Networking for video editors is literally the most important thing you can do for your career.
Let me say that one more time for those in the back.
📣 NETWORKING FOR VIDEO EDITORS IS LITERALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR. 📣
We all have different career paths. Two editors can be working at the same post house at the same seniority level making the same amount and they both got there in dramatically different ways.
One editor got their job through Indeed and 1,000 online applications. The other editor got their job over a beer with someone from their network. I know plenty of editors who are the former. They apply to everything on Glassdoor and eventually land a gig. Me, I’m the other editor.
For me, every single job I’ve ever had or gig I’ve landed is because of networking. It was because I knew someone else who was in need of my skills. Those people knew I had those skills and was looking for work. I wasn’t annoying about it (at least in my opinion I wasn’t). And it was because I never stopped networking.
If you take anything away from this post I hope it’s the following:
- The most important thing you can do for your career is to network
- You have to tell people about your skills, what you can do, and what you want to do
- The people you tell about your skills must know you’re looking for work or are interested in doing work in the future
- Don’t be annoying to these people you’re networking with
- Never stop networking, even when you have more than enough work
The rest of this post will focus on the why’s and how’s behind these networking fundamentals for video editors.