Three quarters of young adults want to work in the UK’s creative industries but are deterred from entering the industry by a lack of knowledge about roles available as well as a perception that the industry is hard to get into.
A study for Ravensbourne University London – the specialist university for the creative and digital industries - reported that less than 25% of young adults have been recommended a creative industries career path by school, or been given any guidance from school, college, or university as to how to get into the sector.
Furthermore, nearly half (42%) wouldn’t consider a creative career due to the perception that it’s too hard to join the industry, and over a third (37%) are worried there won’t be many creative jobs in the future, due to AI.
Understanding what matters most to young adults about a career in the creative industry, the research revealed that the most important aspect is that it pays well (32%). However, many young adults weren’t aware of lucrative roles in high demand within the industry including digital jobs such as VFX Animator (42%) and UX Designer (33%), as well as more traditional crafts such as Pattern Cutter (35%) or Broadcast Engineer (22%).
The top five salaries for Ravensbourne undergraduates in 2021/2 were:
- OTT engineer (TV/film) £55,000
- Assistant VFX editor (TV/film) £41,600
- Production assistant (TV/film) £41,600
- Front end developer (Website design) £40,000
- Interactive designer (UX design) £36,000
Andy Cook, Vice Chancellor at Ravensbourne University London, said: “We see a large number of people enter the industry wanting to become film directors or fashion designers but they are unaware of the huge number of creative roles available within and beyond the creative industries.”
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