The M&E industry is forecast to grow by up to 36% by 2025, translating into almost 19,000 more Production jobs. But the current skills shortage created by this growth is felt not only across highly specialised positions, but in all “below the line” roles.

The current scene for candidates…

The film and TV industry has put forward a different and attractive lifestyle for a lot of professionals with valuable skills. As a freelance model, this can provide a substantial safety net, with guaranteed gigs within high-end TV – especially multi-part series. Less so however, within documentary, children’s and unscripted shows, that pay less and are shorter assignments.

Many professionals in this space confess to a “constant low-level terror” when it comes to securing their next contract or role. And while sending emails and trying to organise coffee meetings with producers and inhouse recruiters can be tricky to juggle at times, strong relationships with external recruitment partners have proven to be very successful.

For companies…

When it comes to potential workers from under-represented groups and younger candidates, making it easier to enter the industry could be the winning strategy. Making the roles more secure, with more formal training would appeal to Millennials and Gen Z’s. Relying on goodwill and umbrella industry organisations and campaigns to effect change won’t be enough to meet the growth demands.

Whereas “the magic allure of storytelling” is attracting people to work in these fast-growing, quite fragmented industries, the demand is set to increase dramatically, as content consumption rises. The key solution, highlighted by some of the companies we partner with, is working with a trusted recruitment partner like Rethink, who with highly experienced teams and extensive networks, can ease the burden of finding quality talent for an upcoming project.

Skills set to be in high demand within M&E in 2023:

• Video editing

• Animation

• Creative writing

• Digital Marketing

• Multimedia Design

• Audio Engineering

• Photography

• Video Game design

• Music production

Market shifts need reliable partners

For the past 24 months, there have been numerous market shifts for Production, Media, and Entertainment companies. And where priorities changed, what has stayed constant is the need to fill specialised positions that require very niche qualifications quickly.

Developing long-term partnerships with a recruitment outsourcing business would support such hiring surges and help deliver against the ambitious objectives. An outsourcing recruitment partner can not only provide valuable insights into the current job market, but provide accurate data on current wage trends, job availability, and predictions. This can help companies make informed decisions about their recruitment efforts and ensure they’re investing in the best talent. For this reason, our Projects team at Rethink is constantly building candidate pools that can speed up the recruitment process for our customers.

Outsourcing talent demands will ultimately help save time and resource. Instead of investing in their own recruiting efforts, M&E and Production companies can outsource the end-to-end recruitment process to a partner who is experienced in finding the exact people for the job. However, that’s just one benefit, as running parallel to this, the partner will create a positive reputation of the company brand with future candidates, showing the company as a desirable place to work, leading to future higher quality applicants and an all-round better working environment.

What’s left for the current team to refocus their resource on? The production itself.

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