CAREER ROADMAP

MEDIA/ENTERTAINMENT

OVERVIEW
In entertainment and sports, the profits come from discretionary spending, so these industries enjoy the most success in economically stable countries where leisure dollars flow freely. Industry companies supply their audiences with large-scale sporting events, music concerts, TV situation comedies, and silver-screen masterpieces. Simply put, they're in the business of fun.

Even during economically depressed periods, this industry flourishes as an escape from hard times—for all walks of life. And standing at the pinnacle of entertainment culture are the celebrities: the movie stars and quarterbacks and rock stars and talk-show hostesses who seem to realize our dreams and thereby give us hope. This is the only industry whose product is an illusion—neither a good nor a service, and yet both at the same time.

The culture in this industry is one of anti-corporate, studied casualness. There are still uniforms— an ever-changing array of baseball caps and jackets in the music business, for example. But they're invariably less starchy, more expressive of individualism, than anything worn to work in the fields of finance or law. The people? Well, there's no people like show people, and the sports world has even more pep. This is a high-energy crowd. It's also a big-ego crowd, and working with its members can be both stimulating and frustrating.

There are two pieces of information that every person should know about the entertainment industry before they consider a career in it:

1) Everybody wants to work in the entertainment industry, so jobs in this field pay less than they otherwise would.

2) The entertainment industry doesn’t typically hire MBA’s so there is very little recruiting of MBA’s.  Because of this, networking is essential in getting a job.

Source: Wet Feet Press

 PRINT RESOURCES – available in the CDO

American Art Directory – lists art organizations, art schools, museums. And libraries in the U.S. and abroad; art magazines, scholarship and fellowship information.

Plunkett's Entertainment & Media Industry Almanac - profiles on companies, with the latest statistics and trends in film, video, radio, books and on-line publishing.

The Vault Reports Career Guide to Media & Entertainment – insider profiles of more than 60 top employers and specific tips on breaking into the industry.

U.S. Directory of Entertainment Employers - profiles of approximately 2,500 top employers in the entertainment industry.

ArtSEARCH - The National Employment Bulletin for the Arts.

Online Resources

Showbiz Jobs - entertainment industry job postings.
http://www.showbizjobs.com/dsp_jobsearch.cfm

Entertainment Careers.net - http://www.entertainmentcareers.net/

Hollywood Reporter - http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/index.jsp

Media Bistro - http://www.mediabistro.com/

NATPE – National Association of Television Program Executives

http://www.natpe.org/

Variety - http://www.variety.com/

ONLINE SUSCRIPTIONS

http://www.4entertainmentjobs.com/  Password protected (see the CDO).

Additional Job Search Web Sites - http://www.yale.edu/careers/jswebsites/jswebdefault.asp

Media & Entertainment Career Preparation Timeline

	Internships	Full-Time
Pre-academic year summer	Research firms of interest and note deadlines for on and off campus recruiting deadlines Draft resume and cover letters	Craft resume and cover letters Inform CDO of interest in this field Network with alums and second years who have worked in this field
September	Inform CDO of interest in this field Revise cover letters and resume Identify and network with alums and second years involved in this field	Begin researching companies for your pitches Revise cover letters and resume Develop contacts at firms that do not recruit on campus Drop resumes
October	Revise cover letters and resume Develop contacts at firms that do not recruit on campus	Drop resumes Plan to have your pitch prior to your first interview Update CDO on progress and meet with consultants to refine strategy based on interview feedback
November	Revise cover letters and resume Attend campus presentations Meet with CDO consultants to refine personal story and interview skills Drop resumes	Update CDO on progress and meet with consultants to refine strategy based on interview feedback Participate in mock interview program
December	Meet with CDO consultants to refine personal story and interview skills Drop resumes Contact companies around holidays and over break	Update CDO on progress and meet with consultants to refine strategy based on interview feedback
January	Update CDO on progress and meet with consultants to refine strategy based on interview feedback	Update CDO on progress and meet with consultants to refine strategy based on interview feedback
February	Continue to practice, practice, practice for interviews Update CDO on progress and meet with consultants to refine strategy based on interview feedback	Update CDO on progress and meet with consultants to refine strategy based on interview feedback
March	Continue to practice, practice, practice for interviews Update CDO on progress and meet with consultants to refine strategy based on interview feedback	Continue to practice, practice, practice for interviews Update CDO on progress and meet with consultants to refine strategy based on interview feedback
April	Review outstanding offers with CDO and negotiate terms Identify staffing manager at firm where offer is accepted and start developing a relationship	Review outstanding offers with CDO and negotiate terms Identify staffing manager at firm where offer is accepted and start developing a relationship
May	Network with key contacts and alums.
June, July and August	Internship experience Network with key contacts and alums
Post-academic year summer	Evaluate whether summer internship experience provided you with the information needed to target full time employment opportunities