How do I break into corporate video?

[Robert Mcgunnigle]

Tim,

What you described with Govt. work sounds like what I’m looking for! So how do I take the first step? I’ve become very familiar with the ‘broadcast’ way of job hunting, but outside of that…it seems like you need to know the ‘secret handshake’ to break in! Thanks for the input!

Rob

There’s no shelf-life on creativity.

[Richard Crowley]

The other responders have all made excellent points. Note further that there is probably LESS job security in “corporate video” than in most other corporate jobs. It is increasingly seen as “peripheral” and is a target of downsizing and outsourcing. And it appears that internal corporate media production groups frequently seem to price themselves right out of most of the day-to-day jobs.

In-house production for a government agency would appear to be more “secure”. Government appears to just continue expanding regardless of the economy (and the politics in power at the moment.)

As someone in a big corporation (but NOT in production) I can confirm that contractors are hired by individuals in the corp and get the bigger and more complex jobs which can’t be handled in-house.

[Kevin Rossiter]

grin … I agree with you completely here.

Speak to them and tell them your rates.

Like many here, I get many emails offering voice, acting, camera, animation, design, and various video multimedia services.

They get filed somewhere 😉

The ones that get past my attention threshold are those that:

a) call me up

b) make me an offer I can’t refuse.

Although our production company is doing okay, video and multimedia work is tougher to find and tender margins much tighter.

So I need to hear from people who plaster their best rate right up front, and make me a great offer.

But – and here’s the rub – most applicants say “hmmm … I negotiate on an individual job basis. Tell me about a job first, then I’ll make an offer”

This is answering my question with a question.

It might have worked 2 years ago, but today. No thanks.

I hope I don’t sound too harsh, but I need great rates as well as great skills, and I need to know inside 30 seconds

Tell me your rate, tell me your link, and maybe, just maybe …

Rossiter & Co Video Multimedia Web for Business
http://www.rossiterandco.com

[Timothy J. allen]

I can’t speak to local or state employment since I’ve only freelanced at that level, but my big break for federal government work came through an ad that a large contractor placed through tvjobs.com to augment their staff during a contract bid proposal 10 years ago. I actually didn’t know a soul at NASA until I started working there.

Most, if not all of the largest federal contractors bid on video related service contracts from time to time, so they are a great source of employment within the federal government.

For shorter-term jobs, I’ve placed ads for subcontractors and freelancers through the typical job sites like monster.com, right here on creativecow.net in the “jobs offered” forum, and yes… craigslist. (To be honest we never hired anyone from craigslist, but if the right applicant had come along through that route, we would have.)

Anyway, if you are interested in a federal government gig, I’d suggest that you focus your efforts towards a large contractor or directly with the U.S. government.

Here is a link to the top 100 federal contractors for 2009:
https://washingtontechnology.com/toplists/top-100-lists/2009.aspx

For a federal civil servant job, the best way is still to know someone for references, but you ultimately need to apply through this website:
https://www.usajobs.gov

There are benefits and drawbacks to being a civil servant or a contractor, so you would probably have an inherent preference for one role or the other… but that’s a topic for another thread.