Task 5: Job Roles (P4:U24)

P4 (U24): Explain the behaviours and attributes required for a specific job role. 

Creative Director:

Definition- Creative director is a position often found within the graphic design, film, music, video game, fashion, advertising, media, or entertainment industries, but may be useful in other creative organisations such as web development and software development firms as well.

Behaviours- The way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially towards others.

Attributes- Regard something as being caused by.

-When being a creative director its important to know how to be a leader and to be there when your fellow staff members need help. As a director it’s part of their job to help teach the staff extra skills that they may not of already knows and help them flourish into a successful worker. 

-Within the creative sector it’s extremely important to be aware of the people around you and skills they have. Therefore, the company wont have to go spend extra money paying for a specialised professional which would mean their income with reduce. 

-Managing your time in a job is an important piece to running a sector of the company, this is due to the fact that if you get behind on one thing it can put the whole project behind. For example, if the company had specific dates to get tasks done and the pre production team are behind the main production team wont have work to work from which would put them behind in their process. Another example is that if they have a meeting booked with a supplier company and are late it adds a bad first impression with the company which means the supplier company may not want to do work with them in future cases. As well as adding a bad public image to the company. 

-Public image can either make or break your company, it’ important to make sure that you up to date with the latest trends and year. You don't want other companies to think you are behind in generations and don't know the latest most popular trends. If you don't there is a higher chance people wont purchase your product and you will loose income. 

-When leading your creative team you want to make sure that they stay motivated. If they don’t stay motivated then this could result into the staff not working hard enough and being bored. However, if they are motivated they will enjoy their work more and have more of a reason to do their best. A lot of companies offer the staff a reward if they reach a certain target, this is an extremely beneficial method for companies as it gives the staff an extra reason to work harder which motivated them.

-The creative director demonstrating that their passionate and knowledgeable about the job is extremely import. This is due to the fact that if they aren't motivated and passionate the staff will pick up on that and it will effect their work effort as they wont be motivated with. 

There are two ways in which development opportunities can affect a career, specifically in the media industry, personal and professional development.

Personal development:

This is the first way one can develop within their career, which covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability. 

This is essential as these are skills that employers will look out for and if the role in question improves the will have a bigger competitive advantage of promoting within a company against other employees or with people applying for the same job. 

Examples of personal development skills are leadership training, time management, organisation, handling difficult situations and conflict management and communication skills. 

Professional development:

This involves developing and improving in a role to entirely understand the job that needs completing. It requires enhancing the necessary skills to carry out the role as effectively as possible and is something that will continue throughout your working life. Such skills include Video Editing, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Sound Effects.

Creative Director:

Opportunities such as ‘Creative Director’ exist in the media industry. Personal attributes and behaviours will determine and affect your career. In order to strive and be successful in this role there are 7 qualities you should have and constantly improve on. 

Resilient:

It will help you handle stressful situation such as an angry client or an angry designer you’ve got to handle it and bounce back. 

Focus: 

This in an import skill as a creative director will need to think about the bigger picture and think about every little detail meaning you’d have to remember and not make mistakes and this can cost you your reputation and job. 

Creativity skills: 

First and foremost creative directors must be good at creating concepts for others to work on. They must have a keen awareness of current trends in advertising and graphic design.

Communication and presentation skills:

They need excellent communication (written and verbal) and confident presentation skills in order to pitch ideas to clients or directors and also explain their ideas to members of their creative team.

Interpersonal skills: 

Excellent interpersonal skills are a must. They need a clear creative vision while remaining open to others’ ideas.

Leadership skills: 

Creative directors need leadership skills in order to hire, develop and oversee their creative team.

Digital and graphic design skills: 

Extensive knowledge of graphic design and relevant software is vital. Familiarity with film-making techniques is very useful. Video editing, copywriting and HTML skills are usually needed.

What will get you employed and successful?

Between four and seven years’ experience working in the advertising, marketing or design sectors. Especially in smaller firms, creative directors are often promoted from art director, designer or copywriter positions. Supervisory experience, including leadership, team building and delegation, is an advantage because creative directors have to manage a creative team.

Opportunities that exist:

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Executive creative director - As an Executive Director, you're top dog on the board of Directors. You oversee an entire company, carrying out one of the most important roles to undertake when managing an organization. The board of Directors is a group of people who jointly captain and make decisions about a company. You need excellent leadership and interpersonal skills as well as the ability to inspire the creative team to give their best. Have strong written and verbal communication skills, as well as presentation skills in order to make outstanding pitches. Also plenty of creative ideas and an understanding of the clients' vision.

Marketing director - A marketing manager is someone who manages the marketing of a business or product. They can be responsible for several services or products, or be in charge of a single product. A marketing manager needs to have an outgoing, gregarious, and spontaneous nature. You'll need excellent leadership and motivational skills but also have great creativity and attention to detail. Communication and IT skills are also needed. Budgeting and project management skills are a very important which every marketing director will need in order to succeed.

Business development director - Their priority is to assist their companies acquire new customers and sell additional products or services to existing ones; this means the role is a crucial one for any business with the ambition to expand or the necessity to diversify its clientele. All the skills are very similar but a business development director needs excellent communication and IT skills. They also need the ability to get on with people at all levels and influence them. Strong problem solving and creative skills are very important to have. Team work and leadership skills are very essential in order for a BDD to thrive.