career dreams. But a couple of readers contacted me about my inclusion of concerned parents in the list. Here’s one response I got via LinkedIn:
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