Career question for video & graphics pros

[Thomas Veil]

I'm in a very nice job doing video production for a local cable facility. I work with professional equipment and programs -- DV cameras and decks, Media 100, After Effects, etc.

But it's only part time. Not really enough to live on.

Yesterday I went to a very disappointing job interview. The ad was rather misleading. It is video production, but it's a staff of one, the hardware is little consumer DV cameras and 1990s-era prosumer editing decks, and there is no computer software.

It is, however, a full time job. And those are hard to come by in my field.

I've very good reason to think they're going to offer me the job. If they do, my family wants me to take it.

Every instinct tells me to run like hell from this thing. Yes, the extra money would be nice. Yes, I need it. No, it would not be a good career move. In fact, I think it would probably be disastrous. I can't see any future potential employer taking me seriously after seeing that as my most recent job experience.

What do you think?

 

[Blue Velvet]

Any chance of developing the post while you're there? Growing something and leaving it in a much better state? That's always an excellent career move.

When I started in my current job, much of the equipment was rudimentary but after a couple of years I got my sweaty paws onto a three-yearly £20,000 (US$37,000) software and hardware budget with spectacular consequences.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

why isn't your current job full time? is there any way you can parlay it into a full time gig? or take up freelance work to supplement it? being in the same field as you, and not even being able to get a part time job, i can totally relate. it's a tough call since you have responsibilities to others to provide for them, but you also want to remain sane, and being in a dead end job may not help that. as blue said though, what about the ability to grow the position/company once you're there?

good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Growing the job: From what they told me in the interview, yes, but it could be a long time in coming. I'm really gun-shy about this, because in my very first job in the field, I started in a position very similar to this one (that I interviewed for). Once I took the job, administrative support dried up, and while it did finally grow, it took 14 years. In retrospect, I regret staying around and waiting that long.

The businesses are very much the same -- health care. Non-profit.

Current job: No real justification to make the job full time at the moment. There was one existing full time slot that opened, but another person got it. We were equally qualified, it was a 50-50 chance...and I lost. Another reason my family thinks I should leave my current job.

And actually, I agree on that point...but I see too much downside on this potential job to just jump at it.

Freelance work: I'm thinking any supplemental part time job, even package delivery, is preferable to the full time job I interviewed for. I'd have two part time jobs, and that's not as good as full time, but IMO it removes the career risk factor. My family doesn't see it that way, though.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

hmm. well to me it seems you should do what's best for your sanity and stay with the part time, and get another on the side. do you have enough equipment to do some of your own video work? otherwise, another part time job like you said could do the trick.

now, when you say family, what do you mean? wife and kids? parents and siblings? or what? i just ask because i think some parts of your family would be more affected than others by your job situation and thus their opinion should be weighed more or less importantly in that light.

ps. if you take the new job (or even at your current one), can you somehow get me hired?

 

[Thomas Veil]

The family is my wife, my daughter and my mother-in-law, who has Alzheimer's. My wife stays home and watches her.

My daughter's in her final year of college and getting married next year. Because of my low income, she's actually gotten plenty of loans and grants through FSA -- although that changed this year because my income went up slightly, putting me in a different bracket.

Oh, and entry jobs, jelloshotsrule? If you live in the Cleveland/Akron area, be my guest to try for the same job I applied for! At least it's a foot in the door. I actually had to start as a switchboard operator for a local TV station to get into the biz.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

well your situation is obviously more complicated than someone like me with no one dependent on me... i'm really not sure what to do. i think your own sanity in whatever job you have is still very important, but it's also important to take into account how well the job enables you to take care of those you love. are you struggling financially now? would the new job make things much better? what are you doing now to supplement the video part time gig since you say it's not quite enough to live on?

i think that if the only reason your family wants you to go to the new job is the money, and you're willing to get a second job that will provide additional money without (and this is key) greatly reducing your free time to spend with family, then i'd say stay, and get another part time job. there's always temping!

if however they think it's a better career move, as you implied i think, then that's their opinion, but you would know better than they, i'd imagine... so go with your gut.


as for my job situation... hah. i'm willing to take PA jobs and such, but even those are tough to get, especially when they are relatively rare in my area (DC)... but something will come through, i'm sure.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Well, I also went today to apply for a dumb little PT job with a local promotional mailing company. Tonight they called and want me to come in tomorrow. So I guess I'll do that for a while.

The pay is pretty low, but it doesn't require me to give up my current job, as this other one would. So at least I'd have some additional income.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

do you find that you don't get responses about jobs if you are overqualified?

i'm frustrated because lately i haven't been getting responses from job openings i've applied for, whether they're above, below, or seemingly at my level... all i want is a damn acknowledgement (followed by a job offer-hah)!

uggh.

how strict, time wise, is your current job? ie, does it have regular hours or can you work around a second job?

 

[Thomas Veil]

do you find that you don't get responses about jobs if you are overqualified?

No...I find I don't get responses about jobs.

You and I probably know this more than anybody: it's an attractive field, and they teach it in a lot of colleges, despite the fact that the graduate-to-job ratio is probably something like 30-1. So for every job out there, even the lousier ones, there seem to be at least 30 people beating down the doors to get it. (Add the unqualified guys who just know they can do the job because they videotaped their sister's wedding once, and the numbers go a lot higher.)

Adding to the frustration are several other factors. One is that there's an unfortunate tendency for corporate video departments to want to put their people also in charge of AV stuff like slide projectors, document cameras and videoconferencing. And in many of the jobs this stuff takes precedence over genuine video work, so that the bulk of the time you are not using your hard-earned skills and creativity, but are playing at being an IT professional or, worse, a high school AV guy.

And if they don't want you to be an all-in-one video/AV/IT guy, they want you to be a video/graphics/web guy. I can't tell you how many jobs I haven't bothered to apply for because they want you to know not only programs like Avid and After Effects, but also Illustrator and Dreamweaver.

IMO, that's less egregious, because it does seem these fields are merging and crossing over more than ever. But it's still asking a lot of one person, I think. After I get my job situation settled (so I know when my time will be free), I'm going to take classes in some of the programs I don't know.

how strict, time wise, is your current job? ie, does it have regular hours or can you work around a second job?

Regular hours, always evenings, but with occasional extra hours during the day or on weekends. The extra hours part, they're flexible about.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

so what did you end up deciding, thomas?