How do you go from office dogsbody to your first paid role, when you have just two weeks of work experience to prove your worth? This week, Tom O’Brien, Head of Entertainment Development at TwoFour Broadcast, shares five points worth bearing in mind when you’re trying to make an impact:

Ok, so, you’ve jumped the first hurdle and you’ve bagged yourself two weeks of invaluable work experience. Congratulations – but here’s where the real game begins. How do you make it count? It’s ultra competitive out there, more and more people are coming in at the bottom – how do you make sure that you’re one of the people who bags a job at the end of it? Of course there are no cast-iron guarantees. On the whole, a career in the media is about being reactive, spotting opportunities, being ready to act on a whim. But still, there are a series of key disciplines, which ensure, should an opportunity ever blow in your direction, you’re ready and willing to take it.

Here’s my five key tips worth bearing in mind as you take your first baby-steps into the world of television…

Did Somebody Say Job?

First things first: there isn’t always a job available. The majority of companies take you on for work experience and only that. If the circumstances are right, it may, just may, transpire there is a job at the end of it – but don’t live in vain hope; vain hope will leave you frustrated.

My advice would be this: ask around and assess the opportunities. After a week of proving your worth, do some digging informally and see what sort of job options there might be in the company. Questions you might ask are: Are there any productions coming up in the future? Are they looking to expand the development team here? Are there any staff roles available? Do any of the MD’s need a runner or P.A.? Direct these at the runners and researchers and you might get an answer.

Surveying the scene like this helps you to work out if there are actually any specific vacancies you’re suited to. If there are, you can tailor your gameplan accordingly, by making sure you establish contact with the correct people, impressing them, and doing whatever you have to, making sure you’re at the forefront of their mind when they’re mulling over that big pile of CVs.

Shooting At The Midnight Hour

Bear in mind this specific holy watchword when you begin your career in television: flexibility. The lines between work and personal life in this industry easily get blurred. All of us at some point have had our plans for dinner or drinks scuppered at the last minute by a sprawling beast of a show. Last minute shoots, late night photocopying, midnight read-throughs – it happens to everyone, so be ready to do the same. If something comes up at the last minute and you’re asked to help out, cancel your plans, because this time your friends will have to wait. If you don’t do it, someone else will. And if that somebody bags a job off the back of it, it lives eternally as the one that got away.

Two weeks work experience means consigning two whole weeks of your life to the job evenings and all. The dedication could pay off.

The Twitteratti Report

If you’re young and fresh and just out of university, the odds are you’ll be more au fait with new media than your many of your seniors. This is your strength, use it to your advantage. If you’re asked to prepare research packs of any sort, you should be engaging on as many different platforms as you can, to wow and surprise the producer you’re working for. Scour every platform you can think of. Then, take it all and put it in one easy to read, multi-media fact-pack. Engage with new media, so they don’t have to. Give them a shortcut into a world you know intimately.

Can Anyone Make Logos?

Another thing that can set you apart from others is a solid understanding of the different computer programs that are now part of the everyday architecture of programme-making. Having a rudimentary understanding of them will put you in good stead.

It’s a simple equation. If you can edit, create graphics and source music, for said production, the budgeters might not have to pay a graphics company, an edit-house and a sound library for the use of their services. The sum-savings on that equation are substantial, so if you can, try to get handy with these programs, because the more value for money you offer, the more of an attractive prospective employee you become.

Also, specifically in the development side of things, more and more each day, these tools are proving essential to the way we do business. Low-fi (not always) taster tapes are de rigueur, pitch-sheets are daubed with fancy graphics, the pressure’s on to create multi-media shop windows for our show ideas – if you can help, great; we’ll probably want to keep you around.

Somebody Get Me My Chai Latte!

It’s a simple one, but must be re-iterated again and again and again. If you’re visiting a production company for your work experience, make sure you have a broad overview of what they make, what they do and who they are. If you draw a blank when somebody mentions the companies biggest-hitting show, then you’re in trouble (although, it must be said, it happens to all of us at some stage). Familiarise yourself with the company’s body of work and form opinions on as many shows as you can. Then, when the vital question is dropped, which it inevitably will be, you’re ready to tell them exactly what you think about last night’s episode.

Secondly, being able to put names to faces is a great thing. If you know Mister X is the producer of show Y – which you love – take the opportunity to ask questions. TV, by it’s nature, is filled with egos, a genuine viewer asking the how, what, where, when and reallys is both flattering and shows that you’re already keyed in to the company mentality. Also, of course, when the pin-eyed, deshabille man in the corner whose been eyeballing you all morning, gruffly demands his Chai-Latte, knowing he’s the MD who was at last night’s BAFTA awards and fetching it ever-so-quickly could put you in the good-books.

Weigh The Odds In Your Favour

So that’s it for now. Five good starting points for anyone hoping to get the most out of their work experience. It’s a learning curve and nobody expects you to come in as the perfect article (believe me, all of the above I learnt through my own major mistakes), but taking just some of these points on board, makes you a stronger, more prepared, more employable would-be employee. On the surface, you’re there to gain experience via exposure. Truth be told, go in ready and you might just bag yourself a job at the end of it.

Tom O’Brien is Head of Entertainment Development at TwoFour Broadcast and a ProductionBase member.