TV job-sharing tool unveiled

Recruitment agencies Share My Telly Job (SMTJ) and The Talent Manager have teamed up to launch a platform allowing job seekers in the industry to find job-share opportunities.

Sharemytellyjob.com allows prodcos and broadcasters to advertise positions open to job-sharing and pairs them with relevant potential employees. The process will identify both experienced job sharers and companies with a proven track record for providing job-sharing opportunities.

The initiative enables two freelancers to send a joint application for a job that an employer has ear-marked as ‘job-share friendly.’

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.

SMTJ has worked with 35 production companies that are supporting job-sharing including Crackit, RDF, Hungry Bear, Endemol, Studio Lambert, Optomen, ITV Studios and WalltoWall.

The initiative comes amid ongoing concern about the number of established professionals – especially women – who are leaving the industry. Just 14% of women working in UK film and TV are parents, compared with 75% across UK industry as a whole. Many cite excessive hours, long working weeks and the struggles of achieving a work-life balance as reasons that sustaining a career in TV is difficult.

Although attitudes in the TV industry still lag behind many other sectors, there is growing recognition among recruiters and decision-makers that allowing flexible working has substantial creative and commercial advantages.

Reports estimate up to 60% of people working on TV productions are on freelance contracts, meaning most are without workers’ rights, benefits or the confidence to request a more flexible way of working.

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.

“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 part-time hours through sharing contracts.”