Focus on a career behind the camera

If an Oxbridge degree was once the only key with which to unlock a role in production at the BBC, then the newest kids on the block are notable for the sheer diversity of their backgrounds.

After an absence of six years, the BBC Production Trainee Scheme – which launched the career of director general Mark Thompson and that of many senior commissioners and content-makers – reopened this year with a range of talent that would have been unthinkable in the days of Lord Reith.

The 19 trainees – who beat off more than 3,000 hopefuls to secure the £19,000 a year plum positions – include both a black, ex stand-up comedian from Lewisham in South London and an ex-scaffolder with a Masters degree in social anthropological analysis.

Only three are from Oxbridge, but all have hands-on media experience via student or community radio stations, university websites or newspapers.

Julie Dark, head of operations, schemes and communications at BBC Training & Development, says she is delighted that 20 per cent of the crop come from an ethnic minority background and stresses that "by no means could they all be described as posh kids".

"What they do have is a passion for media and an empathy with our audience as well as outstanding creative potential," she says. "Not only does each of them have good ideas of their own, but they are able to work with others to develop great programmes; a skill we rate very highly."

Broadcasting remains a highly competitive field where comparatively high rewards can be tempered by limited job security. But the good news is that whatever your degree subject, it will probably be relevant and for the most part, the industry remains a meritocracy open to anyone with talent and drive.

As with all creative careers, it is worth remembering that there are a whole range of openings on the more technical side – broadcast engineer, floor manager, props manager, location manager, runner – that traditionally attract fewer applications than "limelight" jobs in journalism or presenting, but which may need specific skills.

Whether it's technical or programme content though, the new, more diverse media landscape requires broadcast professionals to be proficient across a range of different media platforms. Yet the qualities that attract employers stay roughly the same.

"I get angry when I receive applications from students who can neither spell nor use grammar properly, but I get tired when the application letter comes from a final-year student who has only just decided that they'd like to work in broadcasting," says Rob Kirk, editorial development manager at Sky News.

"If you've left it that long to even be interested in such a competitive career and have no portfolio of work to show us, then I would say it is probably too late."

Although Sky News currently has no formal graduate training scheme, it offers three weeks of valuable work placements to at least 80 or 90 student journalists each year and around one in five of them end up as either staff or freelance contributors.

The majority of placements; all unpaid, involve research, planning and writing in areas such as Sky News Online, Sky News Business, Sky News Sport, Sky News Radio or Sunday Live with Adam Boulton.

Kirk says: "We want to see an understanding of what's happening in the world as well as evidence of some quality work for a student outlet or some paid-for freelance experience. Students committed to multimedia news, with a thorough experience of online journalism, are particularly attractive to us."

While traditionally the BBC Production Trainee Scheme has been London-based and TV-oriented, the new approach is now determinedly national and multi-platform.

"The course will cover all the corporation's content output including TV, radio, web and perhaps HDTV and trainees will move around the country working on networks such as BBC One and the Asian Network and programmes such as Blue Peter and Woman's Hour," says Julie Dark.

"They may find themselves working on TV one day and working on a website the next; giving them a broad spread of face-to-face training, online learning and TV, radio or new media placements. I'm already looking forward to seeing their names on our programme credits."

'I'm learning a lot from the other trainees'

Will Smith, a 21-year-old business and management graduate from Lewisham, South London, developed a weekly sketch show on his MySpace webpage while at Leicester University and later became a warm-up act for the American comedian Chris Rock. A spell of work experience at the BBC led him to apply, successfully, for a place on this year's Production Trainee Scheme.

"Being here is like getting paid to learn and I'm already being allowed to do far more than I expected. I already know that I want to be behind the camera, not in front of it, and I also know that I'm very interested in radio as well as TV; perhaps on a comedy show, but probably not anything to do with business.

My first placement is Blue Peter, where I'm doing everything from researching to assisting on the technical side. My strength is in seeing the funny side of things and in communicating with the audience and l'll be bearing this in mind when it comes to helping shape content.

As a viewer, I rate The Office and Extras very highly and on the radio, I like the way that Vanessa [Feltz] seems really in touch with the society around her.

I don't know anyone in the media, nor do I have family in it, so I'm coming to it fresh and learning a lot from the other trainees.

I've got a fairly different voice, I suppose, and maybe that will be one of my strengths too. All I know is that by getting on this course and having the breaks I've had so far, I feel blessed."