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Topic: Transitioning from broadcasting
| Author | Message |
| Can Do! | Posted – 4/29/2008 6:16:32 PM | show profile | email poster I'm new here so thanks in advance for reading it is greatly appreciated! I am looking to make a career transition from broadcasting (after 17 years!!) to a different aspect of media. I am particularly interested in getting into an ad agency perhaps as a project manager or coordinator for a department. Also interested in marketing, promotions and event planning. So far not much luck in the job search and FYI I am in the Metro Detroit area--I know good luck right? I found along the way that the traditional resume w/lists of jobs has been more of a deterent than helpful. The few interviews that I have been on the typical response has been..."Gee why don't you want to be on the radio?" To which the honest answer is I have picked up a lot of other skills along the way and would like to focus on using them now. To that end I have changed my resume to a "skills based" resume instead of a laundry list of places that I have worked. In addition to being on the air I have been a Promotions Director, a salesperson for a media company that sold promotions to record labels, a project manager for an entertainment group and a traffic reporter. All of these positions have required working on deadlines in some way shape or form, providing customer service, and multi-tasking. I am a positive, upbeat, happy person and absolutely love working w/people. I get great satisfaction from working hard and providing a product or a result that ultimately benefits someone else. All that said I am still wondering if I am missing something so I am putting this out to you for feedback. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 4/29/2008 8:52:43 PM | show profile Good Luck. I tried this route ... with 20 years of broadcasting experience, including two television networks and four radio networks. Making a mid-career transition with "no agency experience" is nearly impossible unless you're willing to take a MASSIVE pay cut. Seriously. The best offer I got recently was 70% below what I'm making now. I was even told flat-out by one PR firm that despite my 20 years of writing, producing, editing, reporting, anchoring, and even MANAGEMENT experience, I might as well have been a stay-at-home Mom all those years, for what that experience is worth to them. But ... I wish you the best of luck. Keep us informed. |
| Can Do! | Posted – 4/30/2008 1:58:50 AM | show profile | email poster Transitioning from Broadcasting OUCH! ManhattanMatt getting those responses had to be unpleasant for you if I may understate the obvious here. I appreciate your honesty but I must ask did they tell you why the experience is so worthless to them? It seems so apparent--at least to me =)--how valuable your skill set(s) and mine are. I am VERY INTERESTED in the answer to that question not only from you but from others as well. I actually don't mind taking a step back to take a step(s) forward including pay-wise yet at the same time feel compelled to be paid what I am worth. If it takes some time to do that I am comfortable with it. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 4/30/2008 3:12:09 AM | show profile Can Do ... ... the problem, from what I'm hearing within Corporate America and based on my own observations, is twofold: -- Lack of vision. Despite their overuse of the buzz-germ, corporate types have difficulty thinking outside the box. They're looking for people who can perfectly fit their narrow checklists. They're not open to "translating" your skill-set to fill their needs, even if it means passing up a "translatable" gem in favor of a "checklisted" dud. -- Lack of personnel. Thanks to decades of downsizing, most organizations are run so lean, no one has any time to train new people. There is no room for any kind of learning curve. If you can't hit the ground running, they're not interested in you. |
| Can Do! | Posted – 4/30/2008 2:14:33 PM | show profile | email poster That is so unfortunate but I can't say that I am suprised although disappointed. There are a lot of qualified hard working people worthy of opportunity and who could do a great job for these companies. My observation, especially job hunting in the Metro Detroit area, is that with the way the economy is people/companies are operating from a place of fear instead of hope or as you so aptly put it vision. When fear is such a big factor it is no wonder that they stick to the narrow check list. It is also difficult to be on the outside and be afraid yet not afraid at the same time. You can't help but wonder about the future and trying to balance that out with some hope that SOMEONE will appreciate you..it's not a fun place to be. I wonder what the answer is? |
| parzooman | Posted – 5/1/2008 9:41:30 AM | show profile Been trying similar with smaller focus I've been a Production Director in radio for 18 years - producing commercial and promotional content as well as doing voiceovers. I'd love to move into creative services at an ad agency considering the fact I've been doing precisely that for all these years on the radio side. |
| Can Do! | Posted – 5/1/2008 11:32:21 PM | show profile | email poster Parzooman thanks for chiming in here. How actively have you pursued this transition? I don't know if I mentioned in my laundry list of job titles previously but I have been an assistant production director. So I can clearly see why your skills would transition onto the agency side. Have you gotten any feedback? I'd be interested to know. |
| parzooman | Posted – 5/2/2008 10:43:38 AM | show profile Just started a serious campaign Sending out feelers is one thing but I've been actively trying to use my degrees of separation from the agencies and try it that way. If anything positive comes of it, I'll post it on the BB. |
| Can Do! | Posted – 5/2/2008 3:19:07 PM | show profile | email poster Thanks! I look forward to hearing how it works out for you. I'd also be interested in the "strategy" or "packaging" you used for pitching yourself, i.e., getting past the obstacles that ManhattanMatt referenced earlier in this thread. |
| parzooman | Posted – 5/3/2008 9:04:38 AM | show profile Packaging myself I don't know how unique my situation is but over the past 18 years (at the same radio station and not a small one either) I've done more than just slap commercials together. I often write and produce humorous pieces of audio and do a good amount of "theater of the mind" work with music, voices and sfx. The fact that my sense of humor tends to be "twisted" is, IMHO, a selling point. I don't think I could ever be accused of thinking inside of any sort of box. |
| Can Do! | Posted – 5/5/2008 12:14:32 PM | show profile | email poster That is great! I wish you the best of luck and keep us posted on the feedback that you get. |
