Fellow PE / LP/ Producer types... has anyone had any success finding alternative work whilst there's so little of what we usually do?It makes me sad but back in November I said we all had to give ourselves a deadline for 'waiting' for the industry to pick up and alas mine has arrivedIt's imperative for me to be working - I feel utterly lost with no routine, deflated with no end in sight and frankly frightened as my savings depleteI've explored alternative - what I thought were realistic... Read more
Fellow PE / LP/ Producer types... has anyone had any success finding alternative work whilst there's so little of what we usually do?
It makes me sad but back in November I said we all had to give ourselves a deadline for 'waiting' for the industry to pick up and alas mine has arrived
It's imperative for me to be working - I feel utterly lost with no routine, deflated with no end in sight and frankly frightened as my savings deplete
I've explored alternative - what I thought were realistic transferable paths - to no avail. I've actually had a recruiter tell me that my CV was so entirely irrelevant that she wouldn't waste the recruitment teams time sharing it... seemingly a near 20 year career doesn't hold the worth I'd hoped!
So I'm genuinely interested to hear your experiences - what else are you doing or where else have you had success?
All thoughts and advice welcome - and DMs fine as appreciate it may be personal 🙏
It makes me sad but back in November I said we all had to give ourselves a deadline for 'waiting' for the industry to pick up and alas mine has arrived
It's imperative for me to be working - I feel utterly lost with no routine, deflated with no end in sight and frankly frightened as my savings deplete
I've explored alternative - what I thought were realistic transferable paths - to no avail. I've actually had a recruiter tell me that my CV was so entirely irrelevant that she wouldn't waste the recruitment teams time sharing it... seemingly a near 20 year career doesn't hold the worth I'd hoped!
So I'm genuinely interested to hear your experiences - what else are you doing or where else have you had success?
All thoughts and advice welcome - and DMs fine as appreciate it may be personal 🙏
That recruiter really got it wrong. There’s so much that can be pulled from your experience that could be rephrased in a manner which could be applied to so many other areas. Just because they didn’t know how to digest what was on offer, they decided it wouldn’t be appetising, nor indeed nourishing, to others. Bad metaphor over.
Things I’ve done when I’ve (briefly) left tele:
1. Look to my other interests and what I did for fun.
This lead me to go from improv classes to teaching improv in schools and indeed running effective communication workshops and training in universities
Saturday acting classes (purely for fun) resulted in hearing about auditions which lead me to tour Italy for many months with a Theatre in Education programme, putting on plays and teaching English through gamified learning.
During my time as a Continuity Producer, after directing loads of talent, I decided it would be fun to get in front of the mic and that demo tape got me signed with two agencies. It’s not a side hustle I can pay the rent with, but it’s certainly helped.
2. Look to any volunteer experiences.
I’ve always had an interest in skill building and “soft skills”/communication training. When an opportunity to volunteer at Comic Relief to help run their Learning Week through their Learning and Development team came up, I jumped at it. I thought it might be the perfect marriage of my love of Comedy, having bounced around improv stages and “worked the door” to many comedy night, as well as my interest in L&D, not to mention my TV background, and that it might make for a great “in” to Comic Relief’s production arm.
It didn’t.
But what it did do, alongside a conversation with someone I had 8 years prior (!) was line me up with an incredible role at eBay as their Learning & Development Partner, running brilliant onboarding and learning sessions with a formidable group of people, who saw what I could bring to the table from outside the e-commerce industry.
Other random interest have lead to:
- organising guest speakers and networking opportunities for top talent in finance and politics over fancy pants breakfasts
- data entry for a business coach, with a focus on neuroscience, which I was very much into at the time
- managing a yoga studio for little pay, but scoring all the yoga and Pilates classes I could handle (much needed to help maintain my own sanity at the time)
- a brief stint as a dog walker for a couple of actors (because dogs!)
All this to say, that this, too, shall pass. You will come out the other side stronger, even though you might have moment of not feeling it right now.
Your words have been such a source of strength and positivity to so many on this platform. Thank you!
(Is there something to be explored there? Whether it be a blog or vlog, which so many would draw strength and inspiration from?)
So please, ignore the opinions that don’t serve you from those who aren’t there to help you. Reach out to those who are. Explore that which brings you joy. Say “Yes!” to newfound connections and random opportunities. And know that if you find yourself having to pick up a little dog poop along the way, this too, shall pass.
I think Helen has given the perfect answer about following what interests you. I'm doing a little bit of event consultancy work for a sport I've been volunteering for long term and training to be a volunteer Panel Member for Children's Hearings Scotland which make legal decisions about care for young people. It's intensive, diploma level learning and whilst it'll never pay the bills, it's increasing my transferable skills, keeping my brain very much active and giving me a sense of purpose
In the back of my mind, I'm thinking same as you.... What the hell am I going to do in March if commissioning hasn't picked up and/or I'm "over qualified"/too expensive for slim pickings. Thank you for speaking up. You're not alone!!