New Entrant Natalie O’Rourke took up a placement at Libra Television through Vision+Media's Plug In Placement scheme and she has now secured a full-time permanent contract as an Assistant Editor/Production Secretary at Libra TV. Read what benefits the New Entrant Plug In Placement provided, to help develop her skills and progress on to the career path she desired.
I started my Plug In New Entrant Placement in November 2008 at Libra TV, having found out about the position through the Vision+ Media website. The position I acquired was a Trainee Production Secretary on a 3 month contract. Since starting, I have not stopped learning.
My first day was a little scary, as I had never worked in production before. I had previously worked at Granada TV for 6 months since graduating from university, but this was in post-production. Having being made very welcome by the lovely employees at Libra TV on my first day, I was soon settled in at my placement. During the next 3 months I received constant advice from my mentors through Vision+Media about improving my skills and writing a good CV. They were also people who listened to you and understood both your ambitions and concerns.
At the end of my 3 month placement I was offered a one year contract as a Production Secretary. This year was most definitely a learning curve. I have received bespoke training for professional sound recording, which has led on to boom operating on location. I attended a Skillset-based Production Management course, which led to receiving 30 credits towards a Masters degree. I have also developed my post-production skills and now manage the offline edit suite we have here. It’s definitely a varied role, but also an enjoyable one!
The year’s contract with Libra TV ended in February 2010 and I was lucky enough to be offered a permanent staff position at Libra TV as Assistant Editor/Production Secretary.
The Plug In Placement allowed me to start off in production at an independent company, where I was able to develop my skills a little quicker. It is definitely a good idea to get involved as you can learn the skills required to do the job whilst actually on the job, giving you a great starting point for your career in media.
Natalie
For more information about New to the Industry Plug In Placements see the Placements page in the Skills & Training section of this website.
