In Person Interview - Project Validation

As part of this Professional Experience module, we were given a chance to refine our in-person interview skills either with a representative from your industry, a member of the careers and employability team or even an academic. At the start of the preparation for this, we were given a list of companies to research, as I was under the impression we would be talking to a representative of that company, I explored their company and their goals. On the day, I spoke with a man called Darren from ExpressFM which was not the company I was expecting to talk to, this resulted in me having to think from scratch. The questions asked were not exactly related to film, but rather about work ethic and professional attitude towards colleagues or collaborators, I expected this as, especially in the film industry, people are hired because of their work attitude and their reliability rather than an impeccable knowledge of cameras or post production workflows. 

We discussed how I would go about solving various problems such as an unpleasant coworker, a friend dealing with mental health issues or other logistical problems that might arise on set, I said that the main aim is to always stay professional and polite, if somebody is dragging down the team, in terms of morale or efficiency, talk to them like an adult and approach the situation with an open mind, if this does not work, let somebody else know who may be able to deal with this better.  We also discussed a few examples of where I displayed reliability in my field. I spoke about how on many occasions, my lecturers and peers have asked for my help onset on very short notice, and I was always available to help and ensure the project stayed on track. My interview results fell mostly in the “strong” and “outstanding” categories. Overall, this experience gave me some confidence going into industry interviews. It confirmed that my approach to professionalism and collaboration aligns with what is expected in any industry, however, another thing I took away from this experience was that in the film industry, a very small portion of on-set jobs are interviewed, it would mostly be a case of "We need a reliable PA on set in 2 days" and if people like you, they'll bring you back before even thinking of looking at a CV. That's what I've learned about how recruitment in the film industry works, I can safely assume that most other industries are not that simple.