I gave my career pitch to my tutor and industry professional; Tanya Vital.
tanyavital.com
Feedback:
My presentation came across well with a good introduction to my career. My opportunities were clearly highlighted and similarly so were my industry contacts. However, a few of these that I highlighted came across as vague and could have used some more time to cover them in greater detail.
I mentioned working on my networking skills. Although I do already know how to network with professionals in the industry on a basic level, I lack the confidence and often don’t find the opportunity. In order to improve these skills, I have attended an interview workshop with Leeds Grand Theatre (see interview workshop page) and have started to look for more opportunities. For example, talking to guest lecturers.
Concerning promotion and marketing, I feel that these are skills in my strength category. I think this is because I am a creative person, who keeps up to date with trends and is willing to learn. With social media, everything is always changing so it is important to keep in the loop. Mainly, my expertise lies with Instagram and using Canva to create coherent posts.
As a manager, it is important to be good at time-keeping. Oftentimes, I feel like I can be good at this aspect of the job but without a detailed and meticulous plan, I struggle. So in order to improve I will plan by creating a detailed but easy-to-follow schedule.
Another topic that I identified was the kinds of skills needed in both business and self-employment. My knowledge of these will enable me to successfully run a brand or business in live events in the future.
After looking at the pros and cons of self-employment, I have developed a good understanding. One improvement I could make is conducting some further research, which will allow me to make an informed decision on the way I conduct my future business and build on my current knowledge.
In my research of wage statistics in event management, I made some clear discoveries about what my future income could be. Something that could be explored further is what these stats look like specifically for self-employment. Similarly, I should look at average statistics for the overall creative industries.
I was able to identify some key debates and issues within the industry that could potentially affect my future career. Knowing about these and keeping up to date with new ones can allow me to adapt my career and be prepared for any changes in the industry. Although I covered the gender pay gap and under-representation of women, I may need to look into other debates. I would like to tackle such issues in future by hiring female musicians and crew where possible and collaborating with more women in general also.
Bradford’s City of Culture bid was approved and will open up a lot of opportunities for musicians and other creatives in the city. There are set to be 1000 new performances in the year and that is a perfect opportunity for me to organise some events of my own and get funding for these.
Finally, my SWOT analysis was good. It clearly highlights my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. I am aware of what I need to improve on and where to look for potential work.