Designs on TV career
Graphic artist Zoe works for BT Sport
FOR the thousands of young people facing final exams at University now is also the time to start thinking about getting your foot in the door of prospective employers.
Get on the right graduate scheme after you bag your degree and you’ll be on your way to a successful career.
No one knows this better than graphic designer Zoe Payne, 23, of Fleet, Hants, who found herself a glamorous two-year scheme with BT Sport.
What does your job involve?
The very first show I worked on when I started back in September was The Clare Balding Show.
I was so excited, especially when I saw Clare and everyone on set. It was a complete rebrand which included designing a new logo, titles, splodges, stings, name tags, in-show and studio graphics, and set design.
This taught me so much in a short time about what is required for a TV show’s graphics package. The studios also host various events which sometimes need graphics on the night.
A couple I’ve worked on so far were The Action Women Awards 2017 and The BT Challenge Cup. I have learnt a whole new area of design, the world of TV. Not only did I have to learn what had to be delivered in a graphics package but also how a TV production is made. I’ve been lucky enough to do workshops down in the studio to understand a variety of different roles that are necessary to create a show and bring it to air.
There’s so much more that goes on than I originally thought.
Do you ever get star-struck?
I have to confess that seeing Rio Ferdinand on set with Gary Lineker for the Champions League was exciting. The highlight for me has got to be attending the Action Women Awards night and seeing my graphics used at a live UK broadcast.
Are you sporty?
I’ve always loved watching sport so it’s the perfect fit for me.
What were you doing before you joined BT?
I studied at Falmouth University for a graphic design degree. In my third year, last year, I started to look at what types of graduate schemes were available for my subject, which turned out to be very limited.
I applied for about 10 different schemes. It was exhausting, especially as it was all around doing my final exams. I’d done some great work experience during my holidays in the second year which looked good on my CV and gave me a lot of confidence at interviews.
GRAD SCHEMES
Graduate training schemes are an excellent way to jump start your career. Bagging one will usually give you experience in different jobs and areas of a business.
Formal training schemes generally last one or two years and are typically a combination of on-the-job and formal residential training.
While some companies set deadlines for applications, many are happy to accept them year round.
Make sure you check the dates carefully. There’s no point taking the time to fill in an application when it closed last week. When you’re filling in the form take your time and make sure it is absolutely flawless.
Now is a key time for large number of firms to open up their schemes.
Your first stop should be at prospects. ac.uk which has links to all the major companies that are recruiting now, including Aldi (100 vacancies) and Babcock. It changes every day so keep checking.
Milkround.com is currently listing 597 schemes with employers around the country, while Graduate-jobs.com has 573 with top names including Next and Halfords.
Individual firms that are recruiting, or expecting to start doing so in the coming months, include: PwC (pwc. co.uk) which will be looking for around 1,200 graduates and Deloitte (deloitte. com/uk) which needs around 900 candidates.
The NHS (healthcareers.nhs.uk) needs 200 graduate recruits, Accenture (careers.accenture.com) has more than 500 slots, the Army (army.mod.uk/join) wants 650 graduate recruits while IBM (ibm.com) needs 300 plus.
The civil service ( faststream.gov.uk) needs 1,000 recruits, KPMG (kpmg careers.co.uk) is on the hunt for 1,000 and the BBC (bbc.co.uk/careers) is looking for 130 graduates.
If you want to follow in Zoe’s footsteps BT (btplc.com/careercentre) is currently looking for 250 graduates.
Highlight was my graphics on live TV broadcast