Sharemytellyjob.com and The Talent Manager announce a new initiative to make it easier for people to job share in the TV industry.
The two organisations have teamed up to launch pioneering technology that allows TV freelancers to apply for a role together as a job share, and for production companies and broadcasters to advertise positions which they are open to being a job share.
More than that, it will also identify both experienced job sharers and companies with a proven trackrecord for providing job-sharing opportunities. It is the latest in a suite of tools developed by The Talent Manager to improve diversity in the industry, including search functionality to help companies identify the best production talent from BAME backgrounds or with disabilities, and to address Unconscious Bias in the recruitment process.
The new job-share initiative comes amid ongoing concern at the number of established professionals – especially women - leaving the industry. Just 14% of women working in the UK film and TV industry are parents, compared to 75% across UK industry as a whole. Many citeexcessive hours,long working weeks and the struggles of achieving a work-life balance as reasons that make sustaininga career in TV difficult. A recent survey of screen professionals found that 82% said their careers had been negatively impacted by their responsibilities as parents and carers.
Although attitudes in the TV industry still lag behind many other sectors, there is a growing recognition among recruiters and key decision-makers that allowing flexible working has substantial creative and commercial advantages. SMTJ has worked with over 35 production companies that are actively supporting job-sharing including Crackit, RDF, Hungry Bear, Endemol, Studio Lambert, Optomen, ITV Studios and WalltoWall.
To help facilitate this,www.thetalentmanager.com– the main platform for TV production companies to find freelancers, and for freelancers to find work – in collaboration with SMTJ has implemented new functionality that enables two freelancers to send a joint application for a job where the employer has ear-marked it as being ‘job-share friendly.’
Similarly, employers can now show they are open to prospective job-sharers applying for a role by displaying the ‘Job Sharers Accepted’ button on the listing.
Sharemytellyjob.com has been at the forefront ofleading a change in attitude towards job-sharingin the TV industry, promoting the benefits to employers of having more than one experienced worker in a role, and providing them with training and resources to manage job-shares successfully.
The new online functionality is the latest in a series of collaborations between SMTJ and The Talent Manager.
Reports estimate that up to 60% of people working on TV productions are on freelance contracts, meaning the majority of TV workers are without workers’ rights, benefits or confidence to request a more flexible way of working.
It is hoped that this new functionality for job-seeking job-sharers will help address this.
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Louise Patel of Share My Telly Job, said: “Job sharing in television is a proven concept and there are more and more enlightened employers who are now seeing the benefits. It enables the industry to retain talent, encourage diversity and address the issues of gender pay disparity and equality.
“Over the past four years Share My Telly Job has campaigned to encourage the conversation about flexibility for freelancers. Now, more than ever, it is clear that in an industry with almost no part-time jobs the only way for many people to continue in their career is to create parttime hours through sharing contracts.”
“We want the industry to get behind our flexible working campaign, to list as many jobs as possible that are job share friendly and to encourage applications that always attract a diverse a pool of applicants. Working with thetalentmanager.com has allowed us to make employing job sharers easy and familiar for production companies.”
Sarah Lee, of The Talent Manager, said: ‘’For all its creativity, the TV industry has often not been very creative when it comes to thinking about recruitment. Successful job sharing has been shown to benefit the productions, and the bottom line.
‘’With more and more production companies out there, the best freelancers increasingly have a choice as to who they work for. Those employers who embrace flexible working and create a supportive and nurturing work environment tend also to be the ones picking up the gongs come awards’ season.’’
As well as the new website functionality, Share My Telly Job is rolling out a flexible working training programme for companies, covering all aspects of job sharing. Companies who undergo the programme will be awarded a Gold accreditation badge and will be promoted as a company that champions diversity and is open to flexible working.
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The new Share My Telly Job and the Talent Manager job sharing function goes live across the websites on Friday 14th February.
The ‘Job Share’ functionality is the latest initiative from the www.thetalentmanager.com to help producers diversify their production teams. It follows the launch of the ‘Diversity Search Engine’ - developed in conjunction with key industry and equalities’ stakeholders – to help them find the best freelance talent from underrepresented groups, and the ‘Diversity Dashboard’, which gives TM companies extensive information about the diversity of the freelancers they work with including by ethnicity, religion, age and social background, so that they can better address their own recruitment issues.
The Talent Manager
