Name: Anna
Degree: History, 2.1, Cambridge University (graduated 2001)
Other qualifications: MA History and Film
Current job: Multi-Platform Producer, BBC

1. What does your current job involve? Describe a typical day at work.

I’m responsible for the production of projects across the board within the BBC’s teen dept. This means that I work on TV, radio and online, and specifically look for ways to bring those three platforms together. There is no such thing as a typical day. Tasks can involve subbing colleagues’ work for an online article to sourcing music for a TV documentary to attending an editorial meeting for a radio show.

2. What other jobs have you had since graduating (including any others with your current employer)?

I started as a runner in the film industry, and realised that I couldn’t afford to live in London on the amount I was being paid. A friend told me about a research position on a Channel 5 quiz show back in my home town of Oxford. Through that I got a job working on Big Brother in London because it was made by the same production company (Endemol).

The fact that I’d worked on such a high-profile production allowed me to secure an interview with the BBC. I didn’t get the job I had applied for but I had impressed the panel and they thought of me when another contract role came up – a video sharing project in the days before YouTube. I completed my work on that and made contacts within the department, and when another opening came up they let me know about it.

Although I’ve done some unpaid work for my portfolio (which I would thoroughly recommend doing) I’ve only ever done two weeks’ proper work without being paid for my services. This is relatively rare.

3. What do you like most about your current job?

I like the fact that it’s fun, and I appreciate the fact that it’s much more fun than most of my friends’ jobs in London. The site that I work on is well-loved and we get loads of letters from young readers.

I also feel that we’re at the forefront of a new way of making programmes and that’s exciting.

4. What do you like least about your current job?

Being a multi-platform producer is a new way of working, and it can be exciting, but it can also be difficult leaping from one platform to another. On a bad day you wish you could just focus on just radio or TV or the web, but on a good day you realise that it’s an exciting way of working.

5. What are the most important skills required to do your job?

Problem-solving. Things can always be done – it’s just a case of working out how.

Communication – I work across three teams and have to try to bring them together.

Creativitiy – this is not to be underestimated. Being able to write well and engagingly, and to think of clever idea for features is invaluable.

6. What made you choose this career path?

Initially I wanted just to move to London, to have a good time, and to work in a creative role. That was it. That’s probably quite typical of a 21-year-old though, and it’s a worthy pursuit.

7. What did you want to be when you were 12?

A forensic pathologist. I still sort of do. I know I wouldn’t be any good at it though.

8. What is your long-term career goal?

I’d like to write a novel or something similar but then again, who doesn’t?

9. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

Stocktaking in the gift shop of the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Trapped underground, I was counting novelty thimbles for hours. At the time I thought it was a good job because I was paid £4 per hour.

10. What one tip would you give to someone currently at university wanting to pursue the same sort of career as you?

Don’t let people take the piss. The media can be depressing because there are so many people wanting to work in the industry that they’ll do anything to get ahead.

You have to believe in yourself – that your brain and your ability will count for something. Don’t work in shit jobs for long amounts of time for no money. It’s better to pursue your creative ambitions in your free time while doing a job that pays you a living wage than it is to struggle along in a job that pays you nothing.