Advice on trying to get into press/media at entry level

[arvin]

Afternoon all,

I have just graduated with my degre in digital media and received a 2.2. I am after an entry level position as a press officer assistant or online editorial assistant

Now i have applied to places and had some good responses to cv but doesn seem to land me an interview. I was lazy with cover letters and have now adopted the strategy of listing the points they are after and how i meet those, although the agencies just look at cv form what i am told.

my cv is here http://www.twodice.tv/ArvinCV.doc and I am not sure whether i should keep looking or go into a masters course

the second dilema is that I am thinking about doing a Masters in MA media and communications, does that mean anything to employers and would this increase my chances over other experienced candidates if i go down that route? I tried for an MBA but they require years of experience, i may blag one at university of east london for a feb start subject to my loan coming in.

Any advice would be appreciated

[TwoPlAnKs]

Your CV has good content but is very badly laid out - although I am viewing in OpenOffice so perhaps that is why. It looks all squished onto about 1.2 pages when you might as well space it out over 2. You also wrote P.C instead of P.C. or PC (or just Windows since PC doesn't really make much sense, although it is the industry standard term)

You are trying to get into a very challenging industry, I know quite a few people who have better degree classifications in more traditional (aka challenging... sorry no offense intended) degrees that are still related to the media but still really struggle to get jobs. One girl did have some luck doing an unpaid placement although that wasn't exactly in the area of work she was looking for, but did lead directly to a paid job that is close to what she wants and enjoyable, and will hopefully help with good experience for the future when the media industry finally masters a way of making money out of the internet and gets back on it's feet. For this your digital media degree could actually be very sought after - I imagine loads of companies are out there and want somebody cheap and fresh that can come in and transform their press offices to use twitter and facebook and viral adverts.

Perhaps it's different in scotland but here an MA is not a masters - the M does stand for Master but it's an undergraduate degree that lasts 4 years, the same as a BA or BSc (3 years in England). Generally there is no difference between a MA and a BSc in the same subject, although obviously some are silly like a MA in maths or a BSc. in painting. My Uni will give a BSc. or an MA to people who do a subject that can fall into both categories, like computer science for example.

Although from what I've seen your experience should put you ahead of a lot of people with better degrees, 2.2 does fall below the common threshold of 2.1. The Masters degree could mitigate against that problem. I'd only apply if you find you are missing out on a lot of adverts because they say you need 2.1 or above - if not, your experience and interview will be what gives you the edge and the degree class would be forgotten. Of course with the recession, especially in the media industry, loads of people will be going back to do Masters so it might be needed just to keep up with the game soon.

Although I'm just getting into the graduate employment world just now and trying to find a job I don't envy you at all because yours is a very difficult industry - all the best of luck with it

[arvin]

What would be worthwhile IT courses that would mean something and help out? Have looked around and not sure which ones are mickey mouse or not.

Also based on my cv, what job roles should i be targeting?