MTV: INTERVIEW

Today I had my interview with MTV in the Camden office in London. I travelled down the day before so I could get my bearings around London and travelled from Stratford to Camden with the help of a friend who lives there.

On visiting the MTV offices they were absolutely AMAZING! due to the main company being Viacom that own Comedy Central, Nickelodeon,  Channel 5 and so much more the studio had a range of different sections within that building that catered to these channels with life size models of Spongebob to Huge 3D MTV signage. The building was really colourful and bright and was definitely a place I could see myself working in.

Introduction

My interview was at 13:45 and there was about 7 candidates for the position, we were initially given a meeting about the company and their ethos and how they work, which was really insightful getting some further background knowledge on the company.

We then had to go to a board room where we went round the table and said our name, a bit about ourselves and a fun fact. We was also introduced to the MTV creator directors, managers and spoke to a previous intern about their experience at MTV and overall it was a positive and welcoming vibe.


Group Task

The first task of the day was a group task where we had to pitch and present our creative brief for 5 minuets in front of all the other candidates, the creative director of MTV, a resources manager and another employee. Although this seemed quite daunting at first, with all the presentations that I have done over the past three years has enabled me to have the confidence to speak to people of larger crowds and was definitely a valuable skill that I have obtained whilst studying at Leeds College of Art.

I really enjoyed the group task as it enabled us all to see how different people interpreted the brief. Everyones work was really different and of a high standard so I felt really privileged that MTV had seen the potential in me to invite me down for an interview based on the work i'd sent. 


Written Task

The second task was a written task asking us about what we love about MTV and what do we think could be improved in regards to their digital platforms. This task was quite hard because I think the brand is really innovative on channelling  all social media platforms that are current however I did consider ways that they could increase their target audience interaction and so on.


Interview

The interview was done individually with two interviews by two different managers, the first interview was general questions about MTV, what I like about the company and why I think I should work there.

The second interview was with the creative director where I showed them my portfolio and talked through the projects. 

Portfolio 

I selected projects that I felt best represented the companies style and the position I was applying for.

The overall interviews were really relaxed and laid back and I felt really comfortable after weeks of feeling anxious about it. The MTV staff definitely put me at ease and it was overall a really fun and enjoyable experience. 

At the end of my interview I gave the Creative Director a personalised portfolio book I created in preparation for the interview. Talking to my tutors they always state to leave something behind so that they can remember you, so I think this was a nice little feature for them to reflect on when choosing a final candidate and also for them to stay in contact with me. Networking is an essential part of my practice so I am really pleased that I did this.


Feedback

From my portfolio the creative director was really impressed by my body of work and highlighted that I have really good skills in photoshop, which was a good confidence boost.

They were also interested in how I am going to push my Orbit brief further with a digital aspect and they really enjoyed the 'X Festival' brief from the previous year and the colours that I had chosen.

They didn't give to much away at this stage but overall I think the interview went really well.


Overview

Today overall has been a new and amazing experience, having the opportunity to get an interview with MTV for an paid internship for a year was the ultimate opportunity for myself and something that I wanted to achieve at the begging of the year. Now getting to this stage has really made me feel confident in my practice and the stages I need to take after uni to achieve my goals!

I have never been in a group interview before where I have had to present my ideas and this is something that I have now experienced and will feel confident in doing in the future. What I have learnt from this experience is just to be myself and show personality because that was a really important factor for the presentation and I tried to make it light hearted and fun just the MTV company. I think if I was in a position to do something like this again, I could of potentially showed the development of my work instead of my final pieces or prepared some written background to my choices of work prior. However with only 5 minuets to present I think I justified the reasons for my creative brief and was clear on why I had interpreted the brief that way, and received positive comments and intrigue from the MTV staff and candidates.

Another thing I wanted to consider if I was in a position similar to this is to try and remain relaxed when answering questions in an interview, I think at some stages I felt that I was a little lost for words and a bit shaky. So learning just to take a few seconds to breathe and think about the question before answering it would have been more beneficial for myself. Also always research into the company so you can show them how knowledgeable you are about the brand is beneficial! I also think I could have spent more time going into depth about my briefs, at some stages I felt I was rushing through them because I was nervous so thats one thing I would take away when going to another interview.

On the other hand I do feel like I was good at hiding my nerves at some stages and really tried my best to be clear and approachable when talking to the MTV staff and being fun and bubbly.

Initially I thought that there would be a few applicants selected for the position but during the assessment day I found out there would only be 1 position. Although this is quite daunting with the amount of applicants and talent that was there on the day, I am still really positive and thankful for even being shortlisted and this was a big achievement for myself as a designer.

Lastly I have learnt so much from this one interview and I have now got the knowledge and skills to transfer for other job interviews / placements in individual and group situations. I will find out in the next few weeks on weather I have obtained the position but overall I am very happy with what I did and how it went.