Three Skills You Should Learn to Break into the Entertainment Industry

Using video editing software on your laptop won’t be as powerful as professional systems…but it can get pretty close

People with skills get the jobs…but what skills exactly?

Let’s handle the initial part of the statement first and answer why skills are what matter so much to employers.

Businesses today expect you to hit the ground running and the best way to do that is by hiring people that have the skill profile they need, rather than spend time and money training people with potential.

Pretty straightforward, right?

That said, it’s not exactly a good plan to learn the ukulele and consider that a skill. You have to match your education plan with what employers need. Although learning the ukulele does sound cool, it’s not going to help you get a job.

Let’s focus on three skills everyone can learn and benefit from:

Photoshop

Your first instinct is probably, ‘I’m not a designer why in the world would Photoshop help me?’ Well, almost 400 active jobs on our job board list Photoshop as a job requirement, and not just design jobs:

• Executive Assistant
• Digital Producer
• Production Assistant
• Video Editor
• Project Coordinator
• Copywriter
• Online Marketing

These are all job titles that aren’t specifically about design, but have elements of it as part of the job description.

For jobs related to social media and any types of content creation, Photoshop is a skill that plays a huge role because so much of what is created on those platforms are visual.

Learn Photoshop and you’ll find a whole world of opportunities that you are now qualified for.

Avid

Consider Avid a bucket term for any non-linear editing system – Quantel, Final Cut Pro, EVS, Adobe Premiere Pro – they all apply to this conversation.

Being able to edit and manipulate video fills an essential role in Television, Film and Digital Media – or even if you want to create professional looking videos on YouTube and social media.

These programs used to be hundreds of thousands of dollars, now they can be had on your laptop for a few hundred or less. And getting appropriate professional training is also easy to find online.

The great thing is, once you know one system, the others are similar enough you can pick them up quickly. No need to learn 5 different programs, learn the concepts and basic process of one and you’ll see your resume begin to stand out from the crowd.

Market Research 

Those who hold sales jobs suffer from a flawed cultural perception that they are cold-calling pushy people. But on a truly professional level, not in a call center or the mall, sales jobs require a great deal of presentation skills, charisma and detailed research.

Lets focus on the last point there – successful sales people know market research, and providers like Scarborough, ComScore, MRI and Forrester are the pillars of the industry.

They are able to measure things like internet analytics, media usage across platforms, lifestyle trends and shopping patterns. Knowing how to read and analyze the data provided by these market research companies is how sales people make persuasive pitches to potential clients…and big commissions.

Final Thought

These are stand out skills, the perfect combination of what employers need, and what you can learn, without having to go back to school for another degree.