Follow Career Consultant Kirsti Ferrier’s advice for a rewarding CCCF experience
This Festival is a fabulous opportunity to find out more about working in the Creative industries, Media or Cultural institutions. As for any other Careers event, it can be helpful to do some preparation before you come along so that you have thought about what a successful trip to the Festival will look like for you. Here are some top tips to help you: 
- It’s not all about ‘jobs’! Be open-minded about what you want out of the Festival. You may be meeting successful industry practitioners and freelancers in the creative and cultural sectors. Be open and curious in your conversations with them, rather than directly asking for internships / work experience. For example you might want to prepare two or three key things you’d like to find out such as:
- Taking note of their name, in order to follow up on something interesting that they talked about – they will be busy at the Festival, but a tailored communication following the event will carry impact.
- Asking for any guidance / tips on names of places to gain work experience / shadowing.
- Asking them about their career journey and successes /challenges
- Ask yourself, what is my purpose? As the Festival is so diverse in terms of format and events spanning hosted visits, treks, industry workshops and networking events, it is worth planning what a ‘good outcome’ might be for you depending on the event. Be flexible and do your research beforehand. For a networking event it will be useful to have prepared an introduction to yourself and your story so that you can tell them a little about yourself; but for a hosted visit it may be more appropriate to have found out about the sector in advance; its challenges, future direction and so on.
- Take notes, whatever event you are attending, it’s worth jotting down any names, tips, points of interest and conversation you have had.
- Listen carefully to any guidance and make sure you follow up appropriately and in a timely way.
- And finally, it’s worth watching our quick guide to preparing for the fair to gain some general guidance and best practice.
