How well did you communicate your skills and knowledge through your CV, interview, personal statement and showreel?
To test our knowledge and communication skills that are needed to get a job or any sort of work in the media industry I had a set up interview with Margaret Woodford, who then gave me feedback on my CV, showreel, my personal statement and overall how I did in the interview.
I think that I communicated well in my interview: I told her a bit about myself and my interests in media, I explained why I wanted the job and why the job is for me. Also the job was actually based in London so I explained how I would relocate to London & that I have looked at prices for accommodation in the area too.
In my CV I went into detail about the skills I have and the experience I have gained in and out of college, I wrote a lengthy paragraph for each work experience I have done with the skills and responsibilities for each one (including the job title etc.) As I have a lot of experience and I went into a lot of detail with each one, my experience section was really long so I was given feedback to shorten this by doing a short, snappy summary about each one, so that it didn’t end up too long. Margaret said that everything that was in the skills section was very well done and has everything it needs, it just needs shortened but also she suggested to add in what software I have used and what equipment I have had experience using too.
Margaret also looked at my personal statement, in my statement I spoke about my skills not only in media but my skills overall as a person. After looking through this together, Margaret said that my personal statement is very good and well detailed throughout however it could’ve been shorted a little so it wasn’t too long. After looking through my CV we then looked at my showreel when Margaret was impressed by she said it looked “professional and well presented” which I was extremely happy with.
After asking Margaret a few questions about the job Margaret then thanked me for coming and said that I did ‘really well’ and that I would’ve got the job’.
Overall, I think that the interview went really well and I will make changes to my CV from the comments that Margaret gave me, I will shorten my experience by adding short summary and I will add in what equipment and softwares I have used before.
What changes have you made (if any) to your CV in response to your feedback? How do you think this will help you to achieve you own career goals?
I have made a few changes to my CV based on the comments I got given in my interview: I made short summaries about my work experience and added in what equipment and software I have used. I think this will help me in the future when applying for jobs in the media industry because it will let the employers know what equipment and software I have had experience with and also adding in the summaries will shorten my CV so it is detailed but snappy too.
How did you prepare for your mock interview?
I believe that I prepared well for my interview: I made sure that I had a copy of my showreel on a USB so I could show my work, I researched into the job and the company that the job is with: including the area and prices of the accommodation there, the hours of work, the duties of the job etc. I also took in a notebook into the interview to make notes of any comments that Margaret made so that I could reflect on them, so overall I think I prepared well.
Did you ask any questions in your interview, if you did what did you ask and why?
I only asked one question in my interview (because all other questions were answered when we were talking about the job):
“As I previously mentioned about relocating to London I have been looking at apartments and houses in the area and because of the price it would cost me to move to London would you mind me asking the pay and hours of work?” I asked this to get more of a realistic idea of whether it would benefit me to move to London.
What have you learnt from your mock interview and how will this help you achieve your own career goals?
I have learnt that I present my work well and it is really effective, I have also learnt to be well prepared (as I was) because it really helped me in my interview, I knew a lot about the company so each question I was asked about it I knew which made it flow easily and looked good for me too.
Advantages and disadvantages of CV, covering letter, interview, showreel
- A few advantages of using a CV to show your skills are firstly, you can clearly state your strengths and weakness’, you can go into detail about what your interests are and what you enjoy, when talking about your interests and strengths you can change them to suit the application, one of the most important parts of your CV is your experience and the previous jobs you have had, this shows the employer how much experience you have in the industry they are in and it also shows a lot about you as a person. For example f you have charity work etc on your experience it shows that you’re caring.
Although there are a lot of advantages for using your CV to show your skills there are a few disadvantages too, I think the main one is that you have to spend time changing a tweaking your CV to suit each job application, another may be that you need to keep your CV short which means you may not be able to put as much work in as you may want to. The last disadvantage is that if you don’t have a lot of experience you will be judged on that and may be less likely to get the job compared to other people even if you do have the skills for the job, so relevant experience needs to be on your CV for you to stand out.
- Advantages of using a covering letter: using a covering letter allows you to talk more about yourself and why you’re interested in the job, this lets the employer get to know more about you so what you put on your CV is vital to how you want to show yourself to other people. Another advantage is that its short but tells the employer all the important points from your CV in a summary.
The main disadvantage is that you have to be very careful with what you say as it could change how the employer thinks about you, it has a big impact on how they imagine you to be so putting something that could be interpreted another way may be risky and could be the reason you get hired or turned down.
- Interviews are very effective to show your skills, you can personally talk to someone and have a conversation rather than the employer reading what you say you can do, you can show the employer what you can do if you’re with them and also explain in more detail what you maybe didn’t in your CV. Interviews allow you to open up and go into more detail.
Disadvantages include: you maybe judged on how you act and if you’re nervous on the day about being judged on what you look like (for example) or about the overall interview, this may affect your application. Another advantage is that you may make mistakes or talk ‘informal’ out of habit when you’re being interviewed, this also may affect the way the interviewer thinks about you.
- Showreels allow you to show off your best work, this makes the employer see your work first hand and understand how much experience you have had, rather than you just telling them. You can use showreels to your advantage, even if employers don’t ask for one it is a good idea to show them one anyway as this makes you look more interested and passionate about the work you have done.
Disadvantages to using a show reel may be that you may not have a lot of experience and so it could end up really short and wont show off what you’re really capable of.
Hannah Walker 
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