Graduate media jobs

With media content now increasingly delivered through digital video subscription services such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV, graduate media jobs will continue to be in high demand across many creative industries

Production companies across the media sector require people to get their ideas and concepts onto TV screens or make them available through other mediums such as the internet, radio or publishing.

Departments are set up to manage each stage of the process, including development, production management, craft, technical, post-production, and sales and distribution.

Therefore, as many jobs in the media and other creative industries span different forms - be it television, radio, theatre, music or publishing - the following groupings should only be used as a guide.

Get into music, radio and television

Many broadcasting roles will start as entry-level positions and you'll need to build your skills and experience to work your way up the ladder. It's not all about being the voice or the face and many roles involve the creation of the programme or getting it out there for audiences to see and hear.

If you'd like to get into the music business, see careers in music. For budding actors, take a look at the 7 skills you need to succeed in performing arts. You can also explore other overlapping roles in the creative arts and design sector.

Be part of the production team

If writing the headlines or being in front of the camera doesn't appeal to you, there are lots of tasks you can do behind the scenes. A mixture of creative and technical skills is important for most production roles. You'll also need to be able to work with others and take and give directions, meaning effective communication skills are a must.

To explore film production roles, see jobs in the film industry.

Find your niche in journalism

While you might work for a newspaper, magazine, website or broadcaster, you'll increasingly need to have multimedia skills and be able to work across all platforms. You'll require a combination of the skills from your degree and work experience to help you stand out and break into this competitive sector.

If you're interested in working in this area, you might want to consider doing a journalism course. You can also discover how to become a professional photographer.

Enter the world of print, online and digital publishing

The obvious role in publishing is to work with an author to edit their book, but you could also work in design, production, marketing and sales. This can then be broken down into specialist areas including academic, educational, fictional or medical. The increase in popularity of eBooks and audiobooks means that those working in publishing also require digital skills.

For more information, take a look at how to get into publishing.

Work in digital media and marketing

In terms of sales, distribution and promotion of media, especially online, many digital media graduate jobs overlap with the marketing, advertising and PR sector.

Read about how to get into digital marketing.

Make and release video games

As media companies begin to harness the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and visual effects (VFX), the links to the information technology sector is a close one.

A creative industry in itself, video gaming is a popular career choice for those with the desire to work on the next generation of games.

Explore video game careers.

Find out more

Read our 5 tips for getting media work experience.
Consider a media apprenticeship.
Get an overview of the UK's media sector.