Bethany has been using various networking techniques to explore employment opportunities in digital media, including creating a showreel, attending talks, and starting her own website and LinkedIn profile. She is also gaining work experience at a community radio station and cultural organization to further develop her skills. Bethany is working to improve her online profiles and showcase her best work to employers in order to build her professional network and find job opportunities in the media sector.

1. LA:D Use Networking Techniques to Explore Employment Opportunities in the Digital
Media Industry.
Networking is an important tool for raising your profile in the media industry. To present my skills
which I have developed, I created a showreel of my best work, attended live talks and started to
create my own website. As well as this, I am also completing work experience that helps me
further build my skills.
Websites
During my Skills Development course, we were given the task to create our very own Wix
website. I found that creating a website takes a lot of time and patience as there are many new
skills to learn. As a result of this, my website is still a work in progress as I want it the best it can
be so that I am able to present not only myself, but also my work in an acceptable way, rather
than having an unfinished website published. By publishing a finished website, created at the
best of my ability, it will give people a taste of how hardworking I am and that I try my best to do
all of my work at the best standards - giving myself a profile almost.
Linking to this, we were also given the task to create our own Linkedin accounts
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethany-potter-35a681192) to build our networking skills and
develop our profiles into places that will help us promote our work etc for future employment etc.
However, I am also still working on my profile as I am learning on how to use the different parts
of the website and the different features on it due to the fact I have never used the website
before. I think that it is vital that you come to grips with something before jumping the boat and
putting it out there in the public. My Linkedin profile will eventually show my skills and present
my work - similar to my Wix website, which will allow people from the public to see what type of
work I do and the skills I carry and can further improve / develop. Initially, I am creating my own
profile for the public to see - linking with the different communities.
Lastly, I created my very own Showreel using Blogger
(https://bethpottershowreel.blogspot.com) as I was very familiar using the website as it was a
place where I uploaded my completed work over the course of 2 years at college. When
creating my showreel I really enjoyed it as creating things is something I enjoy most. In addition
to this, I also found it a bit fun as it is something I have never done before and when uploading
my work from the past, it reminded me of what I had done and how happy I was with how it
turned out. When uploading the work, I made sure to use some of my best work so that I was
able to create almost a profile for myself for other employers etc to see what I am capable of
and what types of work I can produce. Before creating a showreel, I had to carry out some
research as it was my first time creating a showreel. When doing some research, I learnt that it
has to look professional and kept short therefore I used a layout that looked media related and
kept my work organised by adding labels, titling them and adding a description to each one of
what it is and why I created it.
Over the course of the 2 years at college, we had to upload our work onto Blogger. When
uploading our work, it was essential that we labelled it correctly and added the title of the

2. assignment so that it was easy to find and to keep our blogger organised and well kept. At the
start of my first year at college, it was my first time using a blogger therefore I had to play
around with the website to familiarise myself with the different ways the website works and
customise it the way I want it.
First year blogger: https://bethpotter458.blogspot.com
Second year blogger: https://bethpotteryear2media.blogspot.com
Work Experience
In 2019, we were given the opportunity to partner up with a classmate and take part in work
experience. We were given a variety of places to choose from and I chose Spark FM
(https://www.sparksunderland.com). Spark Fm is a community radio station for Sunderland with
a target audience of 15-30 year olds. It carries a variety of content catering for both mainstream
and niche musical audiences, specialising in chart hits and new music throughout the day, and
specialist programming after 7pm. When completing the three days work experience, I worked
as a Technical Assistant which gave me the experience to edit songs so that they were
appropriate to play on the radio, setting up a schedule of songs to go on the radio as well as
adding songs onto a survey for Spark FM to post on their social media and also learn the main
aspects of radio. These were all new skills which I learnt as it was the first time doing things like
this and experimenting with it.
Every Wednesday, I work with The Cultural Spring as my CDF placement. I complete tasks such
as regular zoom calls, creating press releases, spreadsheets, flyers,social media posts etc. In
addition to this, one of my tasks was to create a Facebook page ‘Cultural Friends’ to welcome
more people and gather a mainstream audience who will be interested in the activities and
events taking place. Furthermore, one of my press releases that I created about activities
available during the COVID-19 lockdown, made it into the Sunderland Echo. I was very proud of
this as it was my second press release I had ever created, with my first one making it onto The
Cultural Springs website and social media. Within the 315 hours I need to complete, it is my task
to welcome people of all ages, backgrounds and demographics to activities and events taking
place in the arts and entertainments industry and bringing communities together. In order to get
this placement, I had to choose three different places where I was interested in doing a
placement at and then when I was chosen by the placement, I had to complete an interview and
talk about the different things I do, my interests and hobbies, my college courseand more. By
doing this placement, it has given me an opportunity to learn new skills and develop my creative
and interview skills.I have used new websites such as Canva to create infographics, flyers etc
which have made it onto social media and I had never used this website before but now I really
enjoy using it. As well as this, it has also allowed me to improve my personal skills
(communication and confidence) as I had to talk to new people and work with them and now I
have a strong relationship with one another - this will help me when I am employed, working
with new people, in new surroundings and with the public.
Online Webinars & Talks

3. My class had been invited to attend an online event by the University of Sunderland and
Northern Film of Media. The event was called ‘The Films of Ridley Scott’ where Lord Puttnam
spoke to Ridley Scott and asked a range of questions. From watching the webinar, I learnt that
sharing stories and making my voice heard online is so important as it is a way in which new
voices (younger, northern, working class, morediverse) can be heard. As well as this, it also
underlined Lord Puttnam’s work in holding platform operators to account for the development
of a pandemic of misinformation through unregulated influencers in the face of facts. The
session attempted to underline the fact that news, factual, current affairs, documentaries and
factual entertainment now offer more entry level opportunities than drama. When watching the
conversation between Lord Puttnam and Ridley Scott, I learnt that anything is possible if you try
your hardest and you can enter things by doing multiple subjects and not just a certain one.
Linking to this, I also learnt that you can start from your lowest of lows and build up to be
successful as the ever-growing technology develops and some of the most amazing scenes in
films are made and edited in simple ways.
In addition to this, the class were also invited to a talk from the BBC. The talk was about
discussing the different types of jobs available in the media sector. In the talk, the man
mentioned what you will need to stand out when applying for jobs in the media sector and that
there is a large variety of jobs available. From listening to the talk, I have learnt what is ideal on
my CV to stand out and to present any of my work in a professional way to employers so that
they are able to see my skill set and what type of work is my key interest. In addition to this, I
also know to search for jobs on the BBC website itself rather than just looking on local job
search websites. As well as this, it has also given me some understanding and interest in what
type of job I am searching for within the Media sector as the man gave us a lot of information
on the different parts and what happens on a day to day basis in that specific sector.