Foot in the door

“Getting your foot in the door” is a bit of a funny phrase if you think about it. It’s generally considered the goal when starting out in media. But the origins of the phrase relate to door stop sellers blocking the closing of a potential customer’s door with their foot. It’s quite aggressive really and I’m sure the people who couldn’t close their door were often quite annoyed.

Luckily the phrase has evolved somewhat since its inception. Most people in the media don’t want to close the door on people if they can help it, many try to actively help with advice, and most people trying to start out, if they want to get anywhere, don’t take the aggressive approach.

Last week I attended the Radio Academy’s “Foot in the door” event at the Radio festival in Salford, Just across from Media City UK. It was well worth the stress of getting there (a bit of road in Greater Manchester that should have taken 10 minuets to drive took an hour and a half. Crazy)

For those that haven’t heard of the event, the format is that those just starting out in the industry get a chance to move from table of guest speakers to table of guest speakers to ply them for advice. It’s basically speed dating but instead of a date you get advice.

The tables are themed on topics to kick off the conversation; “How do I get on air”, “Freelancing in Radio”, “What is station branding?”, with two to four relevant speakers on each. You don’t have their undivided attention of course; There are 5 other delegates to a table. Not every table may be relevant to your career ambitions. I personally don’t have much interest in working on the news teams at a radio station but I still found my time on the table about journalism interesting, if only to learn more about the other areas of the industry I hope to forge my career in.

Networking is one of the key necessities of getting into the media industry. I’ve been to a few networking events this year, some organised by the BBC for those on the Talent Pool scheme, others structured like a show where speakers are interviewed on stage. The format of “Foot in the door” has been particularly useful for getting the directed advice individuals are seeking. I picked up lots of useful tips that will hopefully  help me along my path, met some really interesting people who, one day, I may get the chance to work with and I even ran into a few of my old university tutors so got the nostalgic factor in there as well.

If you’re looking to get into radio I’d seriously recommend going to this event next year. It’s one of the more affordable elements of the Radio Festival (only £24 for Radio Academy members, some of the other events at the festival can be eye-watering at hundreds of pounds a ticket)

If you didn't make it this year but wish you had perhaps I can help by paraphrasing the advice I personally found most useful from it.

• Don’t stop making content – Always have something you’ve just done and something you’re working on so you have stuff you can talk about with potential employers.
• Best way to approach independent companies is with ideas. Pitch them something, if they like it you may just find you’ve got yourself a job.
• Don’t be pushy, don’t make the first thing you e-mail a company a plee for a job. Ask if you can meet for coffee because you would appreciate their advice. Coffee is king in media land.